Advertise here from only 40 baht per week
to hull
and back
Mags Meanderings:
From Som Tam
To Mushy Peas
the visit (PART 2)
First this week, a helpful alert from an undercover mole
in Hua Hin for those of you who receive the UK State
Pension as expats, and as such don’t qualify for the
annual increase to your pension.
You should receive a tax coding every April from the
PAYE folks. It is worth checking your new tax code
to make sure that an assumed increase in your State
Pension hasn’t been used when calculating the new
coding. It appears that mistakes are being made by HM
Revenue and Customs (no surprise there then) which
could have been going on undetected for years.
There are also rumours about moves afoot to try to
rectify that con called ‘contracting out of SERPS’ for
those in certain mandatory occupational pension
schemes. More later if the story unfolds.
Now back to the fun we have with our visitors to the
Land of Smiles. Last week found my own group of four
elderly farang first timers recovering from the effects of
travel and tummy bugs in their Hua Hin hotel.
Conveniently located as they were next to a farang style
general store, a couple of good breakfasting places, and
the old Satukharn Square, they began to slowly venture
out in search of ‘proper’ food - and Immodium. But with
any group of four there are bound to be disagreements
and differences in culinary needs. So it was that for the
first couple of days they survived on a diet of omelettes,
biscuits, and bread and jam.
Cheap room for rent
from just 350 baht
0915094729 Th/Eng 0805626735 Swe/Eng
Soi 94 (1st left after 7-11)
Considerable coaxing was needed for them to overcome
their suspicions of all things from the sea, all things
accompanied by rice, and all noodle based dishes. Which
before Big Mac hit Hua Hin didn’t leave much else.
Of course there were very good proper British fish and
chips available nearby, the idea of which was greeted
perversely with cries of ‘we didn’t come all this way
to eat fish and chips!’ Nor did Hua Hins’ selection of
Scandinavian, German and Italian cuisine create any
interest. It was all just too ‘foreign.’
Somehow we all survived the next two weeks, aided
by a trip to the River Kwai, the butterfly farm, and the
presence of a hotel pool. But let’s face it, good as it is
to have family visit, it can be oh so good when they go
home!
Some people may be forgiven for feeling pretty much the
same way about the retirement of Jeremy Paxman from
Newsnight, the TV programme which he has fronted
for longer than we care to remember. ‘Paxo’ as he is
known certainly showed signs of schadenfreude when
interviewing his victims.
And that is our word of the week. Although clearly of
German origin, with no apparent attempt to anglicize
it, ‘schadenfreude’ nevertheless appears in the Oxford
English dictionary. It means the pleasure which someone
gains from another person’s misfortune.
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
A non-profit fellowship of men and women for
whom drugs have become a major problem
Meetings now in Hua Hin
every Sunday at 11.30am
and every Thursday at 6pm
Contact
Add 086 014 7585
Emmanuel K. 090 438 387
Mark 084 314 1928
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