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Snail mail - it truly is
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Go natural this Loy Krathong
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Thank you Fin
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Snail mail - it truly is
Dear Editor;
I am interested if other readers are having a similar late delivery
experience with regard to the delivery of mail from the Banglamung Post
Office.
I live in a village in Jomtien, off Soi Chaiyapruk. Yesterday I received a
large bundle of very overdue mail in my letterbox which has obviously been
held by someone either at the post office or by those charged with the mail
delivery, for reasons best known to the postal authorities themselves.
Three airmail letters posted in Singapore on 24th September 2009 were
stamped as received at the Banglamung mail centre on 28th September 2009 but
only delivered to my home yesterday, a delay of 14 days. Two local mail
envelopes from American Express in Bangkok were mailed by them on 23rd
September 2009 and stamped by the Banglamung office as being received on
24th September, but again these were only delivered yesterday, a delay of 18
days.
A call to the Banglamung post office to make inquiries regarding the delay
met with the expected reaction of “sorry but we can’t explain but we think
it’s because of the rain and flooding in the area where you live.” To be
frank I’ve never seen a flood in Soi Chaiyapruk yet.
I’ve lived and worked in the Kingdom for 19 years and am not about bashing
Thailand as many do, but I do believe that if the local community is to gain
confidence in government and city hall services that instances such as this
need to be reported and investigated.
Best regards,
Graeme Moore
Go natural this Loy Krathong
Aloha Editor;
It’s almost time again to enjoy Loy Krathong, a wonderful way to send
problems away, to be with loved ones and to be joyful and happy. The
krathong can carry away sins and bad luck; this can be done in the ocean, on
lakes, rivers, canals, even small ponds.
The correct and environmentally friendly way to make or buy a krathong is to
have the floating base made from a slice of a banana stalk or bread and
banana leaves, using bamboo to hold it all together. This way the thousands
of krathongs that are put into our waterways are biodegradable and cause no
harm to humans, wildlife or our natural waterways.
The problem in the past and now is there are people who want to take a
shortcut to make a fast baht and they use foam for the base (the floating
section), plastic, ribbon, and nails to hold the banana leaves. It looks
lovely but is making a dangerous mess out of the ocean, lakes, canals, and
wherever we put them.
Some drift out to sea and unknowing sea life eats the foam, nails, and other
non-biodegradable manmade materials. Many die a very painful death, like our
seafood, dolphins, turtles, sea birds, just to mention a few.
Some of the foam and banana leaves with nails drift to shore with now rusty
nails that people step on. Some get infected. Also the foam base gets buried
around our shoreline and kills clams, crabs and other shore life.
Please this year inspect before you buy a krathong and make sure it is not
made with foam and nails. Make it an occasion that is environmentally
friendly and an evening knowing that you and your loved ones shared this
beautiful experience and played a big part in keeping our earth a safe
place.
It is very important that we all take care of our oceans and fresh water for
life’s sake.
The Pollution Solution Group, all living things and the powers above thank
you.
Gerry Rasmus
Thank you Fin
Dear Editor;
Re The Fin, UK - First of all, thank you Fin for agreeing with me about the
way some Thai ladies behave when they come to the UK and not changing their
bar girl image and ways.
I also hear a lot of people telling me that Thai girls are not to be trusted
and if you marry them they will take your house off you. Well a lot of these
gentlemen that marry Thai girls have already lost their first property to
the first falang wife (probably a nice bungalow and they now probably live
in a 2 up 2 down terraced after the divorce). So why put a lot of blame on
just the Thai girls wanting to get their hands on your property? This
happens throughout the world.
Also I talk to many Thai ladies when I holiday in Pattaya with my wife, and
all the girls are under the impression that when they move to somewhere in
Europe (especially the UK) it will be the land of milk and honey. But as I
tell them (but not always the case), you will probably live in a small flat
or a very old joined up town house (terraced) in a country where nobody
speaks Thai, where all the newspapers are in English, where you will have a
job obtaining Thai ingredients to cook with, where you won’t be able to
understand what’s going on when you switch the TV on and explaining that
because Thai ingredients are expensive, that Thai meal that you are used to,
twice a day in a Thai restaurant will come around probably twice a year
(your birthday and your husband’s).
Now, what about the weather. Oh! will it be cold, and if you are going back
to Norway, Sweden, Finland or the Outer Hebrides, even colder (even in the
summer, compared to Thai weather).
Let’s continue, your husband (if he has not already retired) has to go to
work to keep a roof over your head from 6 a.m. until he gets back at
probably 6 p.m. (you will be left all alone, to fend for yourself all day
with nobody to talk to). Then he will probably be too tired to take you
anywhere, then the weekend comes about and he informs you that he will be
working overtime all weekend because the Council Tax bill has arrived for
living in the little terraced house and he has to pay £520 (30,000 baht) for
the car insurance (probably a 5 year old small car and not a big fancy pick
up like in Thailand), and the TV license needs paying £142.50 (8,000 baht)
and the water rates £400 (25,000 baht). Oh, and he needs to give his ex wife
a little more money because his children from his first marriage are going
on a holiday abroad and that’s why your not going to Thailand for a couple
of years. There won’t be a lot of money left to go to Tesco to buy those
expensive essentials that are needed like a very small bottle of fish sauce
at 100 baht. And he informs you that because cigarettes are now 350 baht a
packet you will have to stop smoking.
I could go on and on but I do wish all those that are trying to make a go of
it good luck, being it in the Land of Smiles or the so called Land of Milk
and Honey, but always consider the grass is greener on the other side.
Yours,
John Rigg
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Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also published here.
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It is noticed that the letters herein in no way reflect the opinions of the editor or writers for Pattaya Mail, but are unsolicited letters from our readers, expressing their own opinions. No anonymous letters or those without genuine addresses are printed, and, whilst we do not object to the use of a nom de plume, preference will be
given to those signed.
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