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Snail mail - it truly is

Go natural this Loy Krathong

Thank you Fin

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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