HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Prison pet care

Expat’s pension plight

Songkran madness

Time saves lives

Too much of a good thing?

IN MEMORIAM

Prison pet care

Aloha Editor,
Here is a suggestion on how to start taking care of the homeless stray animals. Give the prisoners in city jails some stray, homeless animals to take care of. Teach them how to clean, cure, feed and train them to help the handicapped and also to be adoptable pets after being neutered and spayed and just maybe we have a win, win on both sides: Prisoners learn a needed trade, homeless stray animals also get a second chance.

This idea is already being tried out in Maricopa County, Arizona where Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is famous for doing things like constructing a “tent city” jail in the middle of the Arizona desert and making his prisoners wear pink underwear, has introduced a scheme whereby dogs and cats who are victims of abuse are being taken care of by a select group of female prisoners. The prisoners have painted the insides of the jail with pictures of trees, flowers and fire hydrants, to make the animals feel more at home.

The ‘jailbirds’ are telling the sheriff, “we did wrong and we deserve to be in jail, but these dogs do not deserve to be abused.”

This is one sheriff who takes a dim view of anyone who abuses or neglects animals.

Maybe this is something that could be tried out here in Thailand? Just a thought from The Pollution Solution Group. Remember to call Pattaya City Hall at 1337 if you can help with the stray and abused animal situation here in Pattaya.
Mahalo Nui Loa
KOTO

Expat’s pension plight

Dear Editor,
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, and his motley crew seem to think that just because we are over 65, we can’t fight! Wrong!!

My UK state pension has been frozen because I have chosen to live in Thailand and that means that I can’t afford the flight to go back to London to meet him in a boxing booth and try to knock his block off. Win or lose, that event would have given me great satisfaction!

However, I’m still fighting with my pen, sending many letters to most of the national press in the UK. In a recent issue of the Samui Express, I wrote “Still frozen pension” and in it I said “that if a crime, as serious as this, had been committed against 500,000 people between the ages of 18 & 30, the Government would have had a real battle on their hands”. I would now like to amend the word “battle” to read “Civil War” and a second “Bonfire Night” would have been entered in the history books!

Is Michael Holley the only other expat in Samui with the b***s to air his grievance against the UK Government? (I apologise for losing my eloquence Michael). There are over 500,000 of us, all over the world, with this same grievance, so there must be hundreds of us in Koh Samui alone? Come on you guys (& gals), speak up!

I do know a few pensioners out here who are still receiving their pensions with indexation added each year but some of them have done it by bending the truth a little bit. I’ve always been taught to tell the truth but I may be tempted to follow their example, if it means that I will get justice.

A message to the expats who are living out here and still getting indexation on their pensions - Good for you!

My health insurance renewal premium (with a London based company), which is due on the 18th May, is 1,430 UK pounds (70,000 baht) and the UK Government has the gall to say, “The expat community is contributing nothing to the British economy!” That sort of statement is liable to cause me to lose my cool again. We are spending thousands out here, on healthcare alone, not only insurance but regular check-ups, treatment for minor ailments etc., all of which would be free for us in the UK.

So, to sum up, expats are very generous contributors to the British economy, by not being spongers to the health care system and also, of course, to the Social Services.

I would be very happy to forego the indexation on my pension, if the British Government were to offer to pay my health care insurance premium each year. The first year it was 850 UK pounds, the second year it was 1,150 UK pounds and this year it’s going to be 1,430 UK pounds and that’s without a single claim!
Would you be prepared to agree to that, Darling?
Yours
Des Gillet (Koh Samui)

Songkran madness

Dear Editor,
Once again the Pattaya Songkran madness is starting. Last year I and many others suffered 7 days of utter hell unable to leave home, hotel or condo without being drenched, often with iced water. And most of the problem is not with Thais, but stupid Farangs and bar girls. It’s about time the Mayor got things under control. One or two days is OK, but 7 days is utter madness. Incidentally you don’t get the problems from the gay bars. Glad I am in UK this year.
Cav (London UK)

Time saves lives

Dear Editor,
Picture the scene, 1800 hrs, 19th of April, Soi Wat Boon Jomtien, 50 yards from the beach, emergency vehicles (yellow car and fire-engine), speeding down soi, lights flashing, sirens, horns blaring. All stop, 3 pick-ups on soi throwing water at each other. Road blocked, no one moves, they ignore the vehicles, oblivious to the emergency. Emergency pick-up tries to force its way through, no one gives way, but they start throwing water over the vehicles, all giggling like school children. Six minutes later, finally they get through, but not far, they get blocked at Beach Road junction, again no one moving aside.
Let’s hope in our time in Thailand we do not need the emergency crew.
Matt (Jomtien)

Too much of a good thing?

Dear Editor,
Once again Songkran is with us in Pattaya with the “festivities” well into the fifth day and another 4 days to go before we actually get to Pattaya’s official Songkran day on Monday 19th April.

I don’t want to sound negative, and I’m sure I speak for most of the local and ex-pats alike who live and work in Pattaya, but 10 days of Songkran is just way too much for us to endure. Trying to go about our daily business for 10 days trying to avoid getting a soaking is impossible if we have to travel by motorbike or baht bus.

Last year I endured 6 days of soakings and, like many others, eventually headed off to Bangkok to escape the mayhem for the last 3 days and I already plan to do the same this year.

I am sure the tourists enjoy it and have a great time, although I have spoken to many who also agree it all lasts too long here in Pattaya, but it’s time the local authorities clamped down on the festivities and restricted it to 2 or maybe 3 days so all us “locals” can get on with our normal life with minimum disruption and inconvenience.

After all, where else in Thailand do they have such extended Songkran festivities ... Nowhere!
Yours sincerely
All Songkraned Out

IN MEMORIAM: Henricus Stephanus Vermeij

With Henny we lose a great friend and humanitarian, always ready to help others, especially children. I　got to know Henny　quite well　with his projects for the Street Children Home and the Pattaya Orphanage, for many years his favorite institutions.

Henny Vermey
22 July 1939 - 8 April 2010

With his Rotary Club of Eastern Seaboard, he was very involved in recent years with providing Safe Drinking Water installations to remote schools in Chonburi & Rayong provinces. A new project for this suffered unexpected complications that caused great distress to him and his fellow Rotarians.

As a humanitarian, Henny was sociable, kind and understanding, with a need to help the less fortunate in our region and in various parts of Isaan. A man of action. An engineer by profession, he was meticulous in his designs and in the implementation of plans.

His own home is ‘living proof’ of this. After retiring from his steel construction business in Holland, he created a veritable Garden of Eden on the outskirts of Pattaya. Sadly, his last job – renovating part of his home – caused him to do much more than he should have, and at age 70, his heart just could not cope with it. After complaining of chest pains earlier in the day, he took a rest in his chair and passed away peacefully in the night of April 7-8.

Henny always was a great host. I fondly remember the excellent food and drinks served at our meetings to discuss project progress and to find solutions for bureaucratic hurdles. He　hated bureaucracy and preferred deeds over　words. Patience really was not one of his virtues. We gradually lost contact for no particular reason.　It just happened.

The last time I saw　Henny was a few weeks ago at the　cremation ceremony　of our great colleague-in-arms and fellow-countryman, Kees Peperkamp. In recent years Henny suffered from health problems that he ascribed to ‘a mental imbalance caused by affairs of the heart’, but that was now behind him. He seemed in good health, at ease with himself and full of energy to carry out the renovation of his home.

He leaves behind his children and relatives in the Netherlands and lots of friends overseas and in Thailand. We offer them our condolences with this great loss.

Another Good Man has passed away unexpectedly. As good friends mentioned, this should remind all of us that have ‘a certain age’: “Enjoy every day of your life, as tomorrow may be your last!”
Farewell, Good Friend!
　Martin Brands

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also published here.