vinapu

I think you mean Estonia if I recall correctly. But bottom line of this is they did not separate because of referendum win but because decaying USSR made it possible.

It can't be denied that Singapore did very well after breaking from Malaysia so sometimes breakups works.

Reading all the above I start liking myself for not liking the beach / any beach , not just Dongtan /, simply beach is not my idea of fun It looks that lots on money was wasted on those walkaway covering and uncovering exercises. And can't stop wondering , does junta have noting better to do than cleaning the beaches, blessed country Thailand one again.

trimming standard of living not necessarily means compromising it. If one has 10 shirts instead of 20 standard of living is not compromised other than doing laundry more often, minor nuissance. As for ATM there are many far from retirement and still performing that task for boys, not always unwillingly. After all even Christian admitted to lavish some 100 baht notes on boys just for fun in one of BT bars not that long ago. Spending money can be fun as much as counting it.

Bob, while I agree with you, unfortunately there are many love stories when otherwise sensible people lost their heads and wits and subsequently fortunes on falling in love. And this happens everywhere so is not contained to Thailand and retired people.

No I don't , it's why I said above " I hope reason prevails" and I truly do. 51 out of 100 borders on statistic deviation and in such a case I'd prefer something like 60% of qualified voters. But in course of human history big changes were made either by prevailing force without voting / uprising , revolution or war / or by motivated and determined minority - recent events Thailand being good example. Scotish independence would only confirm that ugly nationalistic hydra is rising it's head in Europe which suffered enough from this type of lunacy in not so distant past.

If people want to separate they will regardless of what constitution or majority says, only thing needed is willingness to go alone or raw force. Nobody asked people of former Soviet Union if they want to start living in a separate countries nor West Germans had much to say on swallowing their Eastern brothers and vice versa. I don't want to make fun of US Constitution but this is document under which slavery and racial segregation was permitted and it looks progressive ideas like gay marriage are covered by it as well so in my opinion document is both updated and outdated and activist judges are making what they see fit of what constitution actually contains. So bottom line will be if Scots want go alone they will regardless of the size of majority but I hope reason prevails and they will stay within UK. Keeping separate football national team should be enough to satisfy their sense of uniqueness IMHO

Other than health care factor major fear of many contemplating retirement is that that will not be able to maintain their lifestyle hence figures 75-80 % of pre-retirement income as requirement for comfortable retirement. I think those figures are grossly inflated for most people in Western countries since we consume and spent much more than we need. Trimming spending habits will do miracles to our waist lines and helps to get some air into our closets. Person concerned should first ask himself questions like "do I need to buy new car every 3-4 years? ", 'will I die if I don't buy newest smartphone if old one still works" , 'how many pieces of whatever do I really need ?" and so on. I 'm not retired but several years ago on losing job I was forced to go through the same exercise as new one did not pay even nearly to what old one did. Adjusting to halved purchasing power was easier than I thought and at times I 'm thinking on meeting my old boss and thanking him for getting rid of me then.

For that best thing would be to build up circle of friends since you will be some support normally at home family and friends provide .

we have quite a few threads recently about age and retirement , they seem to be popular and I find them interesting as well but I can't stop thinking that it would be nice if somebody would chip in with some recent trip report to LOS

Way I look at age is that I made it that far but not all my friends and classmates did so I enjoy what I have. And as long as next trip to LOS is in the books I even wish I'm those few months older and boarding plane already instead of waiting for that big day

no, but always expecting to see next summer's solistice

koko is right, I saw quite a few go-gos quite long in the teeth at Hotmale bar in soi Twilight , Arena has one bulky masseur who looks quite mature as well, check their website, his photo is still there

I'd like to be well worn and still have a body like that. I gave up guessing Thais age long time ago as IMHO they look much younger that they are. BBB INN just placed picture on one of their boys with age stating 39, I'm still in disbelief as I met him twice last year in another place and wouldn't grade him higher than 28

may be there were too many lookers and not enough takers and boys did not see business there ?

And no wonder, after all this is foreign law , not a Thai one, forced on Thai banks,

I'm 59 and feel old like Stonehenge to answer Nirish question

wrap it in the baking soda to keep stench to minimum, she may not suceed

You did very well with writing about your Bonny's and Hero exploits

For me it's amazing to read your statement as those were exactly words of my father right after he retired.

Look at it as an opportunity to enjoy things in life you did not have time to when you were toiling. I must admit I feel a little bit jealous

I always try not to be carried away and to remember names of my boys as it makes encounter more personable at least for me

I don't take it as a joke, it 's just funny to imagine barbed wire on top of the wall in the gay sauna so I laughed uncontrollably when read that

just make sure you don bite and chew too hard

I need to add that often one doesn't exclude another. From my last Nov trip I remember at least 4 places / Magnolia, Sun, Sawatdee, Scandic / where masseurs were very serious about their job and did not even let me to tough them until they were really finished with massage proper but eventually other opportunities materialized to my great joy.