Rogie

That's a good example. I used to love my weekly swimming class where a wonderful woman coached our group of 5 or 6 to improve our swimming technique and as a consequence, our enjoyment. Then I stopped abruptly. Can I get back into the swim of things? Not on your nelly! There always seems to be a stumbling block, but I know if I was really determined it would happen. That great expresssion Procrastination is the thief of time, comes to mind. Here is the background to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Thoughts_(poem) I also spotted another quote from Young, I'm not sure if it also comes from Night-Thoughts:

I'm definitely reckless from time to time and I'd say that was probably owing to impatience, because I do get impatient pretty easily in some situations, such as driving a car, but I guess it might be hard to distinguish between that and "acting impulsively instead of expending the energy to first think through the consequences" as per the quote. If I did that then I wouldn't make that risky overtaking manoevre or step on the gas because I think the speed limit isn't appropriate (and thinking to myself anyway it's me driving and I reserve the right to decide that sort of thing myself), so if I get a ticket that's a risk I've subconsciously factored in, but if I 'expended some energy' maybe I'd slow down or take a deep breath and resign myself to following that slowcoach in front! So I suppose by not overtaking and not speeding I am by default 'doing nothing' or 'ducking a decision' - just driving on autopilot. I have to agree, again using the driving analogy, that driving when tired is going to increase the risks (eg, slower reaction times), certainly with me. I know when I'm getting weary, and I'd like to think it acts as a kind of feedback, so I adjust my driving accordingly and by cutting out avoidable risks (speeding, overtaking etc) hopefully that balances out the other risk elements.

Until recently, I would have sworn obesity was a simple yes or no. You have it or you don't. Yardsticks such as the Body Mass index are easy to understand. If you are unlucky enough to be obese the various risk factors are fairly well-known nowadays. Until a couple of days ago that is. Anyone familiar with the Barker Theory? I'd never heard of it but it featured in a science programme I watched on British TV.

Lots of changes since I had a quick look a few days ago. That's neat, to have a link to this Message Board, via the Reference box (bottom right hand corner). I see there is an opportunity to sign in. Didn't work when I tried it, and in any case what advantages would signing in confer? I do not remember what look like useful Google maps before, but the taxi driver directions 'card' has gone so that might be worth reinstating. Ditto the photos of the soi, although I do not know how useful they'd be in practice. FAQ and Contacts still in preparation I assume. I'm impressed with how good it looks and how easy it is to navigate.

Assuming a routine circumcision necessitates a general anaesthetic rather than a local one, if I'd been the doctor I would simply have aborted the circumcision, waited for him to wake up and ask him "do you want the good news first or the bad news?" Common sense tells you the surgeon did the right thing, but they should be a bit more street wise. Can you imagine how you'd feel if it happened to you? The patient is still going to be in deep shock either way, but surely better to take it in two stages - telling him the news he has cancer, and then giving him time for it all to sink in before he has to make the decision whether to have it removed. Waiting a bit would also allow the pathology lab to be 100% certain the affected cells in the penis were malignant. (Perhaps there are different types of penile cancer, some more fast-growing than others. One thinks of prostate cancer where some are fast growing and some a lot slower. The patient was 64 so if he had a slow-growing cancer that would change his prognosis). Of course, the patient may have gone into denial and refused to have it removed and then subsequently dying as the cancer spread throughout the body via secondaries. I'm a bit mystified as to the doctor's certainty it was cancer. As it says in the article, it was a rare form of cancer. I can't believe the average doctor sees any cases of penile cancer - ever! If the surgeon performing this op was actually a urology specialist, what the heck is a guy like that doing performing such a routine operation? Doesn't make sense to me.

That's probably a fair assessment. The article was focussed on urban Chinese in the 'booming cities' as they put it. I would imagine what holds there is light years away from the situation in rural areas - I'd guess life will go on there much as it always has for a fair bit longer. I don't know how a poor heterosexual male living in the country with no assets and unable to travel or acquire a mail-order bride will fare in the marriage stakes, faced with a sexual imbalance. I don't know if they have arranged marriages these days, if so that's another consideration, although there's probably a few men who would breathe a sigh of relief to have 'courting' rituals done away with.

I'm sure you are right Z. Here's an interesting glimpse into modern-day China - with a clear trend in favour of materialisation, coupled to easier ways to get a divorce, things are looking grim for young Chinese men who are in danger of being priced out of the market. China tries to stop women marrying for money, rather than love

After their successful summit, following the route Mallory would have taken, that was also the opinion of the two men I referred to in my post. Obviously sentiment plays a part, but Mallory's contemporaries who knew him well and knew what made him tick, were also convinced he did. No! I'll look out for it. Good idea. Funnily enough I was chatting to two of my friends in the pub tonight who are off to Nepal for the whole of October, trekking around the Annapurna range. They drew me a diagram of the route they would be taking which involved trekking for nearly a month. Having seen the photo in your earlier post above, and not having read what you wrote properly, I naively assumed the peak shown was Everest (hence my posting about Mallory). When I said to them "Oh, so you can see Everest from where you will be?" they looked pityingly at me "No, there are just a few other mountains in the way!"

This is a great topic. I was away the week it appeared and haven't had a chance to do it justice until now. Out of Fountainhall's very interesting list, I've visited five. I haven't been to Bhutan, Nepal (Annapurna range), Macao, Taiwan (Taipei), or Japan. I would love to go to Bhutan but I'm put off by the cost. I have tentative plans to visit Taiwan in the next few months, mainly it has to be said for the reason Fountainhall mentions. As an aside, there was a fantastic programme on British TV a few days ago: The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, told the tale of George Mallory, an Englishman born in Cheshire (my home county!) who obviously had climbing in his blood. He climbed the spire of the local church when still in short trousers! Later he turned his focus on Everest. Together with his climbing partner Sandy Irvine, they attempted the climb in 1924. They were last spotted 800 metres from the summit before the cloud rolled in and never seen again. Many years later Mallory's body was discovered by Conrad Anker. There were items in his clothing, but not the photo of his wife he had promised to leave at the summit. The programme follows Anker as he tries to establish whether it would have been possible for Mallory to have overcome the last major hurdle, an outcrop of rock deemed un-climbable by the climbing fraternity. It was wonderful to watch him and his colleague Leo Houlding as they approached this fearsome obstacle. I'm not sure if the programmme has been aired before - the main narration is by Liam Neeson, with his then wife Natasha Richardson narrating as Mallory's wife. Richardson died in 2009 from a skiing accident. If you ever get a chance to watch this, I firmly recommend it. Back to the original list of 25 places Michael posted. I've only been to a couple. I see only two on the list are in Thailand and I am particularly interested in Koh Kood, (also spelt Ko Kut). Here is the description taken from the CNN site: Has anyone been? I was toying with the idea on my last visit in March but decided against it owing to the logistics of getting there. I was put off also by the fact most places seem to be resorts catering for those on short package holidays. I tend to prefer the DiY approach.

Yes, that's me all right! Ah, a true legend in his own lunchtime Hey, you forgot Brawn! I imagine Bob as being really Brawny ______________________________________________________ And not forgetting our dear leader: S-C-O-O-B-Y Singularly Cosmopolitan Owner Of Brilliant Yarns

That's not fair! Thaiworthy is 10 letters and Fountainhall is 12. I'm giving up, ain't gonna try and compete with ya! I'm envious, that's really good. On second thoughts if Fountainhall can do it with Gaybutton (9 letters) there's hope for me yet . . .

Getting my inspiration from the Cock Pit lives up to its name thread, I'd already decided to take the piss out of Monsieur Depardieu when I saw Fountainhall had beaten me to it and posted the background to the incident. Dublin Et Paris, Actor Rejected Discretion, In Extremis, Urinating

I meant galley i.e. galley kitchen on the plane

It doesn't need to, it's stands on its own merits! How about Virgin Atlantic: Virgins in rear gallery imitating nurses . . . Alas, the lads are not that interesting - curses!

THAI - That handsome ass . . . immediately! QANTAS - Quality asses? - numerous temptations attract shaggers ETIHAD - Educating the impulsive - hard-ons are docked! Sorry to be somewhat crude, but I guess that's the whole point of the exercise!

Whilst refreshing my memory of the origin of the red shirt protests I spotted this article in the Bangkok Post, dated 26 March 2009: Red-shirt protest rally begins http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/138659/red-shirt-rally-begins/page-5/

Having just taken a quick look at the six websites you include in your 'cv' they all look very good. The one for the Thai massage is very eye-catching - I hasten to add I have not used this service and am just commenting on the website's appearance.

Differences of opinion, certainly, but why would the new government want to further alienate the red shirts to the extent they took to the streets once again? We all know the government have a fine balancing act to implement. If I were to put myself in Miss Yingluck's shoes (well, I've always fancied painting my nails, and I do love shoes) I would concentrate on building up my reputation. Reputation for what? Well, she's got a great headstart, her sex for one. I've not seen her other than in photographs but to me she's a head-turner. But that's neutral, as many as will be susceptible to her 'charms' others will be varying degrees of misogynist. It would be tempting to say any woman who has risen to the top in politics is there for a reason and by extention, a survivor. But had anyone reading this heard of her even a few months ago? I certainly hadn't, so she's there because of who she is, not because she's climbed the slippery pole. Now she's in shark-infested waters she'll have to show her mettle tout de suite. She can ill afford any 'clashes' whether red shirt, yellow shirt, army, border disputes, or whatever. Thailand is going to have its work cut out to restore its reputation, both at home and abroad. http://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news.php?id=255408120009 Back to the subject of this topic - the red shirts. Whither goest they? I know not. Much easier to say what the new government need to do or should do to make up lost ground after the Abhisit years, far harder to put yourself inside the mind if a 'red shirt' in order to try and predict their course of action. I would imagine avenues of dialogue will be maintained and the governemnt will do what they can to keep them quiet, but with its room for manoevre so limited, the chances are pretty high the red shirts, or at least a section of them, will take (drastic?) action if they feel their struggles thus far have got them nowhere ** (** by which I mean they aren't represented in government. On the other hand they showed up the decadence of the previous administration and that surely helped to ensure its downfall).

That last sentence takes the biscuit. As you do not quote anybody's previous post I'm at a loss to know to whom you are referring. Just supposing, just, mind you, this figment of your imagination who is in peril of being bumped off, were to attract a hitman. I am fascinted to know why so cheap? I read recently on another Board the going rate is 15,000 baht (US$300).

My hunch is Moses is probably right. High season will be here soon so monitoring the daily 'active users' shouldn't be too onerous. If the average per day shows a upward trend from early Nov onwards, hitting a peak around mid-Dec then bob's yer uncle, conundrum solved. Solved, that is, provided there's a smooth upward trend. If not, and it proves to have been an anomaly, we're back to square one. Actually that raises another question: as I write we have 142 'active users' which comprises 6 members and 136 guests. Well, maybe some of the '6', me included, are indeed 'active'. But what about our 136 guests? Are they all active or do we also have a category for 'inactive' guests? OK, sorry to come across as a bit sarkie there, but I cannot see how guests can be 'active' when they cannot post. Only members can do that.

Cheap wine or decent wine? It's my hunch it's not in Fountainhall's nature to go and resort to cheap plonk, but I have to agree with Thaiworthy it's probably a waste of a decent bottle. Why not kill two birds with one stone? That ten-year old bottle of Campari (**) might just fit the bill . . . ** see the A Question about Booze thread, post #1

That's a really good idea to make a few notes. I never have and as a result I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable as I would have been had I done so. I hadn't thought about the altitude effect on the taste buds before. That started ringing a few alarm bells, hence my reply to Michael below. That's great you are intending to do that, but I just wonder if drinking on the plane is a good idea. For two reasons. Firstly, the effect Fountainhall describes and secondly the effect the wine may have on your good self. Alcohol is dehydrating and unless accompanied, or followed, by plenty of water, might adversely affect your experience, particularly if you suddenly decide you like it and have a second go, so overwhelming your virgin liver and making you feel a bit tipsy. How about waiting until you are in a restaurant with some knowledgeable wine-drinking friends, let one of them do the ordering and when offered accept a small glass. That way the wine as chosen ought to complement the food nicely, in the way Fountainhall mentions. Alternatively, next time you have a dinner party at your place, ask your friends to 'bring a bottle', hopefully a bottle will materialise that goes well with whatever food you are serving! I may well have been overcautious in my thoughts regarding in-flight drinking - as Fountainhall is a far more frequent flyer than I am maybe he'll comment. I think Anonone's suggestion of the spritzer is an excellent one. As he says it will make a nice refreshing drink on a hot day and you needn't spend a lot of money on the wine you use for it. You could have the spritzer as a fall-back option either in the restaurant or at home should you find a glass of neat wine just too overpowering.

Er, just how big is your wine cooler Fountainhall? It reminds me of the days before fridges became commonplace. Britain lagged behind the States and Canada in that regard. Certainly well into the sixties many houses in Britain didn't have fridges, they had a larder. They kept food cool rather than cold and unless challenged by a rare heatwave were usually up to the task. So, the jam would have been kept in there for sure! Back to your Cointreau conundrum: as it's an opened bottle, a surreptitious sip every so often will surely tell you how it's doing. Campari is an interesting drink; I always poo-poo'ed it as a ladies drink until I went to visit an Italian friend. He introduced me to the Campari aperitivo - white wine with a dash of campari. Now, believe it or not, that's the first drink I ask for when we hit the bars in the evening! Sorry, Fountainhall, cutting to the chase, sadly I have no idea whether your 10 year old bottle of Campari is worth hanging on to. Maybe you can help me, I have a couple of bottles of champagne in the cupboard under the stairs, one is 'vintage' 1982 and the second one 'vintage' 1976. The older of the two I recall winning in a raffle in the mid-80's and promptly consigning it to the cupboard. What are the chances of a 35-year old bottle of champers being drinkable, do you reckon?