PeterRS

I only just realised that Sunday Bloody Sunday was released exactly 50 years ago. I was reminded of this by an article in The Guardian which is worth quoting. "Some people mark wedding anniversaries with flowers. But in this house, we do things differently. On the morning of our 15th wedding anniversary last week, my domestic colleague staggered into the room carrying a poster for the greatest film about a love triangle that I know: John Schlesinger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday, starring Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch and Murray Head. Believe me – I’ve hardly stopped staring at it since. "As it happens, Sunday Bloody Sunday celebrates an anniversary of its own later this year, when it will be 50 years old. I hope someone makes a fuss of it – this movie is so timelessly gorgeous and wise and still so utterly modern. Its screenplay by Penelope Gilliatt, then the film critic of this newspaper, is sharper, wittier and more finely wrought than Pinter’s Betrayal, which it slightly resembles. All the Fleabag in the world won’t prepare you for the moment when the beautiful, mesmerising Finch breaks the fourth wall to talk of his character’s particular heartache. "When contemporary audiences saw him, as Daniel, first greet his lover, Bob (Murray Head), in the hall of his London house – they share a casual, hello-darling-I’m-home kind of kiss – it must have been electrifying; it would be another 16 years before two men kissed on EastEnders, when the tabloids went mad. "But even now, it still has an effect: this is a film that is content to deal in complexity and you feel it from the start. As Gilliatt once wrote, Sunday Bloody Sunday is a grown-up movie about compromises; about what is enough and what is too little; about decisions “both impossible and necessary”. Thinking about it, which I seem to do a lot, only its title doesn’t quite work now. The heart will always have its unfathomable reasons, but the feeling induced by that dreaded day of stasis and gravy is well on its way to becoming ancient history." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/02/fifty-years-on-this-film-is-still-sunday-bloody-sunday-best So another short excerpt from Sunday Bloody Sunday illustrating what a superb actor Peter Finch was. It is the last scene of the movie. We first see him trying to learn italian. He then looks at the camera and reminisces about the love that he has now lost - he has decided to leave for a life in New York, about how he had only met the Murray Head character when he came to his surgery for some pills for a cough.This section lasts from only 1'04" until 2'40". The credits then follow to the music of the glorious Act I Trio from Mozart's opera Cosi fan tutte. Apart from the lovely music, it shows that several of Britain's finest actors also appear in the movie, including Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Tony Briton, Frank WIndsor and the bisexual Maurice Denholm who sadly died of AIDS.

Not sure if that review is personal or from an official reviewer but the comment about the first depiction of two men kissing in a positive light in a British movie being in My Beautiful Laundrette is not accurate. My Beautiful Laundrette came out in 1985. The first lips to lips male kiss (with meaning!) was in John Schlesinger's 1971 movie Sunday Bloody Sunday. (He had earlier directed Midnight Cowboy). There are also several scenes with the two men in bed. The actors were the very straight ladies man Peter Finch as a gay doctor and the equally straight Murray Head here playing a bisexual. The movie also starred Glenda Jackson as the third in the love triangle.

Although we may all rightly despise the law passed in the 1860s that condemned known homosexuals as criminals, the fact was that many so-called upright [sic] Victorian, Edwardian and later gentlemen were up to their necks in homosexual activity. That they came from privileged backgrounds and were married with children meant that their 'misdemeanours' were passed off as mere uncharacteristic incidents, assuming, that is, that others in 'society' were aware of it - as indeed many were. Had Alan Turing come from the upper classes with friends in high places, it is highly unlikely he would have been charged with anything. If a long-standing member of Parliament, Lord Boothby, was known by many - although not publicly, for the media gag laws in those days were draconian - not only to have engaged in numerous scandalous homosexual affairs, but also enjoyed a multi-decade romance with the wife of the soon-to-be Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, to the extent that many believed Macmillan's youngest daughter had been sired by Boothby, many blind eyes should have been turned in Turing's case. Regrettably his arrest and subsequent conviction were a result of several extremely unfortunate occurrences. First he had only recently commenced a romantic affair with a 19 year old youth. One evening he returned home to find that his home had been burgled. His emotional boyfriend admitted to Turing that he knew the name of the burglar but informed Turing that if he told the police, he would 'out' him as gay. Since nothing of significant value had been stolen, Turing should just have let things be. But he refused to be threatened in such a way and did report the robbery. As the police were searching his home and realised that he was gay, his legal position was untenable. Any other man with such wartime achievements could have called on his wartime superiors to speak on his behalf and mitigate whatever the Court's sentence might have been, if anything. But Turing has signed the Official Secrets Act in order to get into Bletchley Park. Everything he did there was covered by the Act. Officially he had never worked there. As I think he is informed in the film on his last day, officially you do not exist! Had he chosen to go public and broken the Secrets Act, he could have been sentenced to up to 14 years in jail. Despite his wartime successes, he would essentially have been regarded as a traitor. Finally, it was his solicitor who advised him to plead guilty rather than try to fight the charge in the hope of getting a reduced sentence. Had Turing just had someone to advise him not to report the burglary, it is extremely likely that he could have enjoyed many more years of life, as well as the gratitude of hundreds of millions as his exploits were eventually declassified.

Perhaps not in Thailand - yet. But there were definite leaks from quarantine hotels in both Melbourne and Taipei which resulted in repeat lockdowns and other consequences. Given the ease with which the son of the Central Department Group Chairman beat the quarantine system on his return from Cambodia and thereby helped cause the current spike, does anyone really have any confidence that a brown envelope padded with cash will not again result in someone beating the quarantine system, even in Thailand hotels? This from The Australian - "Shocking new analysis has revealed just how far from “fit for purpose” Australia’s hotel quarantine system really is. "Researchers from the University of Melbourne have found that for every 204 Covid-19 infected travellers that have undergone their mandatory quarantine in Australia there has been one leak. "There have been 21 'failures' in Australia’s hotel quarantine system between April 2020 and June 2021, including eight in NSW, five in Victoria, three in Queensland, three in Western Australia, and two in South Australia. "Many have prompted snap, or extended lockdowns in major cities." https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/univeristy-of-melbourne-researchers-say-there-has-been-one-hotel-quarantine-leak-per-204-covid19-infected-travellers/news-story/951cb9b018cc47b11bf681c0a2651be6

It is well worthy of two mentions!

Alan Turing was one of the true heroes of the 20th century. His accomplishments were so significant it is appalling what his government then forced him to do. What makes it even more so is that Turing had discovered there was a Soviet spy working in his group at Bletchley Park. He planned to expose John Cairncross but was told by Cairncross that if he did so he would then be outed for being gay. Turing elected to remain silent, partly because the Chief of his Section knew about Cairncross and wanted him to continue leaking documents to the Russians who were by then the UK's ally in the war against Hitler. This decision was to return to haunt the UK government. For those unaware of the Cambridge Spy Ring that rocked both the UK and the USA in the 1950s and later, in 1951 two high ranking UK diplomats fled to the Soviet Union. Donald Maclean and the notoriously gay Guy Burgess had been converted to communism whilst studying at Cambridge in the 1930s. There were always rumours of a "Third Man", but nothing - despite a mass of evidence - was proved. Eventually, following the defection of a Soviet KGB officer to the USA, Kim Philby, a former diplomat and then a journalist, fled from Beirut to the Soviet Union. He had been the notorious Third Man. But then there were rumours of yet a Fourth and perhaps a Fifth spy as part of that Ring. A closeted gay, Sir Anthony Blunt had recruited spies for the Soviet Union. After the war, he held high positions in the art world, notably working at Buckingham Palace as the Surveyor of the Queen's Art Collection. He received a knighthood for his work. He was unmasked in 1964 but that was kept secret. In return for his confession, he was given immunity for 15 years, a guarantee of secrecy during that time and he was able to continue with his high society art work. In 1979 he was finally outed as the Fourth Man by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a speech in parliament. He was stripped of his knighthood and all his art positions. The identity of the Fifth Man remained uncertain until another KGB defection in 1990. Finally John Cairncross, Alan Turing's colleague at Bletchley Park, was unmasked. His later autobiography is titled "The Enigma Spy." One wonders what might have happened had there been no anti-gay law at that time and Cairncross had been unmasked. Many UK and US secrets might not have found their way to Moscow. While Turing's life was cut so desperately short, his life is finally being recognised in some ways. He had received a Royal Pardon in 2013, a relief to surviving members of his family. After much delay, in 2017 the British government abolished the law that had punished gay men under the Offences Against the Persons Act of the 1860s. Some 50,000 men, including Oscar Wilde, were pardoned. That law has become known as the Alan Turing Law. Ridiculously, the mandarins in Whitehall rather emasculated the original Bill by adding pardons would not be given to those who had importuned sex in public places. So Sir John Gielgud, one of the nation's greatest ever actors, was denied a pardon. Importantly for those who believe Turing must be remembered, his face and the detail of some of his work are featured on the nation's new £50 note that enters circulation on June 23.

After four years of Trump and with the Republican Party now in thrall to a self-centred 'Emperor has no Clothes' moron, I cannot help wondering: why is it that with so many investigations into his businesses and his own dirty deeds that have been going on for years, still no charges have been brought against him? The Manhattan attorneys have been investigating Trump for years, but still nothing has happened. How come? His Finance guy Weisselberg has finally been hauled before a Grand Jury, but what about all the other people supposedly involved? What is happening about the Deutsche Bank investigations? What is happening about all the Russians who bought Trump properties in Manhattan and Florida? I find it almost impossible to believe that investigations take so long even to drag up just one piece of evidence of illegal shenanigans.

I wish it could be a four way bubble with vaccinated citizens being able to travel between all four countries even if restricted only to certain cities/islands. If only the TAT could organise a Korean Boy Band Festival in Bangkok, that would certainly lift the present gloom

I asked but was told they do not yet know. My taxi driver had been given Sinovac - that's all I know.

I registered on Monday and just got the date and time for the first jab. My taxi driver today was even displaying his official card showing he had received both shots in early May and then early June.

Something seems really fishy here. The guy owned a resort in Phuket and an apartment complex in Bangkok with a pool. Presumably he and his wife must have been reasonably regular swimmers or at the very least loungers in pools. How could such a man drown in just a meter of water? And why would the resort's pool surveillance cameras not be working? I suppose it's possible one might have had a major heart attack and died in the water. But both? Murder seems most likely. It reminds me of a drowning in Hong Kong many years ago. John Wimbush was the very elegant, English Managing Partner of Deacons, the territory's top law firm. One of his clients had become notorious. A rather strange businessman originally owing a pest control company, George Tan, a Malaysian Chinese, started investing in property in Hong Kong. One year his new company - named Carrian (geddit?) - bought a building in Central District for vastly more than it was worth with money his company clearly did not have. Not that that ever stopped anyone speculating in Hong Kong property. It started a property boom and Tan was making millions. Three years later when the negotiations between Britain and China seemed to be getting into deep water, boom turned to bust. Carrian also went spectacularly bust. On the morning Wimbush was due to be questioned by the police, he did not turn up at this office. A check at his posh home on The Peak discovered him face down in his swimming pool. But it was a little more than curious. He was dressed his his striped three piece business suit. His well polished black shoes were at the pool side. But around his neck was a heavy link chain tied to the grille at the bottom of the deep end. A verdict of suicide was somewhat amazingly given by the coroner. That case also involved the murder of a Malaysian banker who had come to audit some of Carrian's books. When the case finally made it to Court, it was the most complex fraud case Hong Kong had ever seen. After six months, the judge ruled that it was too complex for the jury (and unquestionably for him) and declared a mistrial. The legal establishment was utterly furious and he was forced to resign. He and his wife quickly retired to a home they had in Cyprus. After a few months, the judge wrapped his car around a tree and was killed. Accident or murder? It was never established.

I seem to recall that was the drug AZT. Although it was a breakthrough of sorts, didn't it have to be taken in a strict regimen every few hours, often along with some other drugs because like all viruses HIV was mutating? It was a Taiwanese-American, Dr. David Ho, who discovered the first real protease inhibitor treatment in the early 1990s that made life for HIV patients far more bearable. I remember only because he was on the cover of TIME magazine! I am sure @Ruthriestonis far better informed. I still consider the account of the early history of the AIDS crisis by Randy Shilts 'And The Band Played On' the near definitive book that everyone should read. Vastly better than the TV series packed with stars of the same name. Its one major error was in propagating the "Patient Zero" myth. When the doctors in NYC and LA noticed they were dealing with clusters of cases among young gay men, they eventually realised there almost certainly had to be a common link. Their research led them to a Canadian airline steward named Gaetan Dugas. All at one time had had sex with him. His work had taken him to Africa where it was then discovered there had been a major outbreak of AIDS in the 1920s in and around Kinshasa. We now know it had jumped the species barrier from chimpanzees to humans. Dugas was located. After being tested, he was found to be positive and informed about his passing HIV to others. He was asked to stop having sex with other men. Allegedly, he said he would not. Someone had given him the virus and he saw no reason why he should cease his activities since he was not responsible for his being infected. While that part of the tale may be true, by the end of the century it had become obvious that Dugas, who had by then died, was not Patient Zero and had been much maligned by being so named. However, later research suggested HIV had ben present in the USA much earlier. In 1968 a 15 year old teenager named Robert Rayford from Missouri entered hospital suffering from a variety of ailments. Doctors were baffled. On questioning, they suspected that Rayford was gay and had perhaps been either seriously molested or he was a male prostitute. None of the treatments seemed to work. As his condition worsened he soon developed a pneumonia-like illness and his immune system was discovered to be dysfunctional. He died in May 1969. The autopsy found rare purplish lesions on his left thigh, unheard of in black teenagers. The odd thing about the case was that Rayford had never travelled outside his home state and never received a blood transfusion. The only later connection thrown up was that he lived close to TWA's airline hub of St. Louis. Tissue samples were kept for later analysis. It was found that antibodies against all nine detectable HIV proteins were present in the blood samples. This was published in a medical journal in 1988 but only ever once again referred to, at a Conference in 1999 in Australia. Unfortunately the last known samples of Rayford were destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Anthony Fauci was one who was both curious and baffled. “It certainly could be true, and may even be likely that it’s true,” Fauci said, “but the absolute nailed-down proof isn’t there.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/15/mystery-illness-killed-boy-years-later-doctors-learned-what-it-was-aids/

I'll meet you there at 2:00 pm

I always thought the first cases were of kaposi's syndrome identified in New York. But I see from the link that the two sets of cases were discovered on the same day. Thank you @TotallyOzfor reminding us all of this pivotal moment in our lives. It is one we should never forget. It brings back so many memories, many of fear because in those early years being informed of a positive test was quite literally the door opening to a long lingering death. And if we had lovers or just casual acquaintances with whom we might have had sex, we were terrified of what might happen to them and then to us. The fear, too, of the possibility that we were infected and were passing death on to others. And yet, looking back I sometimes wonder if those days were quite as frightening for most of us as perhaps they should have been. I did not refrain from sex after i had heard of HIV. I did not even start to use condoms until I had learned a lot more about the disease. But then I was in a part of the world where it took a longer time for reality to dawn. It took the death in 1987 of one whom I had loved passionately to knock me to my senses. Although we had not been together for four years, we eventually became good friends and I had had tea with him just 10 weeks before his death. His new lover informed me of his passing. He had meant so much to me that I flew the round trip of 12,000 miles just to attend his funeral. Although I was 99% certain I could not have been HIV+ as a result of our relationship, I started to think of all the other men I had slept with, many in different countries. I became more afraid. What if I was positive? A little earlier, in October 1984 three friends in Tokyo had birthdays within 4 days of each other. They invited me to the joint party they would be holding. I said I had to decline. I just could not afford the trip. Nearer the time, I thought this is silly. They are good and close friends and I do want to be there. So I bought a ticket. I did not tell them I would be coming. So when they opened the door and saw me bearing gifts (as it were), there were lots of smiles and laughter. I am glad I went. It was a wonderfully happy evening. I ended up with another of their guests who had seemed such a quiet soul but was a tiger in bed. What I could not know then was that I would see none of my three friends again. They all died of AIDS. I admire @Ruthriestonso much for all he did for those young men he cared for before and after death. You, sir, are one of the many saints and one of the many heroes of those times.

I must have taken more than 200 flights on 747s. One was once the longest route in the word - Chicago to Seoul on Northwest. I remember as we were getting close to Japan asking the flight attendant if we would be landing in Seoul on time. It depends, she told me. The headwinds have been quite strong and we may need to stop in Narita to take on fuel. As we passed Japan I just hoped the captain had done his fuel usage figures correctly! I was fortunate in that most of my Northwest flights were in business class. I could never understand why it was nicknamed Northworst. I assume that was on the basis of the domestic coach flights. I found almost all the trans-Pacific flights enjoyable. Strange to think that the US trans-Pacific flights used only to be on Northwest or Pan-Am. In the early 1980s both carriers tried to woo business passengers with free helicopter trips between JFK and the Manhattan East Side helipad. Best way to get into Manhattan! Around 1983 I took Pan Am to JFK. When the flight attendant came round with the business class lunch, she muttered something. I asked if she would kindly repeat it. She then shouted, "Meat or fish?" The fish was disgusting! That was the last time I took Pan Am. Within a few years they had sold the Pacific routes to United. But JAL was probably the best service for trans Pacific routes.

And now back to the 737 Max and Airbus A320 Neo for medium haul oceanic travel in narrow bodies. Bring back the 747-400 puhlease! Loved that aircraft.

From Supersonic to the back of the bus. Every year the Crystal Cabin Awards are dished out to designers who come up with innovative ideas for aircraft economy interiors. So far as I can see, none has been adopted since airlines have been determined to squeeze as many passengers in as possible. 777s used to have 9 across 3-3-3 seating. Not any more. Several airlines have added an extra seat for a 3-4-3 layout and reduced aisle space to make it possible. 2 or 3 extra rows have also been added therefore reducing seat pitch. On my first 747 flight around 40 plus years ago and for a few years thereafter, I can remember sitting in window seats and yet being able to pass by my two fellow passengers to get out to the toilet without disturbing them. In those days seat pitch must have been 35" to 36' instead of the 31" or 32" common now. This design is short listed in the 2021 Crystal Cabin Awards. It is an idea developed by a 21 year old Spanish student. It is based on a double level cabin, does away with overhead bins in favour of undersea storage. Interesting though it is, it seems those on the lower levels have a definite advantage. By sliding forwards, the seats [rivde a good recline, and having lots of space under the seat in front, there is a ton of legroom. Those in the upper level seem to have the same recline, but I would not be at all happy with not being able to stretch my legs. And there is no possibility of that space being increased. Maybe a two tier economy pricing might be necessary. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/double-decker-airplane-cabin-concepts-crystal-cabin-awards/index.html

I suspect one issue that will eventually come into the mix is speed versus on board facilities. The Concorde seats were narrow. They had only a little more legroom than economy seats and the recline was extremely limited. In the 1950s/early 60s first class cabins were not much more luxurious than premium economy nowadays, although I expect the food was planned to be excellent with lots of caviar etc. For the Concorde inventors, it was assumed that speed would be of paramount importance to passengers. Since then with the advent of the super wide body jumbos and 4 classes, most major airlines have full flat beds in first and business class plus a host of other goodies. Some, like Qantas, are prioritising ultra long haul flights like Perth to London with Sydney to London eventually to follow. The competition is therefore likely to be for executives who prefer to have a night's sleep prior to arrival along with the other goodies that first/business class provides, and those who would like shorter flights over a shorter distance with great meals featuring the best wines and champagnes along with some time to work - although how you work after a few glasses of Crystal champagne, Chateaux Margaux and d'Yquem along with your caviar, balik salmon, beef wellington and freshly made crepes suzette, somehow beats me.

5,878 miles If I had had to live within 20 miles from my home, I think I would be long dead by now!!

Yes, Concorde (it was always referred to using the French spelling) drank fuel, but it did so primarily because it was an aircraft designed using 1950s technology when the price of fuel was peanuts. It was so low it was hardly a factor in any costs. I flew Concord only once in the mid-1990s and loved it. But then i did not pay for my ticket. I also think it is important to remember that Concorde was almost always full or close to full in its first decades - and at prices that in early 1990 were at a 50-100% premium over first class tickets. At those prices both BA and Air France, the only two operators, also made quite a bit of cash from charters. Indeed, it was a chartered Air France flight that crashed. And surely that is what killed (sorry!) the aircraft. No matter how much both airlines spent to ensure such a crash would never happen again, the myth of its being a safe aircraft crashed with it. The reduced passenger numbers which followed allied to the increased maintenance costs could not justify the service continuing. BA's Concorde pilots all believed the aircraft could continue for many more years, but the losses were too great. I cannot say the early evening time saving meant much to me. What I really liked was the ease of travel from boarding at Heathrow direct from the lounge and a guarantee of not less than 15 minutes from arrival at the gate to entering the free limousine into NYC. But the passenger seated next to me was the boss of McDonald's in the UK. He was flying for that evening's Board meeting and would return on the morning Concorde the following day! As to the future, the key surely is once again cost. If the fares are kept to biz class levels, then i see a big demand. But if the trans Pacific flights are no longer than Tokyo to the West Coast gateways, I suggest this could present a problem. Pre-covid, Cathay Pacific was running 5 daily flights from HKG to JFK, all but one being non-stop. SIA had re-introduced its all biz class non-stop Singapore/Newark service. Will there be enough passengers just on a Japan/West Coast service? Clearly United has done its homework and must assume so. But can it keep prices at biz class levels? Maybe it does not need to as top executives can normally fly first class. Of all the Concorde photos, I love this much published one. It is the last ever BA Concorde flight just before landing at its final resting place in Bristol, England. Photo: Lewis Whyld, South West News Service

There used to be three 7 11s quite close to me. The closest put up the shutters about 6 months ago. Then guess what? A new 7 11 three times larger opened two months later that is even closer! You win some, lose some I guess.

I can not agree more. Decades ago I would just dash off an angry letter, more to get the incident off my chest rather than to gain some sort of advantage. I suspect dealing with lawyers as part of my work made me realise that a cool head is needed to describe the incident in a very coherent manner. Words like disgraceful, disrespectful and dreadful quickly disappeared from my complaints, and I always now end regretting for bringing the matter to the attention of the addressee but I do not know any other way of finding redress. With airlines, I know that their playbook is always to deny and delay. So I play the game. I once caught an Asian airline at London deliberately misrepresenting a situation to induce me to travel. Basically their gate supervisor and gate agent both lied to me. I discovered this when I reached my destination. So I composed a letter to the Chairman seeking reimbursement of that sector of my business class ticket. A month later I got the usual letter of apology which also pointed out that the airline had fulfilled the conditions of my ticket by actually getting me from A to B. I wrote back pointing out that deliberate misrepresentation can be actionable in court in London. A month later, they continued to deny responsibility but offered me a free one-way long haul upgrade subject to load. In other words, if the plane was full, tough luck on me. I stuck to my guns. After about 4 months, I wrote again, this time giving them 72 hours to resolve the issue to my satisfaction or I would meet with my solicitor with a view to taking action against the airline. The following day I received a fax, an email AND a hand-delivered letter offering an option of three types of compensation. I took the 50,000 free miles. At that time that was only 10,000 miles short of a business class return ticket to Sydney!

I have railed against RBS in the UK. But my experiences have not all been bad. About 10 years ago I had to transfer a very substantial sum of money from one country to another. Previously I had always done that by a call to the manager of my branch and following up with a fax - although never for such a large sum. Assuming all would go smoothly, I had already made arrangements to transfer much of that cash out of the incoming bank. When I tried to call the manager of my branch, I found for the first time that I was put through to a general call centre. It then took around 14 minutes to get through to my branch. But I was not actually put through. The idiot call centre rep merely told me she had the day off that day. Instead of putting me through to the Assistant Manager, he wished me a good day and hung up! After a couple more tries and well over 30 minutes wasted, I managed to speak to the AM. No problem she said. Just send the fax and then we will call you back to ask you some security questions. I'm on the line now, I said. Ah, but we have to call you at the number registered in your file. Problem! I was travelling and the only numbers they had were those in Bangkok. I asked her to check with her security people. No luck! Nothing I could do would persuade her, no information I provided was acceptable. I then told an untruth. I explained I was not returning to Bangkok for three days and the money had to be in my account the day before then. So I would have to make a special trip back home just to answer some stupid security questions and then immediately fly back to the city I was calling from. In fact, I was due to return home that evening, but she was not to know that. Sure enough, the security people called the following day and asked three perfectly inane questions. The cash was then immediately transferred. I am a great believer in nicely worded letters of complaint sent to the highest official I can find. I found the name of the Chairman of the Bank. I wrote to him, repeated my little fiction. I soon received a letter back from an Assistant saying they had started an internal enquiry and I would hear the result soon. I assumed they would request copies of my "specially purchased" air tickets with the date of my return to the city I had called from. That would then be that. Good try! But they didn't want any evidence. A few weeks later I was informed the bank had put £1,000 into my account as compensation!

I thought I read somewhere that the online app was not working for something like 3 months. If it goes down once, then I can imagine there is a chance it will go down again. For Bangkok residents, the long trek out to Immigration at Chaengwattana is a real pain.

Well, that's reassuring! We've been taking care for more than 14 months and just have to wait another six??? I'm at the point where I might consider flying to another country, doing the two week quarantine, getting vaccinated and then coming back for the second two week quarantine. Trouble is there seems there is a major shortage of vaccines in this part of the world. The one place that has more than it needs is Hong Kong. But in 3 days it raises its quarantine period for those from Thailand to 3 weeks with a further week for observation! That rules that out for me. I wonder what the rules are in the UK. At least there I believe I could quarantine in a family member's house (he lives alone).