Well, that’s April 1st out of the way. Somewhat disappointed that my post was not met with howls of outrage and derision, how could I sell up all my gear for for a German toy etc. etc. But you lot are far too smart to fall for such nonsense. Unlike the idiots on Thai Visa.
The forums on Thai visa seem to be mainly populated by grumpy, Thai-hating, sad arseholes who wait by their keyboards in order to pour scorn and vitriol over every post that pops up. Although there is some useful information available, and some helpful people, it is mainly a depressing place to visit.
On 1st April 2011, Thai Visa posted a news story proclaiming that “The Ministry of Interior are bringing a new proposal before the Cabinet prohibiting foreigners over the age of 50 from marrying Thai nationals”.
Whilst any sane person could see that this was a wind-up, hundreds of neanderthals unleashed hell via their keyboards; it made for hilarious reading. Once it was eventually pointed out to them that this was just a joke. they responded that this was exactly the sort of thing the Thai government would do, so it was no wonder they believed it; once again twisting their own stupidity into criticism of their host country.
After that, you would think nobody would fall for it again. But you have to allow for the short attention span of these plonkers…
Yesterday Thai Visa announced “The Thai government is proposing a change from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right side of the road, the department of public roads has announced. The proposal will be send to parliament in June and the law will take affect on 1 January 2014, with the turning of the year”.
Slightly less believable than the previous hoax; but enough to stir the keyboard warriors into action, with pages of outraged comments soon piling up; completely ignoring the occasional commenter who pointed out the date.
Fools, all of them, you wouldn’t catch me out on April 1st.
Except for last year when she who must be obeyed announced she had given all her savings to her mother and grandmother to manage in some crazy investment scheme, the details of which I forget. But I do remember being very angry with her. Her mother and grandmother are completely incompetent at managing money, they should work in a bank. Why the hell had she done something so stupid? Why didn’t she discuss with me first? It would be her own fault if she lost all her money. She sat and took my abuse for a full fifteen minutes before she whispered “April fool”.
Having been caught so comprehensively last year, no way would I fall for her tricks this year. So, suitably aware, I sat down to write my April 1st blog post and she who must be obeyed headed off to the tax office to submit some papers in support of a refund. She came back an hour or so later with a worried face.
We have a problem. What problem? As part of my declaration I have to provide information about my husband and they have discovered your name on their computer with some information that will require you to go and be interviewed.
At this point I must declare that there was an “incident” in my past which I thought had been resolved but have always had a little concern that the tax office might resurrect it. This announcement set several alarm bells ringing in my little head.
There then followed a discussion where she played the concerned wife with several suggestions as to how we might handle this recent development, whilst I became increasingly concerned as to the possible ramifications of a tax office investigation. When I had reached a level of disquiet that she considered to be sufficient, she whispered “April fool”.
She won’t get me next year.
Comments 🔗
2013-04-02| Grant saysWe can wait, we can wait, we’ve got long, err watchamacallits, you know, umm, MEMORIES, that’s it!
2013-04-02| The Heavyweight saysMy wife didn’t even know the habit, and apparently doesn’t find it very appealing - lucky me ;-)
2013-04-02| Barry saysYou have a very smart wife. As for changing over to drive on the other side of the road, Sweden did exactly that in 1967. It wouldn’t be a problem in Thailand because there are plenty who drive on whichever side of the road is convenient to them already, so few would notice the difference.
2013-04-02| robin saysIt sounds like your wife has a career in acting!