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Messages - MR

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1
General Discussion / Re: climate change
« on: 25 August, 2025, 02:05:44 PM »
Nah Terry - with me and Liverpool FC it's a case of "absence makes the heart grow less fonder"! I just can't bring myself to wholeheartedly support any bunch of players in any sport if they're being paid squillions to represent a population they don't even know! Btw, I was a bit premature with comments about the weather below - VN's 13th tornado of the season is due to make landfall soon and half a million folk have already been told to head for the hills!

2
General Discussion / Re: climate change
« on: 20 August, 2025, 03:43:38 PM »
It's wet season here in southeast Vietnam (Vung Tau - approx 120 km from Saigon/HCMC) so slightly cooler than usual at an average 31C with an hour or so of light rain each day, although humidity makes it feel hotter! Loads of rain down in Australia so we're hoping we barricaded our apartment well enough on our last trip downunder so we won't need snorkel and fins on the next trip! Just got back from a reunion trip up to Nha Trang, our old stomping ground 2006-2010 and weather very similar up there - average 31C with approx an hour a day of rain showers. Happy days! All the best to you and Fran, Terry - trust all's well with you both as it is with us and our niece Sunny - 13yo on Sunday and looking every day of 16!

3
General Discussion / John Tassell (RIP)
« on: 20 August, 2025, 12:43:21 PM »
There's an entry in the Obituaries section recording John Tassell's death and burial in Terendak Cemetery. Ian Lynch has now provided updated info that John Tassell's remains were repatriated to Australia (with the help of Geoff Southby) and he is now buried in Adelaide, SA.

4
General Discussion / Re: New year 2025
« on: 20 January, 2025, 01:42:22 PM »
Thanks Terry - and Happy New Year 2025 to you and Fran (I should say "Chuc mung nam moi" so you can get some exercise googling it - or should we now say "ChatGPT'ing it"! 'Ho ho ho' as Santa would say...
Btw, do you remember Dick Bryant? - see his note and my reply on the visitors' side of Pam's front page. I'm fairly sure I've described him accurately enough but maybe not. What do you think?
Anyway, hope you and all other ex-208'ers (should say ex-28 Brigaders to be accurate!) have a great year and let's hope we can all keep out of that ratbag Trump's way as he does his best to pull the world apart so he and his crooked mates can buy more properties!
It's Lunar New Year soon so Sunny gets a couple of weeks holidays from next week and we're giving her back to her mum for a fortnight while Linh and I head downunder to dust the cobwebs out of our apartment and catch up with medical appointments (only routine for me, thank goodness - and rather 'minor' sore knee problems for Linh so she scoffs Vitamin D like it's going out of fashion!).
Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

5
General Discussion / SEASON'S GREETINGS!
« on: 26 December, 2024, 12:33:19 PM »
Season's Greetings to everyone for a great Christmas and Happy and Prosperous New Year 2025!

6
General Discussion / Re: Logging in comments - one for Lee
« on: 30 September, 2024, 05:50:22 AM »
G'day Lee
I've been locked out of the MB for the past 24 hours because the login boxes at top left of the MB which are usually full of asterisks (which I presume to be my username and password) suddenly appeared empty! I was offered the chance of getting a new password but the promised link to my email address never eventuated. However, when I tried to login again, the asterisks suddenly reappeared. So I'm wondering if it might be useful to let everyone know that if they encounter forgotten password problems when logging in, just keep trying and you'll eventually succeed. What do you think?

7
General Discussion / Re: Checking In
« on: 27 September, 2024, 05:37:06 AM »
Yes indeed. Biden was all over the VN media only two days ago talking about his plans to form a strategic commercial partnership between VN and USA. Of course that could all change very quickly after the upcoming election in USA, which is doubtless being watched very closely in Hanoi's halls of power!

8
General Discussion / Re: Checking In
« on: 26 September, 2024, 03:37:19 AM »
G'day Ken - all good up here in Vietnam, thanks. Forecasters reckon we only have a few more typhoons before this year's wet season ends. Usual annual average is 12 storms for the country and about half that number for south-central where we are in Vung Tau, and we've had 4 so far with much less than normal damage, unlike those hit with all that carnage up north! Biggest problem for us is the population boom in Australia forcing the gov't to reduce the usual intake of overseas students, because we wanna get our niece Sunny into a high school near Willoughby so she can stay with us, but all the schools are full at the moment so we're stuck playing the "wait and see" game. Ho hum!  ::)

9
General Discussion / Re: Message Board
« on: 04 September, 2024, 01:57:34 PM »
Hi Pam.
Apologies for taking so long to respond but I had a problem with logging into this MB. No idea what happened but the user name and password boxes at the top of the page were suddenly empty instead of full of asterisks, and I couldn't for the life of me remember my user name and password for this site.
I've been trying to contact Lee but no response so I guess he's still busy helping his local council (I think that's what he was doing - sounded like IT support).
I came back onto this site just now because I think I might have found the password even if not the user name (we changed from the old ones that your Martin gave everyone when Lee rebuilt this site). But lo and behold, the user name and password boxes were suddenly full of asterisks again so I logged in successfully - but still don't know the user name and password!!!
Anyway, it doesn't look like anyone else is using the MB these days so will have to wait at least until Lee comes back on board to try and get him to help Steve Iceton.
All OK in this neck of the woods - Sunny goes back to school for second of two terms tomorrow, then will finish Year 7 (not 8 as I wrongly said below). She's been elected class leader for the second year running so we're all very proud - especially as she was also 1 of only 7 students from her school to pass Cambridge Key English Test (KET) with an A grade! Wish I had her brains!!!
Actually, I've just noticed the "Attachments and other options" below, and sure I've never seen them before so maybe Lee's back on board already and making more updates - I'll email him and let you know if any success.

10
General Discussion / Re: Message Board
« on: 14 August, 2024, 12:29:56 PM »
G'day Pam - I just popped on here for a quick squiz in case Graham Keogh had posted any updates about his granddaughter travelling over to Vietnam.
By the way, just had an email from Steve Iceton to say he's having problems logging onto this MB because it keeps telling him that it's sent a code to his email address but he doesn't receive anything! I've forwarded his email to Lee but not sure if or when he'll see it because the last he told me a while ago was that he was very busy these days (yes, with computer stuff - but I seem to recall it was for his local council although might be mistaken - he's helping someone, anyway!).
Our latest news is that our ward/niece Minh Anh ("Sunny") turns 12 next week and has just started Year 8 at school here in VN and has been elected class leader, so we're very proud of her and plan to take her up to Danang to walk the golden bridge at the end of this month! (Independence Day long weekend public holiday).

11
General Discussion / Graham Keogh - granddaughter Ellie
« on: 20 July, 2024, 11:19:57 PM »
G'day Graham - just thought I'd open a new post that we can use if necessary to make sure your granddaughter Ellie doesn't get lost on her trip to the far east, especially if she includes Vietnam in her itinerary, as mentioned on the Guest Book. All you have to do is open this thread and post a message. Cheers, Scouse

12
General Discussion / Re: Message Board
« on: 18 May, 2024, 11:51:08 AM »
Yes, Pam, MB posts are certainly few and far between these days - dare I say everyone moved on during the Covid lockdowns (I know we certainly did - it was a case of moving on or "dying in the ditch", to coin a phrase). And now life goes on in different ways for many of us...
The big question post-covid is whether you and those who can make things happen (Lee and Poul) want to keep the website (and MB?) going or not? And the answer is definitely in your hands, so I'll leave it there - except for one suggestion if I may:
You talk about forgetting passwords and then tell us you have more IT-related devices than some computer shops! Dare I say that perhaps the two are linked, and if you were to rationalise your devices (maybe down to 1 PC, 1 tablet and 1 phone), you might find it much easier to remember your passwords, especially if you do what many others do and base them all on a common theme, eg HowNowBrownCow@#$123, and the next one being HowNowBlueCow@#$456, and so on.
Just a thought...

13
General Discussion / Re: air fryers
« on: 12 May, 2024, 04:19:07 AM »
Lucky you, Pam. I'm on a self-imposed low protein diet since being wrongly diagnosed with CKD (chronic kidney disease) and reading all about the nasty stuff we eat with sodium, potassium, animal protein (including cow's milk) and phosphate. I realise my reaction in avoiding it all is over the top, but better safe than sorry - and it's much easier to get fresh fruit and veg in VN than most western countries, anyway. And I've gotta say I quite like the taste of soy or almond milk on my fruit and nuts breakfast these days! Haven't touched alcohol since before covid, and now I've been off red meat for at least six months. Would love to say I feel better for it but the only difference I've noticed so far is a small loss of weight! (but lots of mental comfort knowing I'm at least trying to do the right thing!). Got a mate arriving from Oz in a few weeks and he's a big drinker and definite "big English breakfast" fan so that's gonna be interesting!!!  ;D

14
General Discussion / Re: immigration
« on: 12 May, 2024, 04:03:06 AM »
Dunno if it's related but it probably is - the Vietnamese economy is now going gangbusters because of deals they're doing with China and Russia. Surprisingly, we don't hear any complaints from western countries!
Anyway, it means VN parents can now send their kids overseas for study, which is very popular because the teachers in VN schools are either mostly un- or barely qualified locals or backpackers pretending to teach English! And with favoured destination Australia now tightening up the visa requirements to stop the shonks getting study visas but just using them to get relatively highly paid work instead - then sending the money home, of course!
Frustratingly, genuine folk like our niece Sunny are finding it tough to get a visa (even though she's only 11yo so hardly likely to wanna go there to work even if we let her, which we wouldn't!). We were advised instead to give it a few more years before applying for her student visa, which makes sense but annoys Linh because it means she can't live in Australia until we can get Sunny's visa.
I'm happy in VN, especially since so many of my former mates in Oz have either died or moved somewhere cheaper to live than Sydney. Gotta say VN feels more like home to me these days - especially as my remaining rellos are in Sth Africa, Finland and UK but none in Oz.

15
General Discussion / Re: Message Board
« on: 12 May, 2024, 03:49:44 AM »
That's good news, Pam - let's hope a few more "oldies" get the same idea!

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