A Geordie PM for Thailand....Howay the Lads!

One Abhisit Vejjajiva, aged 44 and born in Newcastle, England, has become the new Prime Minister of Thailand. I trust Khun Abhisit's education, Eton & Oxford University, will mean he is not likely to use language more familiar to readers of Viz though a familiarity with the patois of the NE of England may be useful. The BBC's profile rather ominously says of our new PM:"If there are any chinks in the Abhisit armour, it is perhaps that his good looks tend to outshine his sometimes rather bland political pronouncements." Oh dear, sounds abit like the kiss of death, "nice but dim"! The same article describes him disingenuously as anti-corruption, squeaky clean but also reports allegations of huge pay offs and trade offs to make Khun Abhisit's elevation possible. Well I am pleased we have a new PM and a new face and someone with a reputation for being straight. Khun Abhisit's youthful age is also important in that Thailand badly needs a younger player to come forward at this particular moment in its history.So chok dee Khun Abhisit as we say here.

We put the cat in amongst the pigeons today. Showed up at the town hall to register our marriage in Ratchaburi, all the relevant paperwork meticuloulsy translated into Thai and stamped and approved by the Thai Minstry of Foreign Affairs....to be told our marriage could only be certified by the Head Registrar and that we need to bring along two Thai citizens as witnesses. This is actually creative bureaucracy Thai style as there is no such requirement! Because we are both aliens! So back we will go on Friday with our two witnesses and see what difficulties we encounter then.....maybe a small motivator will be required, tea money it is called here! Watch this space! Fortunately the office is nearby so this next part of the process should not be too burdensome even if an amount of running around is required.

So an interesting day!