Musing Amusedly

(If you’ve arrived at this blog as a result of clicking on a link left in the comments section of your own blog, then please click on this link for further information)

It’s a funny old life, uh? I say this because if two weeks ago you’d asked me what I thought would be the chances that a spammer would try and pass himself/herself off as me and would send spam comments to loads of other blogs apparently in my name, then I probably would have replied with something like the following:
“I think that there’s about as much chance of that happening as there is of me seeing two men and a three-legged, life-sized, plaster of Paris horse in the back of a pick-up truck travelling through the streets of Bangkok”.

And how right I would have been!


The above photo is clickable.

I don’t know what happened to the occupants of the above featured pick-up truck. I don’t know where they were going, nor do I know why they were going there. But I do know that they are no longer in my field of vision.

The generalizations that I’ve made in the previous paragraph concerning the occupants of the pick-up truck could equally well be applied to the spammer who recently attempted to associate himself/herself with Doodee’s Thailand (to read more about the spammer’s activities in relation to this blog please click on this link). I don’t know why he/she did what he/she did, and frankly I don’t particularly care either. But I am aware that the spammer has already pretty much disappeared from view. I look upon this apparent disappearance as the first thing that the spammer has done of which I wholeheartedly approve.

The spammer’s activities did cause a certain amount of disruption to the normal flow of this blog. But that’s no big deal. I put Doodee’s Thailand together for my own personal amusement, and also because I know that there are a number of you folks out there on the internet who genuinely enjoy taking a look at it. I like sharing it with you. But Doodee’s Thailand is just one of my many hobbies. It’s not something that I’m precious about.

So, as soon as I become confident that Doodee’s Thailand is unlikely to be subjected to further disruption I shall begin posting regularly to it again. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.
Have a nice day.

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I Did Not Leave a Comment on Your Blog or Forum

If you’ve arrived at this blog by clicking on a link in a comment left on your own blog or a comment left in a forum (a comment supposedly left by me) then I’m sorry to tell you that you have been deceived – but not by me.
I rarely leave comments on blogs other than my own.
I have not left a comment on anyone’s blog other than my own for at least six months.
I have never placed a comment in a forum.

Someone is impersonating me
Doodee’s Thailand usually receives a few hundred hits per week. During the last twenty four hours it has received over four hundred hits, and most of them are coming from comments sections on a multitude of other blogs (I have not left comments on any blogs other than my own during the last six months) and from forum postings (none of which have been made by me).
Likewise my own comments section is being swamped with messages mostly saying, “Thank you for your comment left on my blog” – but I haven’t left any comments on any blogs for longer than I can remember.

I’m sorry to have repeated myself in the above paragraphs, but I want to be sure that no-one could possibly misunderstand what I’m saying here.

I have no idea as to why this bizarre situation has arisen. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on developments.

Please read on. You might be able to help stop this spammer.

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UPDATE – An Excellent Idea (Sunday 3rd February): Flyer has left an excellent suggestion in this entry's comments section as to how this spammer might be defeated. But information about the incoming spam will need to be provided. I don’t have the relevant information because I’m not receiving these spam comments. If you are receiving these spam comments it might be helpful if you would follow Flyer’s advice. It looks to me like it’s worth a try. Flyer’s comment and advice is the twenty first comment in the list. Please take a look at it.

UPDATE (Monday 4th February): Alex has left some interesting advice in the comments list. His comments are the thirty ninth and fortieth in the list.
Re How to block spam comments on Blogger and Blogspot Blogs: Use word verification, as I do. You will find the control button for word verification in Settings/Comments.
I thank all of you for your comments and your support. And I give special thanks to those of you who are offering constructive suggestions that hopefully will help bring this matter to a conclusion.

UPDATE (Friday 8th February): The spam related hits to this blog have been steadily decreasing since Monday, and as a consequence the spam related comments have decreased significantly too. The figures for both items stand at less than ten percent of what they were only six days ago. I hesitate to read too much into only a few day’s figures, but even so I see recent developments as an indication that this spamming episode is drawing to a close. Let’s hope that’s the case.
I recently received a comment from a reader in which he gave a name, postal address, Email address and telephone number for the spammer. I cannot publish this comment without positive and absolute verification - to do so would be very irresponsible. And anyway, if the spammer has stopped or been stopped then I see no point in publishing such information. I see this entire odd spamming affair as insignificant and trivial. I prefer to draw a line under it at the earliest opportunity.
I’ve also received a comment which stated that the spammer’s domain registration was provided by “GoDaddy”. I don’t know whether or not this information is useful to those of us whose otherwise quiet lives have been interrupted by this spammer’s activities.
Once again, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who’ve been so helpful and supportive.
I’ll post to this blog again soon.

Paint Jobbers

Back in the days when a forum was something that we’d only ever heard of in Roman history lessons, when websites were places where lots of spiders lived, and Bluetooth was a rather unwelcome cosmetic condition I used to earn my living performing a job that was somewhat generously known as being a Triple Skilled Linesman. We Triple Skilled Linesmen used to spend a small amount of our time working in customers’ premises, an even smaller amount of our time working with underground cables, and huge amounts of our time shinning up and down telegraph poles. This latter mentioned overhead work was both very hard work and extremely good fun, and it’s left me with a fascination for watching other folk working at height. So, when recently I gazed from a fifth floor window only to espy the sight of the fellows working as featured in the photo below, I felt that I just had to snap it. And it’s my pleasure to present the resultant snap for you here, today on Doodee’s Thailand. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.


The above photo was taken in Petchaburi Province. I took it at a distance of several hundred metres away from our subjects. The guys that can be seen on the scaffolding were repainting the outside of the building. They were working at fourth and fifth floor height. They were performing their tasks at heights in excess of fifteen metres from the ground.

I expect that you can see from the photo that the scaffolding upon which these guys were working is a simplex latticework structure. It’s constructed from heavyweight bamboo tubes lashed and clamped together. It’s secured in an upright position by being tied to a bracket on the wall (it was also supported by two other lower brackets which are out of view). There aren’t any ladders on or near this scaffold. The only way to get to a high point on this scaffold is to shin up it from the ground, or to climb out from an upstairs window and descend on to it. In all of my years of performing overhead work I was never carefree enough or enthusiastic enough to have accessed such a basic structure in either of those manners.

Please note the guy squatting on the tiny ledge at the top left of the photo. Please take my word for it that he’s a long way from the ground and he’s squatting on the edge of virtually nothing. The next photo will give you a little more idea of the height at which these guys were working.


When I see Thai workmen toiling in the manner as shown above it makes me realize just how spoilt we Triple Skilled Linesmen were. Our employer provided us with safety goggles, hard hats, protective footwear, weatherproof clothing, harnesses, ladders, tool belts, and enough sash lines to moor the QE2 in harbour. And he also rewarded us handsomely for our endeavours. I stand in awe of Thai workmen who work as hard as the guys shown above were doing whilst utilizing only the most basic of equipment, and all for such modest remuneration. I couldn’t have done it all those years ago when I was a frivolous, fearless, pole-climbing fellow - and I certainly couldn’t do it now.


Nowadays my life is so much quieter than it was during those halcyon, pole-climbing days of my youth. Nowadays I can go for months on end with little more to excite me than the misplacing of the TV remote control, or a low battery warning on my mobile phone. But just recently I was involved in an unusually exciting incident – an incident during which I found myself to be within only a few metres of a most fearsome creature. And I plan to tell you about that chilling incident in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.
Have a nice day.

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You Wouldn’t See This in Liverpool

Today I have another photograph of an interesting automotive paint job to show you (for previous photos of automotive paint jobs please click on this link). But I have to confess that it’s very mischievous of me to publish this particular photo here on Doodee’s Thailand today. It’s mischievous of me to publish it because I know that it will delight my friend Gee Dubya (not Bush – I’ve never met him), and will at the same time very likely cause my close friend and mentor for this blog, Jaysee, to have palpitations. Please indulge me whilst I explain:

Gee Dubya and Jaysee are both keen football supporters.
(Language Note: “Football” is the English word for “Soccer”).
Gee Dubya is a devoted Manchester United fan. Jaysee is an ardent supporter of Liverpool Football Club (the archrival of Man U). And today’s photo on Doodee’s Thailand, although taken recently in Thailand, does seem to rather honour Manchester United Football Club. Hence, Gee Dubya pleased; Jaysee most un-pleased.


You can click on the above photo to enlarge it.

As you can see the motorcycle featured in the above photo has had some rather eye-catching airbrush artwork performed on it, and all in honour of the English Premier League football club Manchester United.

The enthusiasm that Thai people have for English Premier League football never fails to amaze me. It seems that almost all of Bangkok’s taxi drivers can name and identify most of the top players in the English Premier League, and they also display a knowledge of and an interest in team line-ups, match results, team progress, and players way beyond the extent of my own interest. A large proportion of other Thai people that I meet share a similarly extensive knowledge of and interest in English football clubs and club players. Some Thai football enthusiasts even go so far as to have their motorcycles painted in honour of their favourite football team (as you can see from the above photo). And I shudder to tell you that even Her@Home has been heard to shriek with excitement at the sight of a crucial goal being scored in a tense and enthralling Premier League football match.

Nowadays I enjoy watching a skillfully executed game of football but I don’t have any real allegiance to any one particular club. I used to be a big fan of Budleigh Salterton First Eleven, but we never won much and so I lost much of my interest in the game.
But even so, now that I’m living here in Thailand I find it very refreshing whenever I see vehicles such as the motorcycle featured in the picture above decorated in honour of football teams from my country of origin ten thousand kilometres away. It’s like having a little bit of my ethnic heritage here with me in Thailand. It’s the kind of thing that in conjunction with the warmth and kindness of the Thai people makes me feel to be so at home in this country.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: Paint jobbers (not jobs) of the aerial kind.

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Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

Airbrush Artistry Gives Rise to A Useful Thai Expression or Two

As I strolled in and around the coastal resorts of Petchaburi Province one of the many things that constantly impressed me was the magnificent artistry that adorns the exteriors of the tour buses that visit the area. Some of these tour buses, like the one featured in the photo below, are relatively plain, but pretty. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.


Others are decorated more intricately and artistically.


Others appear very artistic.


Some of the depictions are inspired and very imaginative.


Some are elaborate.


And others are downright ostentatious.


But they all reflect the bright, colourful, creative, joyous, fun-loving qualities that are such appealing aspects of the Thai psyche.

The above pictured multi-wheeled motorised murals are frequently to be seen meandering slowly, often in tight procession, through Thailand’s coastal resorts. They really do look most splendid as they travel in close procession.


You may notice that in the final one of the above photos that our view of the tour bus is partially obscured by a pick-up truck that was approaching it from the rear. This situation and similar situations have been recurring themes whenever I have tried to photograph these lovingly decorated vehicles. It seems that almost every time that I’ve managed to find my camera and ready it to take a snap of my chosen subject matter, so my view has been obscured by another vehicle, or a pedestrian, or the subject vehicle has already sped off into the distance. The most impressive buses always disappeared before I could photograph them for you. Such is life, or as we say in Thai, “Wut terr juk cheewit”.

“Wut terr juk cheewit” is an extremely useful Thai expression. A literal translation of it is rather difficult but -
“The customary practice of the wheel of life”
or
“The regular action of the wheel of life”
- are pretty close.
A more colloquial translation would be, “The Circle of Life”.

My experience is that “Wut terr juk cheewit” is used in exactly the same situations as those in which we English speakers would say, “That’s life (for you),” or, “Such is life”.
“Wut terr juk cheewit” can be seen as a rather more philosophical and much less flippant Thai equivalent of the English expression, “That’s the way the cookie crumbles”.
It’s a wonderful response to make when you don’t really know what to say for the best.

Despite its repetitive, revolving, circular implication “Wut terr juk cheewit” cannot be used to express the sentiment of the English proverb, “What goes around, comes around”.
“What goes around, comes around” is better expressed by the Thai expression, “Tum dee, daiy dee; tum choo-a, daiy choo-a”
– which literally means, “Do good, receive good; do bad (or nasty/ wicked/ evil/ vicious), receive bad”.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.
Have a nice day.

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THE NEXT UPDATE to Doodee’s Thailand will be published very soon.
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