Month: January 2024

Like most things in the UK the schooling system is supposed to be very organised, if not regimented. Which is a bit intimating if you do not fit strictly within the parameters they work to.

Jono was seventeen without GCSE. Eventually we got him into a course for repeat students at Chichester College which is graded as Outstanding. But a year later I do have many questions. Not just about Chichester College, or the grading system, its the system.

Fortunately we ended getting locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic and he managed to scrape through with straight fours and a single five.

I haven’t seen much evidence of a Thai community in Chichester  and was expecting to be reminded that I am ten thousand kilometres away.

But I ate myself to a standstill at the Chichester Thai Festival.

Still no dry curry.

But there was papaya salad, logan juice and the coconut desserts you get wrapped in banana leaf. Mu ping, fried banana and crispy pork.

Khanom krok, nam isan, sai krok isan, and the Chiangmai sausage.

Thai dancing and a young male vocalists who switched easily between between Thai and English who sang exceptionally well.

Stalls selling Thai food products including bamboo shoots, durian and sataw. Others displaying clothes and other typically Thai goods.

Traditional Thai massage

And plenty to keep the kids occupied whilst Mum and Dad relax with an ice cold Singha beer.

Applying for the new Thai e-passport is super quick and efficient. Except when your brother is a minor under the age of sixteen. We had to get a form from Amphoe for his passport. The other complication was that Dad is stuck in the England trying to organise a visa for the family to move and settle in the UK.

In which case he is required to provide a letter confirming that he consents to my Mum applying to renew passports for my brother and myself.

This he did.

He posted us the letter of consent together with a copy of his passport which took three weeks to get to us. Note for Dad, next time pay the extra and send it priority delivery.

Then when we eventually got up to Bangkok we found that they couldn’t accept it. It needs to be certified by the Thai Embassy in London on an official form, all in Thai.

He took leave, the train to the London Victoria Station and the District Line to Grosvenor Rd. From there he followed Google maps to the Thai Embassy.

The Embassy was not quite as efficient as they are in Bangkok. At first he joined the wrong queue but eventually got everything done and arranged to have the letter of consent and certified copy of his passport mailed back to him in the self addressed envelope which he had bought from the Post Office which is a priority service they offer.

He later found Rosa’s Thai Cafe which is near the London Victoria station before taking the train home. The documents will take three working days to process and when he gets them back he will courier them to us so we can pick the passports up when we next go up to Bangkok.