BangkokVilla

On the Ellison front here is one of the top Google image results for Ellison- baseball cap. The colour is distinctive and is the same in the picture from VP ...

I think many places offer a better 'lifestyle' than the UK- be this weather, work/life balance, financial or other. I think it really boils down to whether your mate and his family will miss friends and family... Australia is a long, long way from home (or indeed anywhere really..) which doesn't make visiting or trips home easy. I did vaguely research moving there myself a couple of years ago but decided against it. I recall reading a few articles in the UK press at the time covering the large numbers of Poms now returning home to the UK. Link Link2 As he is a professionally qualified dentist, I guess he should be able to get a working visa almost anywhere, how about Florida or Spain if he wants some better weather and more outdoors lifestyle ? I just spent 6 months back in Brum after 8 years overseas (with the odd 1 week visit home) I have to say I enjoyed it. We are professional whingers in the UK but it really isn't that bad !

Everybody, do not google Jessica Nigri Sorry, I couldn't resist. Thank you. Bit twattish for the Predator push, due a telling off and no more.

He's got to go for that. Didn't look so bad on first viewing, then I noticed how he brings his right boot back down outside his left ankle- clearly an unnatural position and IMHO a deliberate stamp on the head. In the game I noticed AWJ bleeding near the eye at the first scrum but didn't see the stamp.

Sweet Jesus Brad....WTF.

Get the **** in !

Just got back from the game- well it is a long trip after all Fantastic day down at VP, North Stand lower was rocking. Well done all at VP for creating the best atmosphere I can remember since the Derby games. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Thought we were OK 1st half but lacked any sort of penetration, Brad's save from Samba's header was a stunner. Better in 2nd half, nail biting at times and proud of the lads effort cheered on by a great crowd even when we were having some rocky moments. 6 from 6 out of Reading and QPR is better than I'd hoped for, just a shame Wigan and Soton won although it seems others are now being dragged into the mixer e.g Sunderland. Still a long way to go yet but let's allow ourselves to savour this win for a little while !

Bollox

Everything was looking good until the usual set-piece goal being given away. After that we were completely useless- no control, shape, confidence or ability. The lack of composure in a difficult situation from both manager (who changed the formation to a completely ineffective one) and players can only be massively worrying with a relegation battle ahead.... Edit : Congrats to Bradford.

Firstly, welcome to Birmingham mate. It's a great city and I am sure you will enjoy your time here. I only know South Birmingham well,so based on what you have indicated as being important I would suggest Harborne or Moseley as well. Both have active high streets with plenty of shops,restaurants and pubs/bars. Harborne is about 2 miles/10 minutes from Broad Street (City centre) with lots of entertainment options, probably going to be the same from Moseley. Harborne is very pleasant. Popular for students and young professionals. Easy to find a nice place to rent right off the high street with easy access to facilities and transport into town. Moseley has a bit more 'character' about it I would say, and a more varied mix of people. If you like currys you are in luck, as the Balti triangle is just a few minutes away. Probably more of a challenge to get something directly off the high street here but plenty of places within a 5 to 10 minute walk. If you want to live in town itself, Jewellry quarter/St Pauls square might be of interest.

I find that GIF quite disturbing to be honest. I am a big UFC fan and I have just finished watching 148 -but I can't see the fun in watching someone defenceless getting shoed in the head. :?

Blimey, some spiteful comments on this thread in the last few pages. I can't see he has said anything that controversial. I think he is a decent premiership squad player but I am not especially worried about him going. I presume as a relatively big fee signing he is on a sizeable package and I think we can save money for what he offers. However, I think he should have been told if he was not going to get a new offer. Granted he is on very good money but I assume he has a family and kids and like us all, a future to think about. Some of the comments regarding 'stress' in the context of receiving a big pay cheque remind me of John Gregory's stone-age attitude with Collymore. For some, money can't buy happiness, only a better class of misery.

My first regular season of watching Villa with my mates was 87-88 when I was 14 years old. 3 quid in, queues up Trinity road (Left side Holte End.) jumpers for goalposts and all that. Have to say it was good. Winning games, exciting matches and promotion. I have been quite lucky really, at least upto 2001, seen a couple of 2nd place finishes, a good number of top six finishes, European nights, last stand of the Holte, some cup wins...I won't mention 2000 FA Cup. Not a whole lot to get excited about since then apart from some reasonably good times under MON and beating the noses,eventually, but that only made it sweeter. Anyway, not especially enjoying now, back to 2002-2005 survival mode. We are currently in the shit but I don't think we will go down.

This. Was never a nice place to go (apart from convenience), always had to endure the walk back to the station after the game with their lot picking off anyone wearing colours. They seemed to really hate us for some reason and over time I responded in kind. I guess there weren't many other regular derbies around, in the 90's at least, so it grew from there on both sides. Nothing like the rivalry with Blues but there was definitely an additional edge to Cov games. Just for the record, Highfield Rd was an absolute shithole as well.

For a normally sane poster, you have given a few of those Levi. Constraints on advertising are required, otherwise you are heading into misrepresentation or fraud territory. Would you accept this in other aspects of your life- say investments, housing or medical care? Would you turn around and say 'nevermind', I got ripped off ? You mention estates suing upon death, aside from the obviously "regrettable" passing of a loved one, which no recompense can replace, what about the small fry items? Are you going to sue for a 50 quid piece of shit mis-advertised on a shopping channel. No. But the 'fraudster' may pocket millions through a slick and credible mass sell. That's not right by me, don't know about you. People should be held responsible for their words and deeds and be able to provide credible support, especially if claims are actively communicated in a public environment. As for Chindie's comments trying to assess your viewpoint from a "libertarian perspective", I can't think of a more regulated and litigious society on the planet than the US.

Rise again 7 year old thread, there's life in the old dog yet ! Union for me, footy will always be my love but rugby is my mistress. I particularly like the lack of feigning injury, whingeing and diving compared to footy. Tis a manly game played by men. Setanta has just arrived in Thailand in January, so I have just seen my first 6 nations for 5 years and am now enjoying 24 hour rugby and gaelic sports. I quite enjoy the gaelic football.

Let me give it to you straight, it sounds like you are developing or already have a drink problem. The good news is that I think you know this alread based on you saying that you want to stop, probably an indication that you feel you have little control over your drinking habits and easily succumb to temptation when an 'excuse' arrives e.g nephews 21st birthday next week. Start going to the gym as you mentioned and cut out the drinking altogether for a while (you can use your fitness drive as a reason for yourself and others and if you go to the gym in the evenings, hey presto no time for drinking). Exercise will make you feel stronger, fitter and more confident. You may also make some new friend here who don't centre their social lives around drinking. When you are back on an even keel, maybe you can try to have a social drink occassionally but it might be you are just better-off being tee-total. Sometimes it's hard to do, but learn to say 'no' to people when invited out by colleagues/friends etc, you have to do what is right for you and your overall wellbeing. Good luck mate.

Since moving overseas I have had to adjust to operating in a medical insurance situation, there's no NHS over here. My experience is that it is fairly normal to have these kinds of issues when presenting for medical treatment with an insurance card. You have to remember that many overseas hospitals are, sad to say, businesses- plain and simple. They will not run the risk of spending X dollars on a procedure and other expenses if they don't think they will get paid. Accordingly the hospitals prefer to receive the green light on a claim from the insurers and, as appears to be the case here, may even push the patient to absorb this risk by paying up-front to claim back later. It's not clear from what you said, but I would be telling the hospital to get lost on their request for her to pay and would also be pushing AXA very hard for them to move this situation forward, they are your insurance provider they have a Duty of Care to thier client. It is their responsibility to urgently assess and approve, in principle, any claim including perhaps an immediate advance on an element of the costs expected to be incurred. At this stage, I don't see any value in spending money on a solicitor either in the UK or US - just try to get AXA on the case and talking to the US hospital.

I watched the Newcastle game and they gave a very good account of themselves, hit the woodwork 3-4 times and got stuck into Chelsea. The two late breakway goals came as they were chasing the game but I am sure their fans would be proud of their performance. I fell asleep before our game came on at half-past midnight, sounds like I had a lucky escape.

Very nice. I'd love to get a 2nd hand Jag but too expensive over here as something like 250% import duty on non-thai manufactured cars. Looks like 2003 X-type is around GBP 20k and up. 2nd hand X-Types I think this XJ-S is an absolute beauty (apart from the seats- WTF were they thinking ?) but again GBP 20k is a bit rich for me. 1987 XJ-S

I have heard previously about SG car pricing, so out of interest I just checked the Toyota SG website and a Prius comes in at SGD 150k (GBP 75k), available for around GBP 25k in Thailand and the UK. That is expensive ! Mind you, on the bright side, at least SG is fairly compact with excellent public transport ! As for me, I have a Corolla Altis which cost me around GBP 15k. Looking to sell soon, it's now 3 years old but cars hold their value very,very well in Thailand, so I should get back over GBP 10k which I can put as a healthy deposit on a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport ( GBP 20k). No Pajero jokes gentlemen if you please. :winkold:

Don't think it would be appropriate to post these here in the circumstances and I am not sure of the legal situation with his injuction even though he has passed away. You can Google Saville accusations. I had left the UK by the time these surfaced, so I was rather shocked, to say the least, when I read these yesterday !

You are off to a great start there, a few ideas for you (not all necessarily 'classics'): Evil Dead (1&2 only, 3 is not so good) Braindead (AKA Dead Alive- Directed by Peter Jackson) American Werewolf in London Alien Night of the Living Dead (original) Return of the Living Dead The Fog (original) The Grudge Demons Event Horizon Nightbreed

Rest in peace Paddy, my condolences to your family and loved ones. With myself being a perennial VT lurker, we never exchanged views much but I was always moved by the courage, dignity and positive outlook in your posts during the course of your illness, you remain an example to us all.