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My New Year resolution is to start posting on this forum. I catch up with the news & views as often as I can but have always been reluctant to write. It isn't that I am too shy, it is just knowing that if I start something I may not get back to replying for a week or more.
No excuses today. I have my first day off with no plans for months & I want to put on the record my involvement with our absent friend Franck.
I followed him from the start of Club 131 & deciding he seemed a decent enough type of guy I visited him back in May & kept in touch. I was in the bar the night Moo was let out & stood in Franck's room giving her money at his prompting as she needed some to get back on her feet & I was happy to do it.
An hour later I discovered she had borrowed Franck's motorbike to visit friends. That's OK I thought, she probably has some stuff to catch up on. As the hours passed I started to get mad. It is not the first time in my life I have been mislead by a junkie but this time it was my money & someone elses naivety that let her back out to score. No proof but she had promised to return in 10 minutes.
Anyway I always get through quite a bit of money when in LOS as I sometimes tip the less popular ones in the bars & clubs as a form of self-imposed tax in gratitude for the wonderful times I have enjoyed there over 31 years. It is only when you have been there many times that you begin to fully appreciate just how poor so many of those in the hospitality biz are. If they are not young & pretty then they are hungry just about all the time. You would be shocked how rough life is for most.
1976 I arrived as an innocent back packer for a 2 month stay & left a fully paid up member of the Thailand Appreciation Society. There is no such thing of course but I have had the best times of my life in LOS & think nothing of helping locals where I can. I sound like a soft touch which I definitely am not, neither am I so wealthy that I can afford to throw money around but sometimes you can be so caught up in the moment you throw caution to the wind.
Well at least thats what I did.
I messaged Franck & told him he needed to expand the bar & as he had mentioned the place next door was available I said it would be a great idea. Then I changed my mind when I found out the wall between them couldn't be removed as they were 2 seperate buildings. Franck's overtures to me to come in as his partner were met by my insistence that I wouldn't consider anything until I returned & could carry out a due dilligence on everything.
Anyway he already had a partner.
Now the story becomes uninteresting as it is a continuation of Franck always suggesting new ways to make the bar better but nothing would coax any funds from me. Then one day he changed tactic & he was in urgent need of money for something to do with his family. This had to be serious because he was pleading with me & so I decided to send it to him. If nothing came of our joint venture discussions then the money would be treated as a loan.
That was the start of it & over time there were new emergencies & I reluctantly helped him out. Funding his lifestyle is what I was doing but I don't doubt he had a heart condition. I was in the habit of ringing him when I was driving home from work, its called living your life vicariously. Towards the date when he left Pattaya there was no doubt he wasn't well.
He was in the emergency dept of the hospital a few times & other times he was laying down in his room too stuffed to go down to the bar. I had come to know Franck well & as I genuinely liked him I thought nothing of offering him money for his trip. This wasn't about business, this was someone helping someone because he needed it.
Now the events of his leaving dont make a lot of sense to me because I expected him to go away for his operation, then come back or at least get in touch to discuss the new place. By the time he left I had found out about the break down of his existing arrangement but never knew that he had sworn to wreck the business after he lost his income from it. Quite understandable when you learn just what Franck was up to.
I was done a big favour as it would have taken time to find out just what he was like as a partner. I told Franck that the money could be raised to do something on a big scale. I won't talk about where it was coming from but I left Franck in no doubt that whatever was needed was available. Now I believe his health issue has stopped him pursuing any thoughts of restarting his life in Pattaya, something I am sure he would love to do.
I also suspect there are more people yet to reveal themselves who lost money otherwise why would he be hiding from me. I have never abused him, asked for my money back & had I known Batman was being shafted over 100,000 baht he only had to ask me for it & I would have sent it to him. Shit, with the money I was able to raise, it wasn't worth the bad publicity of such stupidity. Really sorry Batman, I hope we can share a drink sometime in Pattaya.
I am sure Franck follows every word that is written about him & in fact the emails sent to me & others by Filipe are Franck, unless the prediliction to overuse exclamation marks is an inherited trait.
Come on Franck, reply online or send me a message. You have my email address & phone number.
Confessing is good for the soul & just because some on this site have attacked you don't let that bother you. I genuinely would like to know how your health is or that you are still alive. I told you that all that kamagra would catch up with you.
And Nicky, you were right - she is lovely & I only regretted not taking her when I met her in May. I brought the photo with me of the two of us taken in May when I seriously thought she was a girl. She wants a copy because she is never going to look like that again. She must have been underaged. Her pictures taken since her accident show someone who doesn't look well. I hope she recovers quickly.
Now some of you reading this are going to think I am a naive fool but I can assure I have worked too hard for what I have to be that. Franck was not dealing with the village idiot but he had an endearing charm about him that was so put-on that I liked him in spite of my concerns. All conmen are utterly likeable & believable, besides he helped make it a very interesting year, what with his diary & our chats.
I wont make excuses for Franck & as for my own involvement, hell it is my money though I have long stopped thinking I might see any of it back. I do regret this episode has deterred my backer but, hey, the guys sick, what can I do? I would love to hear from anyone who knows any developments with Franck as I haven't had time to catch up on the diary lately.
There you go Stogie, I told you in October I would post my story, I just wanted to wait & see if I heard anything before doing so.
To Sam & Rossco down at La Bamba - best of luck guys, you know I would rather be there then anywhere.
To all the board members, from the few I've met to the many I am yet to, happy New Year.
No excuses today. I have my first day off with no plans for months & I want to put on the record my involvement with our absent friend Franck.
I followed him from the start of Club 131 & deciding he seemed a decent enough type of guy I visited him back in May & kept in touch. I was in the bar the night Moo was let out & stood in Franck's room giving her money at his prompting as she needed some to get back on her feet & I was happy to do it.
An hour later I discovered she had borrowed Franck's motorbike to visit friends. That's OK I thought, she probably has some stuff to catch up on. As the hours passed I started to get mad. It is not the first time in my life I have been mislead by a junkie but this time it was my money & someone elses naivety that let her back out to score. No proof but she had promised to return in 10 minutes.
Anyway I always get through quite a bit of money when in LOS as I sometimes tip the less popular ones in the bars & clubs as a form of self-imposed tax in gratitude for the wonderful times I have enjoyed there over 31 years. It is only when you have been there many times that you begin to fully appreciate just how poor so many of those in the hospitality biz are. If they are not young & pretty then they are hungry just about all the time. You would be shocked how rough life is for most.
1976 I arrived as an innocent back packer for a 2 month stay & left a fully paid up member of the Thailand Appreciation Society. There is no such thing of course but I have had the best times of my life in LOS & think nothing of helping locals where I can. I sound like a soft touch which I definitely am not, neither am I so wealthy that I can afford to throw money around but sometimes you can be so caught up in the moment you throw caution to the wind.
Well at least thats what I did.
I messaged Franck & told him he needed to expand the bar & as he had mentioned the place next door was available I said it would be a great idea. Then I changed my mind when I found out the wall between them couldn't be removed as they were 2 seperate buildings. Franck's overtures to me to come in as his partner were met by my insistence that I wouldn't consider anything until I returned & could carry out a due dilligence on everything.
Anyway he already had a partner.
Now the story becomes uninteresting as it is a continuation of Franck always suggesting new ways to make the bar better but nothing would coax any funds from me. Then one day he changed tactic & he was in urgent need of money for something to do with his family. This had to be serious because he was pleading with me & so I decided to send it to him. If nothing came of our joint venture discussions then the money would be treated as a loan.
That was the start of it & over time there were new emergencies & I reluctantly helped him out. Funding his lifestyle is what I was doing but I don't doubt he had a heart condition. I was in the habit of ringing him when I was driving home from work, its called living your life vicariously. Towards the date when he left Pattaya there was no doubt he wasn't well.
He was in the emergency dept of the hospital a few times & other times he was laying down in his room too stuffed to go down to the bar. I had come to know Franck well & as I genuinely liked him I thought nothing of offering him money for his trip. This wasn't about business, this was someone helping someone because he needed it.
Now the events of his leaving dont make a lot of sense to me because I expected him to go away for his operation, then come back or at least get in touch to discuss the new place. By the time he left I had found out about the break down of his existing arrangement but never knew that he had sworn to wreck the business after he lost his income from it. Quite understandable when you learn just what Franck was up to.
I was done a big favour as it would have taken time to find out just what he was like as a partner. I told Franck that the money could be raised to do something on a big scale. I won't talk about where it was coming from but I left Franck in no doubt that whatever was needed was available. Now I believe his health issue has stopped him pursuing any thoughts of restarting his life in Pattaya, something I am sure he would love to do.
I also suspect there are more people yet to reveal themselves who lost money otherwise why would he be hiding from me. I have never abused him, asked for my money back & had I known Batman was being shafted over 100,000 baht he only had to ask me for it & I would have sent it to him. Shit, with the money I was able to raise, it wasn't worth the bad publicity of such stupidity. Really sorry Batman, I hope we can share a drink sometime in Pattaya.
I am sure Franck follows every word that is written about him & in fact the emails sent to me & others by Filipe are Franck, unless the prediliction to overuse exclamation marks is an inherited trait.
Come on Franck, reply online or send me a message. You have my email address & phone number.
Confessing is good for the soul & just because some on this site have attacked you don't let that bother you. I genuinely would like to know how your health is or that you are still alive. I told you that all that kamagra would catch up with you.
And Nicky, you were right - she is lovely & I only regretted not taking her when I met her in May. I brought the photo with me of the two of us taken in May when I seriously thought she was a girl. She wants a copy because she is never going to look like that again. She must have been underaged. Her pictures taken since her accident show someone who doesn't look well. I hope she recovers quickly.
Now some of you reading this are going to think I am a naive fool but I can assure I have worked too hard for what I have to be that. Franck was not dealing with the village idiot but he had an endearing charm about him that was so put-on that I liked him in spite of my concerns. All conmen are utterly likeable & believable, besides he helped make it a very interesting year, what with his diary & our chats.
I wont make excuses for Franck & as for my own involvement, hell it is my money though I have long stopped thinking I might see any of it back. I do regret this episode has deterred my backer but, hey, the guys sick, what can I do? I would love to hear from anyone who knows any developments with Franck as I haven't had time to catch up on the diary lately.
There you go Stogie, I told you in October I would post my story, I just wanted to wait & see if I heard anything before doing so.
To Sam & Rossco down at La Bamba - best of luck guys, you know I would rather be there then anywhere.
To all the board members, from the few I've met to the many I am yet to, happy New Year.
. Fortunately I resisted the temptation to ... err ....'invest', but he was very plausible - and I enjoyed his company. I'm just gullible with ladyboys 
.... is that the police fine early on in Club 131's life put paid to solvency at the bar - when he had to borrow the money at an exorbitant interest rate - and he then got out of his depth and became desparately optimistic. And having to keep his prolific LB desires going, to keep his mind off the financial disaster around him. There was little doubt he had heart trouble, which both local hospitals (Pattaya & Bangkok) told him would not be assisted by daily doses of kamagra.
) 
, but none of them looked a thing like franck. 
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