Travelling Club Members - When Will The Treasurer Be Back? With our money!

Where is the club treasurer? Overseas? When will he or she come back?

Spending
What if you end the year with a handy sum of money. How do you spend it?

Do the committee members who have worked all year get a gift, or a certificate, or cash?

Disputes
Disputes may arise when on ex committee member is retired and another is a wage earner.

Whether you are raising the membership fee, or spending money on a party, you are likely to have a difference of opinion. The wage earners say, "Oh, we can afford it!" Or, "You can afford it."

Those who are retired might favours money being allocated in subsidising fees for long standing members and/or giving cash rewards to committee members.

Those in employment might favour spending on physical trophies such as plaques to add to status.

Those who are wage-earners might resent paying full price for one two or thee members of their family to subsidise others or offer them financial gifts.

I imagine advocates on both sides consider that the other is advocating a course diverting club money to themselves, or wasting club money. Who should decide, president, treasurer, or vote? I imagine whether to save money for the next exco and year's membership or spend it on your exco and your year's members is another source of debate - which applies to all clubs and the area and division.

Head Office Directives
I think the umbrella organization should remind all treasurers every month to send the month's account of money spent, money owed, and any payments to be paid in the rest of the year and next year.

It is very hard chasing a treasurer, making sense of what they say on the phone.

I had a treasurer who suffered a multiple bereavement from a car accident. We could not chase him for accounts without looking heartless.

At another club we had a treasurer who started a new job. He was too busy to deliver the accounts to the incoming treasurer.

We had another club where the treasurer went overseas. What with his government, his work permit, his divorce and remarriage ...

Another where the treasurer resigned saying we owed a huge sum of money we had never paid back for printing and all sorts of things. He subsidised all year, as in previous years, whilst he was a member, but when he left wanted to claim back.

When you try to chase a treasurer you can easily run the risk of seeming to accuse the committee member of inefficiency, unprofessionalism, or even dishonesty. All this could send them into flight or fight mode.

FLIGHT
Once you get into a dispute, the treasurer might say, defensively:
'After all the work I have done for years for the club unpaid ....'
'Are you implying ...?'
'I don't like your tone "
'How dare you accuse me ...'
'I am leaving this club!'

FIGHT
The treasurer or committee member could turn around and accuse the other committee members of faults which everybody has but which go unmentioned until there is a dispute.

An independent and unemotional reminder from head office can be much better. But the umbrella organization could send out an automated reminder. Our auditors .. tax rule ... company rule says ... etc.

SUB-COMMITTEE SOLUTION
Another way to do things is to have each officer with two assistants so they are training up somebody else to take over and have less work to do. If the committee head is ill, bereaved, dead, overworked, another member can then take over.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Woman Overboard, Delays, Compensation - Is This Good News?

Problem
A woman fell or jumped overboard from a cruise ship off Croatia in August 2018. She was miraculously rescued ten hours later. Ten hours in the water! On Facebook a friend reported that somebody was claiming compensation for two days delay in Venice. The comment was, Lucky or not.

Lucky for the woman being picked up from the water. However, as for the delay, at first sight it could be good news for some.

What could go wrogn, go wrong, go wrong?
I wrote:

Lucky to sit in the sun. Lucky to postpone going home. Not so lucky if you have to sit all day in the hall waiting for the call, because the coach to a ferry or plane or muster point might collect you any time they arrange it.

I remember one year when we were on a flight from the USA at Xmas. We were on an American airline leaving American soil, so we knew our rights for compensation, or at least our fellow passengers did. On a flgight into the USA, or on another airline from outside the USA, the rules might be different. Check the latest.

The flight was overbooked and the airline staff made repeated requests for volunteers to be bumped. The compensation was a free flight. Plus, of course, a free night in an airport or city suburb or city centre hotel, but we were in transit, in a cold city, where good restaurants were all fully booked, and would miss a day of our short Xmas break in the Caribbean by the beach.

As the compensation increased, still not enough volunteers. As our hours of delay increased, I asked the people next to me why they had not rushed to volunteer. You'd think there would be a Ruby scrum of people fighting to get the free return ticket.

I heard these stories:
1 'I can't extend my long weekend break and take time off next week. I'm a surgeon and have operations booked. I would lose a lot of money, lose my reputation for reliability, and endanger seriously sick people.'

2 'I don't want to lose a day of my holiday. I can't take another day off. I am a teacher. I have to be back in school teaching my class. I can't abandon 30 children and upset them and their parents and the head teacher organizing a supply teacher, which costs the school more money.' (Again, she had to consider her own reputation for reliability, not to take a free holiday at the expense of being responsible to the pupils, parents, and staff.)

3 I am seeing my fiancee for a long weekend. We haven't seen each other for months. We had a special celebratory dinner planned for tomorrow. We'd miss the dinner and we wouldn't get our money back for the missed dinner.

4 What makes you think they will get you on tomorrow's flight? It will be overbooked like this one - with all the extra passengers bumped off today's flight as well?

We ended up getting a free flight.

On another occasion we were unavoidably delayed coming back from a beach resort to our home city. It sounded great. Unfortunately, I was dressed for the destination, Cold London, England, at Christmas. So I was plodding around a tropical hotel in boots and long socks, warm clothes and a coat.

The swimming pool looked lovely.

However, I had no swimsuit.

We had spent all our cash at the airport. At the hotel, for small items we could not pay with a credit card.

From then on we always made sure to carry onto planes: spare underwear, a swimsuit, and a book to read. I don't spend every last cent. I keep it for the next journey.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Please share links to your favourite posts.)

Tamil loanwords used in English and easy first steps in Tamil

Kota Tinggi waterfalls In Malaysia, a popular trip from Singapore. The word Kota is from Tamil.

Signed Tamil
Official status
Official language in	Sri Lanka  Singapore  India: Tamil Nadu[3] Puducherry[4]
Recognised minority language in	Malaysia[5]  Mauritius[6]  South Africa[7

Where is Tamil spoken? It is easy to remember that Tamil is spoken in Tamil Nadu in India.
The Tamil language is an official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore. In Singapore announcements on the trains are in the four official languages, English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay (which is almost the same as Indonesian) and Tamil. Tamil is also used in countries and areas with large Tamil populations, such as parts of Malaysia and South Africa.

Story
On the train every day in Singapore I hear the English announcement ending with the word thank you, then the Tamil announcement ending with the word nandri. Now that I can recognize that, I am interested in learning more.

Problem
The Tamil language looks so strange and unrelated to English. If you type a word in English into Google translate, you get a translation in squiggly writing. How can I get over the psychological barrier and start learning it?

Answer
Start with a couple of words you already know.

I have extracted this information from a long complicated article in Wikipedia
Tamil Words Used in English
English  - original meaning in English
(For example in German and English kindergarten - comes from the German word child garden)

      Tamil Words Used in English

• cash - money
• catamaran - tied wood
• cheroot - roll
• Mulligatawny - pepper water
• patchouli - green leaf
• talent - natural aptitude

Knowing the origin of the word is handy. Now when I see Mulligatawny on a menu in an Indian restaurant I will know it is a spicy dish, something some friends will love, but which I will avoid!

Tamil Words Used in Malay and Indonesian (which are the same languages with a few variations in vocabulary, a bit like British English and American English)
Kota - fort (also town or city) as K o t a  B h a r u, Kota T i n g g i, Kota  K e m u n n g

Kota K i  n a b u l a in Malaysia

Kota Kinabalu is named after Mount Kinabalu, which is situated about 50 kilometres east-northeast of the city. Kinabaluis derived from the name Aki Nabalu meaning the "revered place of the dead." Aki means "ancestors" or "grandfather", and Nabalu is a name for the mountain in the Dusun language.^[10] There is also a source claiming that the term originated from Ki Nabalu, Ki meaning "have" or "exist", and Nabalu meaning "spirit of the dead".^[11]

Kota is a Malay word for a "fort", "town", or a "city". It is also used formally in a few other Malaysian towns and cities, for example, Kota Bharu, Kota Tinggi, and Kota Kemuning. It can also be used informally to refer to any towns or cities. Hence, a direct translation of the name Kota Kinabalu into English would be "City of Kinabalu" or "Kinabalu City".

Knowing that helps geography. Now if I or you hear that a friend is going to Kota Kinabalu, we know they are going to a city or fort near a mountain.

Grammar
Sentence Word Order
Wikipedia tells us:

Syntax

Tamil is a consistently head-final language. The verb comes at the end of the clause, with a typical word order of subject–object–verb (SOV).^[113][114] However, word order in Tamil is also flexible, so that surface permutations of the SOV order are possible with different pragmatic effects. Tamil has postpositions rather than prepositions. Demonstratives and modifiers precede the noun within the noun phrase. Subordinate clauses precede the verb of the matrix clause.

Tamil is a null-subject language. Not all Tamil sentences have subjects, verbs, and objects. It is possible to construct grammatically valid and meaningful sentences which lack one or more of the three. For example, a sentence may only have a verb—such as muṭintuviṭṭatu ("completed")—or only a subject and object, without a verb such as atu eṉ vīṭu ("That [is] my house"). Tamil does not have a copula (a linking verb equivalent to the word is). The word is included in the translations only to convey the meaning more easily.

Now I understand more easily the speech of Indians who I meet at Toastmaster International meetings or in shops and restaurants in Singapore. They are translating into English their sentence construction in Tamil. They are not merely missing out verbs which they don't know. They are translating word for word a correct sentence structure in their own language. Every time I hear them Speak English, I will be reminded of Tamil language sentence structure.

Finally, here's a quick and easy set of words for way making different.

Tamil's Easy Word Endings
A prefix is a syllable added on the front of a word. Easy to remember. (A suffix is a syllable added on the end.)

You say the name of a city, or building, or station or airport or hotel, and raise your eyebrows and shrug and point in both directions, meaning, in sign language, 'which way do I take to such and such a place?'

You get an answer.

 For example, the word vazhi (வழி) meaning "way" can take these to produce ivvazhi (இவ்வழி) "this way", avvazhi (அவ்வழி) "that way", uvvazhi (உவ்வழி) "the medial (middle) way" and evvazhi (எவ்வழி) "which way".

Incidentally, let's finish with a couple of easy to remember and easy to recognize words and signs. Hello in English is halo in tamil. The number zero is written the same, a circle.

For information on Kota Kinabalu, in Malaysian Borneo, see next post.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of languages.

Reciprocal Club Membership: American Clubs, Tanglin and others

If you belong to a club in one country you can find a list of reciprocal clubs in another country.

In a city full of museums and attractions you might want to be out seeing the sights, not sitting in a private club. Why would you want to visit a club?

A city you have visited many times before - you no longer want to be amongst the jostling crowds. You just want peace and quiet.

A place to wait for your friends who are busy with business meetings or cannot say what time they will arrive.

You want to take your local friends somewhere they don't already know.

First, get a list of clubs which have reciprocal arrangements at your destination. Then email or visit your club's office and ask for a letter of introduction.

Your club might send a copy to the club you are visiting.

Restrictions may apply.

For example, the American Club in Hong Kong says you may visit only twice in one year, for visits of up to a fortnight.

That doesn't affect me, but it's a bit disappointing. In the old days I was under the impression that if you were a member of a club, but missed out by being half the year at a home or business in a second country, instead you could use one of the reciprocal clubs. After all, they are benefitting from your spend in their restaurants.

The other question is, can you actually make use of the facilities? My prime reason for going to the American Club in Hong Kong would be to use their swimming pool, because we are not staying at a hotel but with a friend in a small apartment.

If the club says you can use the restaurant but not the pool, and all we get is the chance to sit at a restaurant beside a pool or overlooking a bay we might be better off going to a hotel with swimming pool.

Another factor is that when visiting the other other club you have to remember to take along your letter of introduction and your passport. I don't want to travel around Hong Kong carrying my passport. I had my bag and passport stolen in Singapore. It took days of going back and forwards to the embassy to get a temporary passport, then in the UK to get a permanent one, plus money to obtain both the temporary one week passport and the replacement permanent passport.

In Hong Kong there are two American Clubs, both on the main area, although one is called a town club and the other a country club. I looked at them and the Country Club seems to be the one with the pool.

If you are a member of a club you normally show your card and sign the bill and get sent a monthly bill to settle. As a visiting member you will have to pay by cash, or credit card.
You might want to check the method of payment, whether they accept American Express cards, and if you can have a bill for tax purposes if you are entertaining a business guest.

At the American club in Singapore I used to go to the Ladies Bridge game, which was weekly,(men could attend - I once took my visiting father who was in his eighties - the price including the simple buffet lunch. I also went the Tanglin Club mixed sex bridge game, where the price included a tea.

At some events, if you did not arrive early, you missed the food. At other events, if you rushed off early, you missed the food.

You might be disappointed and find that you can attend only one restaurant. On the other hand, you might make a friend of one of the members. They might be happy to take you to the facilities as their sign in guest, and you can reciprocate by paying cash or inviting them to dinner elsewhere another day or another week, or in your home country, or continue by drinking or coffee the same day at a venue outside the club.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.