Art show - where I met artists and bought from three - moral - go with the flow

I relunctantly come to an art show, suggested a relative. I had no desire to buy more pictures. My walls are full. However, to huour her, we decided to go with the flow and go along. I am so pleased I did. The welcome sign in desk included a free chocolate, left over from another event earlier in the day, and a free pen from a charity.

My first purchase was a lovely pendant.

My second purchase was a sequinned hat.

Angela wearing hat bought at the art show.

This hat was a success. 

Recycling

The artist is into recycling. Baked bean tins covered in glitter. You would never know they started life as tins. Ingenious. Inventive. Cost-effective. Environmentally friendly. Providing a service. Setting a good example.

DIY

I later looked online to see what I could find and make in a similar style. I could buy a white hat from China. But last time I bought a pink cowgirl hat, it arrived out of shape from the packaging being bashed. 

I found another stand selling even smarter hats in silk, other styles, such as one amusing beret. However, it didn't suit me. 

Angela in brightly coloured beret. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

So I made a note that the dearer stand seller was for special occasions. Meanwhile, I was happy with my purchase which matched my blue coat.

Special Soaps

My third and last purchase was a box of broken soaps, different colours and aromas, for five pounds. I was interested in lemon grass. Other flavours, or rather aromas, in the mixed boxes, included lavender, and mint, and cinnamon.

Dhana self care soaps. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Full price soap sets

 I also admired several more expensive items.

A wonderful painting of scenery with a gold paint sky.

By Jael Contact 

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Paintings by Chana  Artist. 

I would have liked a catalogue with the name of the artists, or a list on the board or a website.

Paintings which turned out to be copies of photos, composed of nails on white background.

Colourful hats.

Memorable Artists

They are all in the north London Finchley area.

Pendants ten pounds.

1 Pendants by Martine Meyer.

Colourful bowls by Ruth White.

Dhana Self care soaps

What To Wear, Not Wear, And Carry On a Flight

Before you start packing, note the size and weight allowed for check-in and carry-on luggage. If you have multiple legs of your journey, pack for the most restrictive flight, unless you plan to mail items back home half way, or leave your heaviest suitcase with family at your first stopover, and carry on with a lighter bag.

DRESS FOR YOUR DESTINATION
The rule is, dress for your destination. However, you also need to think about your journey to the airport, going through security, and on the plane.

HOT DESTINATIONS
CLOTHES

UK flag. London - hot in summer, cold in winter.

Why dress for your destination? One year I wore heavy knee high boots and a long coat in London. I flew to India.

Indian flag.

India and Asia. Hot countries.

My luggage was delayed 24 hours. So I was left wearing my London clothes for snow in the heat of Delhi.

First, I was far too hot in Delhi. Second I had no spare underclothes. Third, I  looked daft and everybody stared at me.

If you are flying to a hot destination, you need a lightweight outfit either in your carry-on luggage or under your warmer second layer.

NOTE SEASONS
Australia has opposite seasons to the UK and Europe.

Flag of tropical Singapore which is hot all year.


Singapore
Singapore is hot all year.In Singapore, you need light single layer clothes for walking to and from the MRT train stations, or waiting in line outdoors for a taxi. You also need a jacket to wear indoors in the air-conditioned taxi, the restaurants and hotels and office meeting rooms.

Japan has four seasons.




















Korean flag.

Korea can be cold and snowing in winter. Minus fifteen at a ski resort I visited.

Thermals
I always take one thermal vest and a deerstalker hat which covers ears and a pair of gloves. They are light to pack. Even if you are perspiring in the heat at mid-day, if you take a trip on a boat, ferry or cruise ship at night, the sea breeze can be cold.

Vietnam


















Vietnam flag.

Vietnam's weather can change from hot to cold between Xmas and New Year. I arrived in light clothes in Christmas 2018. By Jan 1st 2019 I needed a warm hooded jacket to protect my head and neck from the winds when waiting at bus stops.

LAYERS
However, don't wear too many layers. On a couple of occasions I wore two jackets. This meant lighter packing.

JACKETS
Actually I grabbed the second jacket at the last minute when I opened the front door in London and felt the cold air at dawn. I remembered the dreadful cold draft which hits you as you trundle all your luggage from the place where the taxi to the airport drops you, from the outer building to the inner building.

 I had to remove both jackets at security. Undressing all the layers delayed me so I was well behind my husband, who was impatiently waiting.

On the first occasion, I remembered my second jacket and had to go back to collect it.This should have been a warning.

The second time, I went back and my jacket was gone.

PONCHOS AND SLEEVELESS JACKETS
Alternatives are a poncho or sleeveless jacket. Make sure you can wear your shoulder bag or cross-body bag easily under or over the poncho.

A poncho can double up as a warm cover if the airplane is cold.

LIPSTICKS
No Lipsticks Nor Medicines
On one trip I put my liquid medicine and my lipstick in a  lovely case in the little plastic bag in a separate container. I lost it. the lost property office was miles away.

When I went online, you had to describe your item. No room for three items, you could only list one.

Luckily I had a second lipstick in the same lovely case. But I never travelled with it again. One solution is to pack a lipstick. On board only carry a lipstick which is almost finished, with just less than one centimeter at the base. Use a lipstick brush to apply it.

Or pack your valuable lipstick. Take a cheap, current colour,  and easily replaceable one for the journey.

No Metals
Metals will set off the metal detector which you might need to walk through. This means:

CLOTHES
1 No shoes with metal tips or metal ended laces.
2 No boots nor shoes with metal eyelets for laces.
3 No belts with metal buckles.
4 No all metal belts. Not loose ones threaded through loops on jeans, nor holding up the waist of long dresses so you don't trip. No fixed sewn-on half belts on the back or sides of jackets.

5 No jackets with metal eyelets.
6 No shirts nor blouses with fixed or removable metal collar ends. (Old shirts used to have whalebone strips to keep collars flat. These were replaced by cheaper plastic strips. Then the fashion was fixed tips so the collar lay flat and did not fray. Then metal corners you could clip on became available.)

BAGS
7 No bags with metal chain shoulder straps nor reinforcing triangles where the strap meets the bag, nor stud patterns.

Lightweight bags are less weight on the shoulders as well as keeping within your allowance. 

A sturdier bag might protect a laptop or by pickpocket proof. A reversible bag gives you more colour options. If one side gets dirty, you can reverse it.

I pack a small bag inside a bigger one.

If I have space in my carry-on bag, I can put my heavier shoulder bag inside it and have a hand free at the airport. The smaller neck bag can carry a passport or ticket or boarding pass.

Another handy item is a neck pocket which can carry your spectacles when you are asleep, or your phone or toothbrush when you hop out to the toilet.

ACCESSORIES
8 No pendants or necklaces with heavy metal chains and heavy metal pendants. (You might find a fine gold choker necklace goes through without a problem.)
9 No metal brooches, rings or bracelets.
10 No hats nor baseball caps with metal shields or symbols on the front, nor buckles at the back.

HIGH HEELED SHOES
Don't wear high heeled shoes for longhaul. Or keep them separate to wear at the far end.
1 During those long walks at airports such as Heathrow and same transit airports in the USA, your feet will ache.
2 Also, if you have to evacuate an aircraft, you have to remove high heeled shoes because they would rip the slide fabric as you hurtle down the slide from the plane to the ground.

Small Items
If you do have to remove small items, try to put them inside something else, such as a zip up pocket or bag, so they don't roll out or get forgotten or take up extra trays.

Keep track of how many items you are collecting. Wear brightly coloured items you can identify and which others will not take by mistake.

If you are asked to step aside to open an item for inspection, try to watch out for your other items. Alternatively, list the number of items you need to collect and ask another member of your family or group to keep an  eye out.

Remember that items apparently left behind at security may be whisked away by the staff so that a moment later they have vanished.

Laptops and covers and accessories
You might keep all your accessories together so as not to lose anything and not to have to count, nor to get delayed. However, you might need to remove your laptop from your carry on bag. One solution is to have the laptop already outside the cover. Use the cover to protect one side of the bag.

Use another bag or a light item such as a jumper or neck pillow to cushion the other side of the laptop and its sides. Once you are through the security area, you can  place the laptop back in its secure cover for the rest of the journey.

Leftover Wine
When clearing out your fridge, you might give leftovers to a neighbour, send an email to yur family reminding them which foods are about to reach their expiry date.

Leftover wine in the fridge might be used in cooking or for cleaning, or dyeing clothes. You won't be allowed to take it with you in Platy Preserves. You might be allowed to take on board 100 ml. Stock up with a couple or more 100 ml bottles if that is the maximum allowed on your airline.

If two of you are travelling and your spouse does not drink, you might be able to give them a bottle to take some for you.

Food and drink
Don't take on board items which will get you into trouble.

I was told that I could take cut flowers, but not plants with roots and soil, into Singapore.
Check the latest regulations before you fly, in case rules have been tightened or relaxed.

Apples from your home or hotel breakfast table, into the USA.

No fruit and vegetables into Australia.

Meats are banned in some European and Asian destination.

Knives
Also watch out for knives, scissors, needles. If you have a small, padded envelope addressed to yourself, and stamped, you might be able to post back to your home any item that adults or children are found to be carrying at the airport before you check-in.

Some airports simply throw away confiscated items.That multi-function Swiss army knife with the bottle opener, in your backpack, is an expensive and useful item you might not want to lose, especially if it was a birthday present.

Sometimes airports will store them for you to collect on your return. Ask. Allow time for delays over such items.

Once, my husband had accidentally taken as far as security a banned item he could not afford to lose. to retrieve his carry-on luggage and retreat back to the check in desk. This took half an hour, because they needed a member of staff who was not busy checking in passengers. She had to go to the office on the other side of the terminal to collect a form and bring it back. The form had to be filled in. Then through passport checks and security again.

Don't swear at security or you might get locked  up. Not advisable!

My best journey was travelling light with only a carry-on bag.

Happy travelling.

Useful Websites
https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/travel-info/baggage/baggage-allowance/
https://www.skyscanner.net/news/tips/7-ways-to-beat-ryanair-cabin-baggage-rules
https://topjourneymag.com/15-things-you-should-never-wear-during-a-flight
https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/travel-info/baggage/baggage-restrictions/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Leftover take away - how to remember to put it in the fridge

If I ask for leftovers at a restaurant/pub/cafe to be wrapped up to go (in the UK we say take away) I usually remember to put them in the fridge when I get home if the food is carried separately. Unfortunately, if it's inside a bag such as a tote bag, often I forget for an hour or so, or even overnight?

How can I - and you - and everybody else - remember? Let's devise some systems.

1 Cross your fingers.

2 Keep a ribbon in your bag and tie it to the handle whenever you have purchases or leftovers which need to be removed.

3 Set a timer on your phone to go off when you reach home.

4 Send yourself a text message or email reminder.

5 Place a note on your fridge door before going out to dinner in case you bring anything back.

7 Have a ribbon on your door key so that whenever you reach home you think: Do I have anything to put in the fridge.

8 Wear a pendant or charm bracelet featuring a piece of fruit or tea cup or some kind of food or drink or cutlery or crockery as a reminder.

9 Stick a bookmark in your diary with the words LOOK FOR LEFTOVER FOOD.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In.

Travel diary, notebook, pen, storage box. Possible gifts.

TRAVEL DIARY AND NOTEBOOK

One of the things I pack for any travel trip is a notebook and pen and pencil and rubber.

If I have a long trip or side trips, I pack at least two notebooks, to be sure not to lose the entire trip by leaving my jacket on the plane on the way home. I photograph highlights, business cards and addresses. If I have a base in one country and a weekend away, I take a fresh notebook just for that weekend. 

An alternative would be to have a Filofax. 

I like a notebook with an elastic band around it and a pencil attached. Another aid to travellers is a pocket in the back cover. You can buy a diary or 'travel notebook'. A friend bought me a travel notebook as a gift. 

If a hardback notebook is too big and heavy, leave it behind and write up your scrappy notes in neat handwriting on a dull or rainy day when you are stuck at home.

Notebook Storage

Where to store all these vital records? A shoe box will do. Label it with dates. keep all diaries and travel diaries together. 

(Something to leave the children, be sure your diaries are kept and not chucked out in a garage sale of books. Keep notebooks near photo box to be sure you take them with you have a quick clear out when moving house, downsizing or moving to a retirement home.)

 Cover your storage box.  With what? How about all those luggage tags and boarding passes, which will make a quick record if you want to check where you went and when.

An idea for a Christmas present for a traveller or items for a Christmas stocking (or Hanukah stocking - they come in blue)? A travel notebook, diary, photo box, pen, photo key ring, a box covered in travel tags you have rescued from the waste bin and taken off old suitcases. 

Speaking of key rings and photos, Staples in London, UK, has 3D key rings and photo cubes and pendants. I've seen the same in Singapore shopping malls. I'm sure the same are in America and Australia and all over the world. You'll see them in stationery shops and kiosks in shopping malls.

Staples, Watford, Herts, England. Copyaprint. 3D laser photo in glass.

If you are willing to splash the cash, dash to an outlet and order your notebooks and pens. If you are looking for a bargain, try the Pound shops. 

DIY Travel Diary or Notebook

1 If you are artsy and crafty (in both senses), or a parent or teacher, you could make a gift or get the children or grandchildren to make a travel notebook, diary, or travel diary. You could make a whole travel notebook, making the paper, the cover, binding the book, or using thick card for the front and back, making a collage on the front, cutting two holes with a hole punch, tying the pages through the two holes with ribbon etc.

2 You may be able to buy a diary with attached notebook or ribbon or a cheap notebook with an elastic closure. Check your options then add what is easiest for you to add.

3 For DIY, add a piece of elastic as a marker, attached at both ends, top and bottom of back cover on a hardback book. 

4 Stick a photo on the front. 

5 Add a loop of elastic around the middle of a pen and stick the elastic to the inside of the notebook or diary back cover.

6 Make a pocket on the inside back cover. You need not just a thee quarters page of thicker than the pages card. it needs a concertina at the top and bottom, one fold inwards.

An Italic pen and calligraphy set? If you already have a calligraphy set, time to use it to make a DIY Xmas card or New Year card including photos of the year and your hand-written message.

And if you are home alone whilst the others are away travelling at Xmas, lots of free time to organise you travel photos and diaries. 

(See previous post on stationery week next April.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Oysters in England, sizes 0-5

Jonathan Swift said, It was a bold man that first ate an oyster. But Carnegie said, the first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.

You may ponder this is you contemplate starting to eat your oysters.

Now, November, is the month when oysters are in season. They grow in summer. You can't eat them May, June, July, August. Wait and watch for when there is a R in the month and you are allowed to eat them.

Oysters are graded in size from the largest, size zero, to the smallest, size five. Restaurants are likely to serve you sizes 3 and 4.

I was invited to an oyster tasting event at a bar in London, England, by my family. How interesting. But I didn't go because I am allergic to shellfish.

Names to look for:
Colchester oysters.
Rock oysters.

Souvenirs

I did ask if somebody could bring me back an oyster shell or two. I could use an oyster shell for a pendant, by making a hole for a ribbon.

Alternatively I could stick shells on a box. I'm all for recycling.

I'd also like any pearls which happen to be rolling around, like lost buttons, looking for a new home. Round pearls, or squashed shape pearls, I don't mind. If the pearls are free I'm not fussy.

I am not allergic to pearls and mother of pearl. However, that hopeful idea was scotched with the caustic comment, "Farmed oysters won't have pearls".

I have my friendly photographer out in London and later I hope to add some photos of oysters at an oyster bar.
Back to the oysters.

Apparently a Roman commended Colchester oysters by damning with faint praise. He said, 'They were the only good thing to come out of England.'

Oysters served in England could come from England, Ireland or France. Huitres is French for oysters.

If you are in the USA, great cities for oysters are San Francisco in California and Houston, Texas.
http://houston.eater.com/maps/12-restaurants-for-eating-raw-oysters-mapped

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Valentine's Day gifts and novelties with Hearts

Looking for heart-shape gifts for my wish list, on the internet I discovered several suggestions. On Amazon and Ebay I have found:

Cheese Platters & Coasters
Heart shaped slate cheese platter with two knives and chalk. About £13, some platters alone including postage. Some products are postage free if you make a minimum spend - but often reaching that cost requires two purchases. Some products are postage extra.

Heart shape coasters also in slate.

Other cheese platters in heart shape are made of wood.

Cheeses
Cheeses made in heart shape are available from speciality shops, usually only as a seasonal novelty. You can cut a soft cheese into a heart shape.

Books, Greetings Cards, DIY Cards
I have a book called The Little Book of Love at Work by Nigel Cutts. A red heart is on the cover.

You can cut a heart shape from a piece of red paper and stick it onto an A4 piece of white paper, a greetings card, or a promotional lollipop shape flat oval fan on a stick.

Heart Trouble
Croatia produces attractive heart shaped glazed biscuit on a string like a pendant. I was given one in London at the World Travel Market. I kept it as a piece of jewellery in my costume jewellery box in Singapore. Two summers later, living in a flat without air conditioning, I opened my box and found it teeming with insects. After I had washed it out I discovered a red, white and blue plaited string.  Ah - insects ate it.

Heartfelt Thanks to Croatia
Never mind. I went back to the World Travel Market and was given another souvenir. This one will stay in a cool, cold country.