Dulwich wine bars with wonderful Portuguese wines

 

London Bridge Station

 

• London Bridge logo. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Quite a walk. 

Shops including Hamleys toys

Attractive, colourful murals of London landmarks. The Royal Albert Hall. Liberty's department store.

We met a mouse.

 

Spanish words which sound similar to English

 I have been re-learning, revising, Italian which I learned two years ago on Duolingo, but using Spanish as which I have been learning for 6 months, as the instruction language. A huge number of words in Spanish sound similar to English. Once you have learned the correct translation, the Spanish words is easy to recognize.

Here are the ones I have found.

Spanish - English

acerca de - about (think of encircled by)

ahora - now (now is the hour, as the old song said, on the hour)

allegra/o - lovely

amatista - amethyst

ascenso - ascend/rise

asi - so (ah - see, so)

borrar - delete (brush off, rub out)

clic - click

descenso - descent

describir - describe

division (accent on the o) - division

empleo - employment

escribe - write/inscribe

estado - status (in Spanish the letter e often goes before s at the start of the word, like the name of the country, Espana, escuala - school)

felicidades - congratulations (felicitations)

gramaticales - grammatical

 

impresionante - awesome/impressive

legas - leagues

minutos - minutes

perfecta - perfect

practicar - practise

reportar - to report

terminos - terms

utilizar - to utilize

zona - zone

verdad (Spanish)/vero (Italian) - true (like the English word verify)

 

Spanish and Italian, which is which: e and y and io sono and yo soy

 Spanish

Spanish has the letter y for and. I am is yo soy. The letter y appears in both words.

Italian

The word for I starts with the letter i like the word Italian. io sono. Io sono di Italia. I am Italy (from Italy). The letter i after d, di, in Italian, which starts with the letter I and has the letter I twice.

Useful Websites

duolingo

duolingo.com

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Rainfall and Flat Rooftops - A Global Disaster

 I can see the problem in the picture of a local council building in Harrow, NW London. The local councils in London allow sub standard flat roof homes - when the annual rainfall is getting worse.

Flat Rooftops And Rainfall

The flat rooves leak and make mouldy housing. The sick people are draining the NHS. 

Landlords and householders are bankrupt fixing leaking rooftops. So rents rise.

Official websites say that a properly designed flat roof should not leak - if it has a slope.  A slight slope. But nonetheless a slope. 

The advertisements for remedies will tell you the problems.

I have experienced leaking flat roofs in Singapore and the UK. It's not just a recent problem. It has been known for years. You can see that houses in medieval and Victorian times - the ones which lasted, have gabled rooftops.

A slight slope is not good enough. We have a conservatory with a supposedly see through ceiling with a slight slope. Leaves and moss gather on it. They don't roll off.

Useful Websites

Rain in the UK

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2026/why-has-it-been-so-wet-this-winter

Flat Roof Defects

https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Flat_roof_defects

Flat Rood drainage

https://www.buildingregs4plans.co.uk/guidance_flat_roof_drainage.php

More rain in Australia

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15586039/sydney-melbourne-weather.html

Spanish words you already know

Most adult English speakers already know these words. It is amusing to note how many words you already know of another language. I teach English, so for the benefit of children and people whose first language is not English, such as Chinese speakers, I have added some handy translations.

casa - house

macho - strong man, strong not just physically but verbally

poncho - cape without arms

sombrero - hat with a big brim worn in hot countries such as Mexico and Spain

villa - large house, often with grounds, elegant and grand

Rarer but well known words

albino

armada

armadillo

mosquito

Wine Words In Spanish

From wine, my husband knows 

vino for wine, 

blanco for white, 

tinto for red like tinted (rosso is Italian). 

Useful Websites on Spanish

https://springlanguages.com/learn-spanish/spanish-words-used-in-english

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Words which are the same in Spanish and Italian - and almost the same as English

 English - Spanish - Italian

art - arte - arte

bank - Spanish el banco - Italian la banca

book - libro - libro (memory aid: library book)

centre (center in the usa) - (el) centro in Spanish - (il) centro in Italian

coast - costa (as in Costa Brava) - costa

if - si (Spanish, without an accent)

minute - minuto - minuto

music - musica - musica (in Spanish la musica is music but el musico is a musician)

no - no - no

note - nota - nota

one - uno - uno

problem - problema - problema

serious (adjective) - serio/seria - serio/seria

shy - timido/timida - timido/timida

stop - stop - stop (road traffic sign)

theatre - teatro - teatro

valley - valle - valle

The same in Spanish and Italian

song - canto - canto (like the English word cantor meaning singer)

Useful Websites On Translating Spanish And Italian

AI / Google search

translate Google

Lingo

https://lingo-apps.com/same-words-spanish-italian/

chat gbt

https://chatgpt.com/translate

Please share links to my blog and your favourite posts.