I stopped in Searcy's for hot chocolate
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Sunday, August 30, 2026
Barbican outdoor cinema
Saturday, August 29, 2026
Easy Ways To Learn Languages - And Made Up Languages
Flag of the international language, Interlingua. From Wikipedia.
Now German sounds like English
Italian sounds like Spanish
And Latin sounds like Greek
Although some old words vanish
Brand name bring them back
To remind us of words we lack
A gurtel is a girdle
A krawatte is a tie
So many words like English
Have you ever wondered why?
We have words which come from Latin
And words which come from Greek
And the French say le weekend
What a helpful way to speak
Some words are international
I'm sure you know them well
There's computer, and taxi
And menu, whisky, and hotel
Interlingua is a language
Made of words which are well known
But Esperanto sticks to simple rules
Is widely spoken, better known
I want to be bilingual
So I practise every day
At least I can understand and nod
On my next holiday.
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Useful Websites On International Words
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlingua
Esperanto
Duolingo.com
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Sources of handy German words for clothess
In hotels I check the multilingual laundry lists for names of clothes. The words are handy when you are shopping. Use them to ask for items you need.
You can also find useful words on the washing instruction labels inside clothes.
German - English
Gurtel - belt (like girdle)
die Krawette - tie (tie die, die Krawatte; pronounced like cravat, but written with a w like wursht sausage)
Schal - scarf / like shawl
Steifel - boots
English - German
belt (like girdle) - Gurtel
boots - steifel
scarf / like shawl - Schal
tie (tie die, die Krawatte; pronounced like cravat, but written with a w like wursht sausage) die Krawatte
To sum up
1 Laundry lists
2 Clothes labels and packaging
3 Shop windows, signs and displays
Useful Websites for learning German
translate Google
Where can you learn and practise speaking German?
Flag of Germany
Flag of Austria
Flag of Switzerland
You can use German in Germany, Austria and German-speaking parts of Switzerland. Also Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and parts of Belgium and Italy.
Flag of Luxembourg.
Flag of Liechtenstein.
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Thursday, August 27, 2026
Easy German and Immersive German and hotel requiests.
I and two friends are all learning German. I am using Duolingo. One of my friend who has a German speaking parent has his laptop and phone set to German.
Some easy new words I have learned
German - English
altmodisch - old fashioned
modern - modern
More Challenging German - English
Anzug - suit
eng - tight / close (for clothes, think engaging)
More Challenging English - German
English - German
modern - modern
old-fashioned - altmodisch (remember to use s c h not sh nor ch)
suit - Anzug
Words which I might find useful in a hotel
der Teppich - carpet
der Boden the floor die Decke the ceiling das Fenster - the window lautes Zimmer noisy room ruhiges Zimmer quiet room größeres Zimmer big room kleines Zimmer small room Zimmer mit Doppelbett Room with a double bed Zimmer mit zwei Einzelbetten room with twin beds
Fleck auf dem Teppich - stain on the carpet Kakerlake im Badezimmer cockroach in the bathroom Spinnwebe an der Decke cobweb on the ceiling Spinne am Fenster - spider on the window eine Fliege - a fly eine Mücke - a mosquito Ich brauche Fliegenspray - I need a flyspray Haben Sie etwas gegen Insektenstiche? - do you have sting relief
Ein Zimmer mit schöner Aussicht - a room with a better view Blick auf den Swimming pool - a view of the swimming pool Weniger Verkehrslärm - less traffic noise
Useful Websites
translate Google
Where can you learn and practise speaking German?
Flag of Germany
Flag of Austria
Flag of Switzerland
You can use German in Germany, Austria and German-speaking parts of Switzerland. Also Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and parts of Belgium and Italy.
Flag of Luxembourg.
Flag of Liechtenstein.
-ends-
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Signed Books I Bought - three very different books
At the Writers' Summer School I bought signed copies of books by authors who spoke or performed in the evening or gave writing courses in the daytime.
Books Bought
Returning home, I have been reading three signed books I bought at the Hayes Conference Centre, in Swanwick, Derbyshire.
1 The Full English by Melanie Branton.
We had watched her perform on stage with hats and helmets at breathtaking speed. Exhausting for her and us. A crazy mixture of research and rap style performance with long word rhymes like Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
The explanation for all that research is that she studied languages at university. the title of the book is a pun on the modern description of an English breakfast.
2 The Chemist by A A Dhand.
My husband put this book down because he read one sentence without a verb. But I was hooked. It is all about drug addicts and violence. Makes you glad to live far away. If the reality is one tenth of as bad as the scenes in the book. And it is convincing.
The plot has twist and turns. The baddies do a good thing for a friend. The goodies do a bad thing to an enemy. Gripping. Who will kill who first? How will they escape? Will they get caught?
The action takes place on a trip to Bangladesh by a voluntary worker. A true story.
3 A Blonde Bengali Wife by Anne Hamilton.
Full of amusing alliteration. For example, Prologue - craving for Cola. Cuffing a couple of people (Page 4)
the chemist's shop described as a hypochondriac's heaven. battered boxes and bottles (P 172), late lunch (173), spookily similar stories (173), money does not matter (173). Adjectives abound, and metaphors. Blushing sun. Silent inky night. (174)
So many characters at times I was confused. Bemused. I would have loved to see a photo of the author, and her friend. And a cast of characters. Maybe I should make my own list.
But enthralled. Like watching an orchestra, or a ballet with dozens of dancers. The people and the words surge around you.
I now know I would not want to go there. The country, countryside and city, have more mosquitos than Singapore. Instead, I have travelled around through the pages of this book.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Dolly Parton's Life, Death and Places To Visit
Dolly Parton in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Public domain image of Dolly Parton.
Public domain. From Wikipedia. See Wiki for more details. Seen here with President Bush and other music luminaries.
Dolly Parton, the Queen of Country Music, died on Tuesday 25th March 2026. President Trump ordered flags in the USA to be flown at the mid point for a week. Half mast is the word used on ships.
Places To Visit
1 Dollywood Museum
Opened 2026 in the Dollywood Hotel
2 Dollywood Hotel
3 Statue of Dolly Parton
4 Country Music Hall of Fame
5 Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles
7 Star on walk in Tennessee.
Music City Walk of Fame, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Two of her most successful songs were:
9 to 5; and
I will always love you.
She had lots of plastic surgery.
She kept out of politics, saying that her business was entertainment.
She contributed a million US dollars to research which developed a vaccine against Covid.
Her other well known charitable donation was to start a fund for donating books for children under the age of five. This started in her area, spread around the USA, and reached the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia.
Useful Websites On Dolly Parton
https://www.songtellerhotel.com/museum/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton
Announcement
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bk_mCuNa8iA
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