Health statistics and 'my experience'

All those people who object 'but I' or 'my father' or 'mother' or 'friend' are giving us a sample of one.
The whole point is that if you want to find out things which will help somebody, you must look at a large group.

Carvery apron competition

I'd like a Toby carvery apron. As the late Mrs Simpson never said, a woman can never have too many aprons. (She said you can never be too rich or too thin. See my book on quotations at lulu.com)

Lost and found in Translation

I went to a club meeting in Singapore. One speaker gave a speech in English but half the time was spent on a long passage quoting in Mandarin. The evaluator said that the speech should be given again with the passage quoted being entirely translated into English.

Our venue was in a shopping centre. I was tempted to walk out and go shopping. If a latecomer or newcomer had arrived in the middle of the speech, they might have simply walked out. People in the audience were bored. A speech entirely in another language should have been listed as such in the agenda and announced as such.

In addition, the chairman and speaker should both have checked whether anybody in the audience needed translations. It's a courtesy which you need to learn for dealing with audiences outside Toastmasters International (speakers mutual help training group).

I've been at wedding where the visiting family of bride or groom spoke no English.  You would not want them to think they were being ignored or laughed at. I made sure that they understood.

When I gave a thank you speech to my French hosts, whose guests were visiting English travel journalists, I translated each sentence as I went along. (Translating one sentence at a time was easier for me as as speaker/translator. It is also easier for the listener to follow the gist. Leaving some of the audience to wait for the whole speech to be translated means you risk them walking off for drinks or the loo, or doing their own distracting audible translation or talking to each other on other subjects.)

At a conference when your speech is translated you have to pause after every sentence to allow time for the translator to put together the sentence.  Some languages such as German and Japanese have the verb at the end, so hearing the last word of the translation is essential.

Other helpful ideas are to give handouts with both languages in two columns, the language of the speaker on the left, the translation for others on the right.

Slicer Safety

Did the customers finding the finger in their meal at Arby's in Minnesota save the finger so the unfortunate employee could have it sewed back on?
How did she cut off her own finger in a machine?
Where's the health and safety - now they need a machine which works differently.
Maybe you should put the meat inside, seal the lid (like many waste disposal machines in sinks). Then touch switches or levers both right and left with your own two hands to show they are not in the machine. (Like the 'dead man's hand' lever in trains and ships.)

One Minute - Of Time Well Spent

One minute wasted or one minute well spent?
One minute on tea can stretch to twenty minutes wasted.
One minute on chatting to a friend can stretch to three hours with no work done.
One minute looking at a project can result in the project getting started, can end in the project getting completed on time, even ahead of time.
On the other hand, thinking time, researching time - sometimes the man doing the washing up can find he's invented the dishwasher, and the person who lets the toast burn can end up so mortified by their mistake that they end up solving the problem for themselves and the whole world by inventing the pop-up toaster.

Finding A Speech Subject

When travelling to another group, whether it is a different school, business town or country, how do you find a subject which will interest your audience?
1 What interests do you share with people you work with, your family, friends, or neighbours?
2 What is different about you - causes raised eyebrows from your work colleagues, family friends and neighbours?  What do you do which annoys them? What do they do which annoys you? For example, if you are on time, but your children or spouse is always late, you can do a serious speech on being on time, getting jobs or contracts because you delivered on time, or a humorous speech on the missed planes, and nearly missed weddings and funerals.
3 Who have you met in the last 24 hours who was exactly the same as you, or totally different?
Now you know what makes you typical, or unique.
Either of these will make a great speech.
Try both and see which gets the reaction, 'tonight's speech was OK but it wasn't as good as that wonderful speech you gave last month on ....' or,  'this was your best speech ever'. Now you know what is your speciality, presented with skill and verve.

Toastmasters International Manuals Keeping Records of Speeches

We need to revise all speakers manuals to
1 Include helpful hints on using Powerpoint/Keynote in every speech
which is what most people are expected to do in business presentations.

2 A list of speeches at the start of the manual not on the back page (where it is forgotten - I just evaluated a third speech - went to fill in the back page and could not because the previous two evaluators had not included the titles of the previous speeches).

Speech list of titles and dates on the front will focus member's minds on completing the manual's speeches.

A list of speeches given - or planned - forms a quick guide to whether speeches are all on any consistent theme which can be used in advance as speakers progress as a list for getting paid engagements. Or developing the speaker's work or hobby or sport. Or on the contrary if preferred being an all-round selection covering all areas of the speaker's life.
Also a guide to the speaker's mentor as to how fast and well the speaker is progressing, whether they will reach the end by the end of the six months or year of membership.

The Speaker Is A Diplomat

• One of the skills you learn in Toastmasters International speakers clubs is or should be Know Your Audience, as well as how to tell the audience 'what's in it for me'. That is demonstrated by the speech which starts, 'I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him'. 

 Finally, if all else fails, you learn how to shift tone if you see that people are getting upset. When you go out in the 'real world' outside toastmasters, for example, you should not be insulting the groom or bride and upsetting the audience when honoured with an invitation to give a best man's speech. You don't get through a job interview by saying what you dislike about the company's products and staff and your interviewer's race, religion, politics, clothes and accent. A speaker is a diplomat - if he or she wants to get paid and invited back.                     

Spelling Matters

Schools are telling teachers not to correct more than three spelling mistakes and not to use 'angry' red pen because that discourages pupils and dents their esteem.

One member of the public says it's difficult to remember spellings.
Not true. It's easy to look the word up in the dictionary. I worked as a sub-editor and we checked every long word even if we thought we knew it.

As a home tutor I mark each query with a dot and ask the pupil to find the correct spelling in the dictionary. They then make a list of the new spellings which they have discovered and learned.

I can tell which pupils will make progress. One mother never got round to buying a dictionary in a ten week term. Another parent spoke to me the evening before the first lesson and turned up with two dictionaries for each of his twins by 10 am the next morning.

Foreign pupils often arrive with an electronic translation machine which may or may not also have and English dictionary and a thesaurus.

Several internet newspaper readers pointed out that pupils who can't spell will be at a disadvantage and lose money and self-esteem in the real world when they try to get a job. Pupils at private schools are taught spelling which gives them an advantage. Foreigners write better English than many natives.

Another reader commented that at university the teachers don't worry about upsetting the pupils. I find this sensitivity at odds with what we see on TV, outspoken criticism on programmes such as X Factor, Come Dine With Me.

Mums Moving House Need Help

A woman who has just moved into a new home appears to have killed her two children both under two years old and to have attempted suicide. Somebody says 'leave them alone'. If she had not been alone I imagine it would not have happened.
By investigating and being friends you might be able to stop this happening again.

Moving house is considered one of the most stressful events in life.
She doesn't know the neighbours to call on them or phone them.
In Holland you are expected to contact your neighbours as soon as you move into a new house.
In other places the neighbours contact you.
In the USA local businesses, presumably tipped off by the estate agent - or just looking at for sale boards, send you loads of helpful information, such as money off coupons and phone numbers for home delivery meals.

And she has two children so young, a challenge to anybody.
Where are the parents or the nanny who might have helped? Or the new mothers support group and health visitor?

Queen's Speech To Announce Police Have New Powers Re Drug Taking & Driving

Assuming you don't want to endanger others or yourself ...
(not on the road, nor losing your driving license nor risking ending up in prison) You have a choice of seven actions with drink/drugs and driving, all variations on don't drink/drugs or don't drive:
1 Get a sober, drug-free person to drive.
2 Stay at the destination (friend's house or hotel)
3 Stay home (but check your guests stay with you or get home safely)
4 Don't take drink nor drugs
5 Get a taxi/cab home
6 Visit only friends within walking distance and not crossing any main roads
7 Choose friends who don't drink nor drive either because you do or because you don't.

Adam & Eve Restaurant

The mug is not from the restaurant. It is to remind me that the restaurant was in the UK.

We stopped at the Adam & Eve restaurant on our trip. Different menu upstairs. Candles in fireplace. Wonderful rose wine had strong flavour.
Presentation of food not exciting.

Worldwide there are several restaurants called the Adam & Eve. This one was in the UK.

Useful Websites

https://adamandevealnwick.co.uk/