French Words: c'est la vie, dilettante to repertoire

c'est la vie - that's life
dilettante
grand cru
pique
première - first performance - usually grand opening night with VIP guests
repertoire

The boss tells me he won't allow critique.
I protest - 'it's French!'
'Not any more - it's now a recognised English word.'

What's a recognised English word? One you need not put in Italics. One you would not notice is French.

Valpolicella - learn three Italian words with wine

Valpolicella, the famous Italian wine, comes from val for valley (also French as in Val d'Isere valley of Isere) pol for many as in the English word polytechnic - many technical skills, and cella or wine cellar. So, Valpolicella wine comes from a valley of many wine cellars, north of Italy.

French words: Grandeur to malcontent

grandeur
malaise
malcontent

Celebrity Park in Poland

I was researching Chagall for my calendar of quotations when I found a link to a park in Poland, Kielce, where his bust is featured. A wonderful website has photos of many busts of famous people, who you probably know, such as Salvador Dali, plus Polish heroes and links to a weird dance video.

Statue of Miles David in Kielce

http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/news/celebrity-park-where-to-see-jimi-hendrix-marilyn-monroe-and-john-lennon/

Chopin statue, Warsaw, Poland.

French words of the day - banquette to triage and venue

banquette
beau
belle
bureau
café
cliché
critique
exposé
femme fatale
foie gras
jejune
malaise
naive
niche
omelette
palette
panache
pastiche
portmanteau
sautée
triage - dividing the injured into three groups, the walking wounded, the wounded, and those needing most urgent attention, first done in the USA in wartime, copied by the Brits at the railway accident at Harrow and Wealdstone station
unique - the French for only child is fille unique
venue

Visit Museum of the Founder of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Switzerland

Monument to Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, in Wagga Wagga, Australia.

Henry Dunant (8 May 1828-30 Oct 1910)
We was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1910.
In addition to founding the Red Cross and the Red Crescent he inspired the Geneva Convention.
His last words were:
Where has humanity gone?
The home where he spent his last years is now a museum in Heiden Switzerland. On the websites in Wikipedia and of the museum you can see the monument to Henry Dunant, and the red cross table with four white chairs. The website about it the museum in German and English. Here is a link to the English Version.
http://www.dunant-museum.ch/en/?cat=6

You can also read about him in Wikipedia.
I discovered this museum about which I previously knew nothing when researching Inventors Day for my Quotations Calendar.

Angela Lansbury
Author

French words of the day: chaise longue to salon

chaise longue
émigrée
ensemble
salon

French words of the day - aide to pommel frites to suite

aide
aide-mémoire
armoire
barbecue
baroque
bouillon
cafe rouge
camaraderie
cordon bleu
eminence gris
en suite
entrepreneur
masquerade
memoir
menage a trois
mise en scene
renaissance
pas de deux
pommes frites
suite
touchee
toupee

Broken wine bottle leaking - here's the answer

We once got off a plane with a wine bottle which had broken in flight. Two jets of red wine dripped onto our luggage and the floor. It was such a shock. At first I thought somebody was bleeding.

Luckily the bottle was in hand luggage and not packed in a suitcase. One person held the bottle upright. Another raced for the toilets and a supply of tissues. We soon had a red papier mache hands like a boxer.

Anything to declare? Just embarrassment. we were red-handed. But surprisingly nobody stopped us. If they noticed, they were glad to see us go.

Next we had to persuade the taxi to take us, not to a hospital, home, via the nearest wastebin.

Now somebody has invented the answer, to protect your body, your hands, your clothes and your luggage, public places and your home or your host's property.

It looks like a black bottle carrier but has not one, not two, but three zip locks. Then the handle fastens with a handy loop tape (Velcro brand or similar). At under £10 it's a great item for yourself or a gift. And for those occasions when a bottle of wine alone is not enough, a handy addition.

http://www.wineware.co.uk/inflatable-wine-bottle-travel-bag-black

Hatch End news - Coming soon - Pizza and Prosecco and San Marzanos tomato

So what does San Marzanos mean? San sounds like a saint, but it turns out to be a variety of tomato - presumably what Italians use in pizza.

Here's what Wikipedia tells you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marzano_tomato

Photo of shop front by Angela Lansbury. Copyright Angela Lansbury.

Photo of tomatoes from Wikipedia. See their copyright notice.

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author, speaker and English language teacher and speech trainer.

Where to go - events with the AA - and Tripadvisor B & B

If you are looking for monthly events in the UK and Europe you'll find them in the online AA magazine. I noted this month, January, and February, events such as a motor show in Europe and an outdoor travel show in East London, UK.
http://www.theaamagazine.com/2014/winter-2014/events-guide

Tripadvisor has some budget priced bed and breakfast places worldwide, some with swimming pools, or owners who advise on what's to do locally, everywhere from Yorkshire in England to Italy and the USA.

Great pictures of bedrooms with co-ordinated bedding and curtains - even a mural to match.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2918609/Two-UK-establishments-honours-year-s-TripAdvisor-Travellers-Choice-Awards.html

French words of the day - blond and blonde, blanc and blanche, Carte Blanche

carte blanche (literally card white) - empty card - means do what you like
Blanc is the word white, masculine for white, from German and then French
blanche is the feminine and a girl's name, perhaps originally given to a girl with white skin or blonde hair
We also use the term blanching as a verb in English, to whiten or soften or remove flavour, heat quickly to boiling and plunge into running or cold water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanching_(cooking)

blond - white or yellow hair, male
blonde - white or yellow hair, female
He is blond
She is blonde

roulette

French and foreign sounding words the English language borrowed

Baccalaureate
beguile
colleague
degree
guile
niche
pique
reprise
surveillance
unique

Silk for travelling, hot, cold, parachutes and 18 layers are bulletproof

Patra Silk, one of my favourite companies now has a sale. Including silk pillowcases.

All about silk - from their website:

http://www.patra.com/Static/AboutPatraSilk

  

Breakfast Travel Diet - I must avoid the almond croissant

My favourite snack is Costa's almond bake slice.

I've looked at snacks in Waitrose cafe and at Costa, as well as the freshly baked croissants and muffins in Tesco and Morrisons - and tea time scones with cream at Marks & Spencer to take home and divide between two people or two meals.

Croissants are the worst and if you look at recipes to bake your own you see why they are so calorific and taste so good. Full of butter. My other favourite is almond fillings and marzipan. Marzipan is basically ground almonds mixed with sugar, the amount of sugar varying from about 25% to 75%.

You are better off buying a sandwich - but the egg with mayo could contain more calories than the chicken sandwich.

As for bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese!

So I have to run to and from the shop in order to eat half a croissant. Anybody want to run with me and then share my almond bake?

We've started doing a daily calorie count in our family.

http://www.costanutrition.co.uk

Costa - New - in Hatch End

Opened Saturday 17 Jan 2015.

Seats at the back. Private, nook, cosy, away from passing traffic.

Jolly, chatty girl serving.

Where is it? On the north side of The Broadway, just along from the pedestrian crossing.

Sunday open until 8 pm!

The most beautiful wine region? What to see in Rochester, NY state, USA: quick list

I am going through my piles of paper and brochures, running out of room, so I'm throwing away as much as I can, summarising what I need to know, to share with you.

Rochester, USA
WHERE
Rochester, "The Flower City" is presumably named after Rochester, England.

• Rochester Highland Park has 1200 bushes and 500 varieties of lilacs.
• University Avenue and Neighbourhood of the Arts: artists, bistros, boutiques and coffee houses.
• George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film  
• Susan B Anthony House, features the women's civil rights leader

• National Museum of Play at The Strong, a complex which also includes
• National Toy Hall of Fame
• International Centre for the History of Electronic games
• Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden
• Plus museums on art, science, and a zoo.

WINE

• Finger Lakes wineries, New York.

Voted Most beautiful wine region in the world.

WHEN
Festival city has events most weekends Spring to Fall.
Film Festival in April.
In May Rochester, USA, holds a Lilac Festival.
Jazz Festival in June.
Jewish Film Festival in July.

From Rochester, go west to Niagara Falls.

VisitRochester.com

French words of the day - bouffant to vive la difference

bouffant
c'est a vie
vive la difference

Travel Tripod from Manfrotto - do you need it?

A handy travel tripod from Manfrotto. First, why does a photographer need a tripod? Because otherwise you get camera shake.

Even if you know to hold a camera steady, you may want somebody in the audience to photograph you. For example, when you are with a friend on holiday. Or on business if you meet a VIP colleague, to record shaking hands on a contract, for the company newsletter or local newspaper.

You might be performing on stage, prearranged. Or you might volunteer from the audience suddenly. A bystander might not hold the camera as steadily as you would.

So you need a tripod. There are plenty. Smaller ones with thinner legs are inclined to tip over. You may already have one. I do, somewhere. But I don't use mine because it tips over and risks damaging my camera, delaying me, unnerving me, fails to take the picture.

What's good about the new Manfrotto model?
1This one is good for placing on tables and other flat surfaces. It has fat curved legs you can grip.
2 The legs are curved designed to be gripped so you can hold the camera in the air by the tripod.
3 You can rest the base of the legs against your chest.

Price? About £20. The postage might vary depending on where you are located.

http://www.manfrotto.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, author, speaker, poet, trainer

French words of the day - patisserie - list

We keep a record of all the French words we use or hear or see in newspapers. A growing list. I circle words I see in newspapers and add them to my list. Then I write them down on the Notes page at the back of my English dictionary. Here are my words (which I update later in the day if I see more).

patisserie (I mistyped this ending with double ee. It ends with ie.)

Fellini, Hatch End - second cup of coffee free - UK, France, Singapore and worldwide

UK and worldwide
Lots of places in England and worldwide do this. But you have to know and remember where. At least one of the coffee-patisserie chains does this. It is on their menu. If you check out the coffee chain websites you'll be able to see what is in your area. They should make a feature of it, as Fellini has done.

Singapore
I used to meet a friend in the coffee bar near Orchard station. We chose the branch opposite Isetan, next to the big bookshop on the corner. We could have a second coffee and just sit. Most people drank just one coffee and went off. But the shop got our business on a regular basis. My friend would often offer to buy me something to eat later as well.

Some of the coffee shops in Singapore city centre have signs up, no homework. Otherwise groups of schoolchildren, ten to twenty of them, might fill up the shop for hours after ordering just one drink.

France
French restaurants have an unwritten rule, my French au pair girl told me years ago, that you can sit as long as you like so long as you order a coffee every hour.

Do you know which places near your home, office, and business or social areas offer a free second coffee? Make a note in your diary. I'll do the same. 

Statue to Thatcher in Falklands

An eight foot high stone statue, a bust on a roughly round sock with a plaque, raised on a pedestal, of Margaret Thatcher (-2013), former Prime Minister, was unveiled in the Falklands' capital, Stanley on Saturaday 10 Jan 2014. it commemorates Margaret Thatcher's support for the islanders in 1982.   Margaret Thatcher Day is Jan 10 in the Falklands.

The Wikipedia article shows her with US Presidents.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/11338385/Bronze-bust-of-Margaret-Thatcher-unveiled-in-Port-Stanley.html
The link shows a video of her son Mark giving a speech.

French words of the day - abattoir to tricolour

abattoir
chandelier
decolletage - low neckline (on dress of a woman, fashion to reveal or enhance bustling)
ensemble
espionage
repertoire
tricolore - three colours on the French flag

Local Produce at Parsons Nose, Food Shop in Fulham

Parsons Nose has an eye-catching model of a cow on the corner of the shop and road as you walk from the station to Fulham Wine Rooms.

Later I looked at their website and learned that they use only free range produce.

Free range lamb

Scottish beef. Antler light fitting.

Who's chicken?

Smiling staff.

Huge numbers of jars of chutneys in varieties I'd never heard of before. At reasonable prices.

Mural of tiles showing chicken and shop name.

www.parsonsnose.co.uk

Photographs copyright Angela Lansbury.

French words of the day - a propose to femme fatale

A propos
femme fatale

Sorting piles of paper and travel brochures

Every time I return from holiday I have a pile of maps and brochures. I keep them for next time.

How do you clear clutter without losing anything vital? First, you can eliminate duplicates.

Next, if you simply want to cut weight and space, cut in half.

Fulham road Wine Bar and Funky Food Shops

Fulham Wine Rooms bar
The wines are the thing. Food very expensive, £8 for a starter to feed a rabbit. Tapas - all small. We ended up paying about £40, then had a drinks evening with teeny plates of cheese and meat to share, then finally more food - again small portions. If you have unlimited cash it's great because of the huge choice of wines and people with upper class accents.

You can smoke outside.

Wines by the glass from the machine are good value.

www.greatwinesbythe glass.com

See my later post on the Parsons Nose shop selling free range poultry and meat

January 6th - 12th day of Xmas - lights coming down

In London, England, the 12th day of Christmas, is January 6th, so on the 6th or the 7th the lights come down. Here is a picture of the lights on the tree being removed in Hatch End, NW London.

The big white lorry (truck to American readers) has the yellow crane with the people lifter and inside is a man wearing a high visibility jacket. In my earlier posts, pre-Christmas, last year, in 2014, (yes, it is now 2015), I showed pictures of the same vehicle being used to put the lights on the tree.

January 6th is celebrated as a festival in some countries, and also January 7th in others.

French words of the day - burlesque to rapprochement

burlesque
daguerreotype
macabre
rapprochement

French words of the day - laissez faire

fiancee
laissez faire

Souvenir Songs on Cities: London, New York, USA, Europe, S America

Here is an update in my ongoing project on Happy travelling and Happy Souvenirs

I looked up souvenir songs to see if I can find something happy. Souvenirs to Souvenirs sung by Demis Roussos is a miserable song about seeing reminders of a lost love. Is it any coincidence that his surname ends SOS! That was how I remembered the spelling of his name. I'll look for some happier songs - to cheer me and you.

I went back to update my earlier post. Re-writing history. You can't do that so easily in Facebook. You can edit and comment. It is much easier to correct errors in a blog post.

However, I'll create a new post on songs, updating through today. You could print this off and add your own as you think of them. (If you work in music or PR and want to mention a song, please email or comment the title, or a youtube clip or even send me a copy).

SONGS ON SOUVENIRS

Years ago, we had holiday films without sound - which was so expensive that the public did not have it. So when showing a slide show or silent movie of holidays we would play a piece of music as accompaniment, turning down the sound for commentary.

These are the songs or snatches of songs which immediately spring to my mind

SONGS ON LONDON, UK, IRELAND, SCOTLAND
LONDON
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner
Gilbert and Sullivan: A policeman's lot is not a happy one
DOVER
Blue skies over the white cliffs of Dover (Vera Lynn)

SCOTLAND
The Campbells are coming, hurrah, hurrah
I'll take the high road - I'll be in Scotland before ye
Auld Lang Syne
Over the sea to Skye

IRELAND
In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty ... Molly Malone
When Irish eyes are smiling

USA
New York, New York ....
If you're going to San Francisco - be sure to wear some flowers in your hair ...- (I was there in the Sixties)
All my exes live in Texas - that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee ...
Galveston Oh Galveston
Disneyland / Disney World- I thought I saw a puddy cat
Take me back to the Black Hills, the Black hills of Dakota ?

Historical Event songs
All the civil war songs:
Steven/Stephen Forster/Al Jolson songs:
Dixie
Mammy

FRANCE
Disney (near Paris) - see USA
The Marseillaise (national anthem)

GERMANY
Deutchland ... über alles

SPAIN
Que Viva Espana

ITALY
All over Italy
Operas:

MEXICO (Must be dozens)

SOUTH AMERICA
Don't cry for me Argentina

NATIVE AMERICAN
Must be several from old films

The Traveller's Song
by Angela Lansbury
copyright 2014

I'm a citizen of the world
FIown blue skies and cruised far and wide
I've souvenirs to excite friends -
Fear not, there's nothing I should hide!
I'm a citizen of he world, the world, the world, the world!

I rode round London on the train
Drove down to the port of Dover
Jet to Asia, safe home again
Marked the map over and over

I caught a ferry to Ostend
Bought chocolates, wine and pretty lace
Spent air miles and cash with old friends
Snapped fashions and smiles every place

Stared up the skyscrapers of New York
Drove peaceful Blue Ridge mountains south
I learned drawl y'all Southerners talk
Showing white teeth in my wide mouth

I flew down to Australia
Saw a crocodile's big teeth smile
Like dark Everglades, Florida -
Once - I didn't stay a long while!

In New Zealand we went skiing
l loved fresh air Lake Tahoe, too
We wear ski hats in London's Spring
We're the warmly-dressed, happy few

I made a 'bunch' of friends world wide
Good friends whose faces I can't forget
'cos every hour they wave to me
Aged photos on the internet!

Now life's jigsaw mystery cities
Tripadvisor soon unravels
We've been there, seen, clicked, ticked them all
The last piece is armchair travels.


Update

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

More on Lebanese wine and Serge Hochar who recently died

Serge Hochar (pronounced ho-shar) transformed the Lebanese wine industry, which had 5 wineries when he started, and 50 later in his lifetime, as he said in 2014. (30 Nov 1939- Jan 1 2014).
He died in a swimming accident in the ocean at Acapulco, Mexico. It happened on Wednesday says the New York Times. Wednesday in London was New Year's Eve Dec 31 2014. I'll check on this with various sources and update.

They say you love or hate Musar wines.

The New York Times article is very comprehensive. The 'funkiness' which is a characteristic of Musar wines is caused by a yeast and creates distinctive flavours of 'band aid'. Three compounds, one giving flavours of cloth and ointment. Also expect volatile acidity.  All wines have some acid, the alcohol is volatile, you can only taste them, except acetic acid which you can smell in vinegar - and such as white wine vinegar his white wines have this too.

He is a 'hands off wine maker', says 'it's nature'. So all his wines are different every year. Contrast this with most other major producers who blend, or add previous years, so the buyers, the regular customers, (and the sellers in the shop) can be assured of a recognisable, familiar flavour and quality.

With Musar it was more a case of expect the unexpected. A Musar tasting we went to at the Wine Society in Stevenage produced what the wine connoisseurs considered a very variable collection of aromas and flavours.

www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/world/middleeast/serge-hochar-producer-of-lebanese-wines-dies-at-75.html?_r=0

http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/international-wine-trade-pays-tribute-following-the-death-of-chteau-musars-serge-hochar/511450.article
More tributes on Twitter.

w.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2895434/Father-Lebanese-wine-dies-75.html Very comprehensive and easy to read summary.

We are thinking of opening a bottle of Musar in his honour this weekend. If you have a bottle at home, or in bond, you might like to get yours out. If not, you can buy a bottle easily on the internet.

Angela Lansbury is a speaker, writer, travel writer, author and English / speech trainer.

Happiness jar - holiday souvenirs? What do you collect? Souvenirs of the holiday, year, or day?

A friend on Facebook mentioned their Happiness jar. What a great idea. I must make a happiness jar. 

How about a travel memory jar, too. But it would be full of chocolate wrappers from restaurants. In the old days it was matchbook covers. That's just restaurants.

What about hotel souvenirs? If you are lucky you can get hotel pens with names. Or shower gels. (Too big for a jar. I used to collect travel brochures, maps and postcards. I used to send myself a postcard to get the stamp.

What do you collect?

I have a five year diary. It should be a happiness diary. 

I could add a happy saying, motivational quotation, or humorous quotation.

I could quote the family. Or write down a family joke.

In each country of the day I could write a proverb or saying.

I could go through the countries of the world and learn about a new country every day.
PS Jan 3
***
I looked up souvenir songs to see if I can find something happy. Souvenirs to Souvenirs sung by Demis Roussos is a miserable song about seeing reminders of a lost love. Is it any coincidence that his surname ends SOS! That was how I remembered the spelling of his name. I'll look for some happier songs - to cheer me and you.

You can see this post was written - but I've updated it later. Re-writing history. However, I'll create a new post under today's date - so read on subsequent posts.

Chateau Musar - Lebanese winemaker dies in Accident - tell me more about Musar

One of the most famous winemakers in the world, Serge Hochar of Chateau Musar, has died suddenly, in a swimming accident, belatedly celebrating his birthday.

We met staff from Chateau Musar at a Wine Society event in Stevenage. Serge Hochar was known as the Father of Lebanese Wine and for keeping his wine making going throughout the Lebanese civil war, driving the product from the vineyard to Beirut through the war zone where you were likely to be shot at.

He died on New Year's Day in a swimming accident in Mexico.

Stories About Chateau Musar
In 2013 the chateau had to fence off its vineyard and employ guards to protect the vines, not the grapes, but the leaves. Local people were stealing leaves, which were highly prized because they were hairless and organic, for good prices as food in the market.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2013/05/leaf-thieves-target-chateau-musar

https://www.facebook.com/ChateauMusar
http://www.chateaumusar.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_Musar

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/01/02/us-lebanon-musar-idINKBN0KB0WR20150102?feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jan-02/282846-internationally-acclaimed-lebanese-winemaker-serge-hochar-dies-in-accident.ashx

www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/rip-serge-hochar

Jancis Robinson, editor of the definitive encyclopaedia on wine, often seen at tastings, and heard on radio, knows everybody in the business and knew Serge well.

Her post says that winery, previously run by Serge and his brother, is now run by Serge's son (the older or oldest son I presume, and Serge's son's brother. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wine_personalities

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=musar&tag=mh0a9-21&index=grocery&hvadid=3171162018&ref=pd_sl_95gb9excjq_p

New Year Next Year? Not London. Nor New York. Pasadena or Australia

What is my travel wish list for next year?
HOT TIPS FOR NEXT NEW YEAR
 Go somewhere warm. Such as?

1 Singapore
Great lights on malls, shopping streets. (All streets in Singapore are shopping streets! Hotels. Restaurants. The lights come down for one festival and up they go for the next. With a resident population of Little India, Chinatown - Chinese, Malays - always a festival.

2 USA
Florida - great Christmas lights on public buildings, hotels, malls and residences. The Florida Citrus Parade.

3 USA
Pasadena Rose Parade
Yes. A country I have not previously visited - or a state or a town I have not previously visited.
Where is Pasadena? California.

4 USA
Las Vegas
Guaranteed greet prices and great displays everywhere.

5 Australia
Great lights over the Sydney Harbour bridge. Warm weather.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Parade

For everybody else in my family, it's ski clothes and cold places - London - the Parade, New York.
Between now and Easter I'm avoiding snow but my family are hoping for it because they are off to ski resorts.

If you missed out on the parades, here's a look at the past parades for us armchair travellers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day_Parade

Radetsky March and Radetsky Statue in Vienna. Who?

Radetsky March by Johann Strauss is the composer's best known popular piece and my favourite. (See my previous post about the New Year's Day Concert 2015.) Who was Radetsky? A general who fought bravely in many battles, hit by five bullets in one, yet lived through numerous conflicts until the age of 90 plus. Of course marches were written for the military. But why would we peaceful music-lovers want to remember him? He was also go-between in post-war peace process when the warring parties weren't on speaking terms.

Johann Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz an Austrian Field Marshal. Statue in Vienna, Austria. Photo by Gyffindor in Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Radetzky_von_Radetz

Once you have heard the music you can't stop humming it. Like a drum inside your head. Diddy-dum, diddy-dum, diddy dum-dum-dum ...

New Year's Day - Vienna Concert and London Parade

New Year's Day Concert from Vienna
The New Year's Day Concert from the golden hall in Vienna featured music by the Strauss family (father Johann and three sons) and was conducted this year by jovial Indian Mehta, very dapper. It was broadcast on the BBC1 lunch time today, can be seen again on the iplayer and/or caught on BBC3 radio BBC4 tv. It features scenes of Vienna and Austria.

Here is Strauss senior, also known as Johann Strauss I. His three sons were Johann Strauss II, Josef and Eduard.

Matching the music, the dancing was mesmerising, modern, elegant, amusing, flowing. The girls tiptoe or are tossed in the air effortlessly by the boys.

Costumes, as usual are wonderful. Starting with the dramatic black and white 'students' ballet. Finishing some gorgeous flimsy, flowing red and white dresses with black ribbons, each dress subtly different.

The opening music was the best, and the finale of Johann Senior's stirring Radestsky March.

New Year's Day Parade
Next on TV was the New Year's Day Parade. In London, the frost has disappeared but although warmer, it is chillingly cold. According to news reports crowds were out, despite the weather, to see the parade. I'm happy not to be there, just watching on the internet. For a list of the parade participants, see the Daily Mirror site:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/london-new-years-day-parade-4902202

Keeping A Lifelong Travel Log

If you have a Baby Book for souvenirs of your baby, you can create a page for your child's or grandchild's travels.

If you want to write your own life story, you can make a log of your own travels.

What if you are trying to create a travel log for yourself or a relative. Where do you start? How do you fill in the blanks?

On the back of this black and white photo my late father had written San Marino.

1 CURENT YEAR Start your log with this year and work backwards.
2 All your computer photos and digital photos are likely to have the year.
3 Label all your holiday photos with the year.
4 Wedding photos are likely to be matched with places and people and dates.
5 Note yourself, your parents, friends, children on the caption of all photos. You will remember your parents and grandparents on your wedding photos. After your parents have died, your grandchildren might not be able to tell who is who. Even yourself and your brothers and sisters as children can be hard to recognise. I can't tell my husband's baby photos from his brother's. Nor my mother-in-law when she was in her twenties from her younger sister.
5 b Add the dates.
5 c Add the places.
6 BIRTHDAYS Note birthdays celebrated home and abroad.
7 LOCATIONS
The location of your home country might not seem worthy of note. However, if your children emigrate overseas, nearby or far away, and marry somebody who lives overseas, the photos of their respective parents and inlaws' homelands will then be different and interesting and remarkable.
8 PASSPORTS
Old passports will show the dates of travel. After my late uncle died, I found his old passports. They confirmed the exact dates he took ships from the UK to the USA and back. Also when/whether he was on a troop ship and when/whether he was working as a musician.

9 If you have the year a photo was taken, and the birthdate of the person in the photo, you can then add the age of the person in the photo. So I know that a photo my father took of Venice, with myself in the foreground, shows me age 12. Some people would need a photo labelled with the exact month. But I know that my mother was age 46. I was born in Spring. My mother was born mid-summer. The holiday photos were probably taken in the school holidays in July-August, after both birthdays.
10 Black and white photos can be coloured with a programme you can find on the internet. You can add skin tones and eye colour from a palette of options. Then trees can be green, skies blue, public buildings and landmarks such as castles and churches and cathedrals can be coloured as they are nowadays or as they were years ago.

TRAVEL Delights and Disasters 2014 - and my memories

ON THE ROAD
My CAR ACCIDENT
My worst moment - 2014 - Rear-ended on M4 on way to Writers' Holiday July, hit barrier, ended up in fast lane, car written off. Later discovered right arm injured

My best (magic) moment - I shouted 'Block the lane!' and the driver of a lorry (truck if you are reading this in the US) who had run to help me, ran back and moved his vehicle diagonally across all three lanes. My saviour. My protector. He therefore stopped anybody driving into the accident vehicles. (My car spun on impact with the barrier. I was in the fast lane. The other vehicle was in the slow lane. Debris from my car in the middle. The diagonally parked large, long, high vehicle was visible for miles, alerting drivers to slow down and not to hit vehicles which were stopped.

My second best moment was learning from the rescue vehicle driver that if my car was rear-ended in the UK the police and insurance would automatically blame the other driver, not me. Even if I had slowed down to avoid a giraffe, kea or mouse, hallucinated any of the above, had a heart attack, or done anything wrong - the vehicle behind is supposed to have kept their distance ready for any emergency stop.

World's worst/best/most amusing or dramatic?
Jeremy Clarkson. Dispute apparently caused by numberplate referring to Falklands. Broadcast over the holidays. We discussed this at New Year's Eve dinner. Our observations were:

Speaker 1 TRAVEL LOCATION
Wrong place and wrong time. Avoid travel, games and fights in predictable trouble spots.
The event happened at a rural place.  The brightest people in rural locations, the ones who are rational and verbal, go to the big cities to find work. Rural locations often have populations who are badly paid, out of work, more inclined to settle disputes by fighting, hostile to strangers. Not a good place to pick a fight, even a friendly football game, nor find yourself in a fight.

Speaker 2 TRAVEL ETIQUETTE
When you are guest in a country, you should not insult the host. If you cause offence by accident, immediately apologise.

Speaker 3 TV PROGRAMME STYLES
The programme is known to get laughs from making fun of the location and people. The host country should have known. In addition they should have been warned and asked if this was acceptable.

Speaker 2 TOURISM - all publicity is good publicity
YMCA objected to the song which they thought made fun of them, but it proved so popular that they found it was a great advertisement and reconciled with the songwriters and came to an armament to use it as publicity.
Kazakstan - upset by Borat - found their tourism increased so much that, like the YMCA, they started to run tours and adopted the attitude, if you can't beat them, join them.

Maybe you and/or I can add some more of these later:

SEA
My worst
My best
World's worst
World's best
World's most amusing/Dramatic

PLANES
My worst
My best
World's worst
World's best

TRAINS
My worst
My best
World's worst
World's best

WAR OR MISHAP
http://www.infoplease.com/news/2014/current-events/world_jan.html

My Successes in 2014
Passed level one of WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust). Now I can recognise and read wine labels in restaurants and supermarkets around the world.

Great Quotations About Travel

It is better to travel in hope than arrive.
R L Stevenson

Anything which can go wrong will do so.
Murphy's Law

I have travelled more places than I remember and remember more places than I have travelled.
Benjamin Disraeli.

I always travel with my diary. It is important to have something exciting to read on the train.
Oscar Wilde

If this is tea bring me coffee; if this is coffee bring me tea.
Abraham Lincoln

Angela Lansbury is the author of Quick Quotations

New Year Resolutions For Travellers

Ten Commandments For Travellers
1 LABEL PHOTOS
You will label every travel photo with the place and names of people in the photo - with correct spellings
2 NOTE ADDRESSES AND OPENING TIMES
You will check address, phone, email, opening times of every place you intend to visit
3 SEND PHOTOS AS THANKS
You will send photos of people taken to their phone the day you took the photo - better still within ten minutes of taking the photo (because you won't have time later and will not have their details)
4 PLAN GIFTS
You will ask people you are visiting their favourite foods or desired gifts from your point of departure
5 RECORD GOODS TO REPORT LOSS AND CLAIM INSURANCE
You will record all make, model and serial numbers of cameras phones and laptops you might lose travelling, and send a duplicate to another office or person not travelling with you, and at a different home/office address. Keep copies of insurance on fridge at home in case you end up in hospital.
6 STORE TRAVEL CLOTHES SEASONALLY IN ORDER
You will store summer clothes on the left (in wardrobe/closet/basement/attic), also grouped by colour for quick retrieval and quick packing
7 DUPLICATE DOCUMENTS AT SECOND LOCATION
Your passport and travel documents will be in a place for everything and everything in its place.
8 STORE PACKING LIST VISIBLY
Your packing list will be typed and printed and fixed to your suitcase lid, with a duplicate on the back of your wardrobe door at home, and a duplicate photographed and stored on iCloud
9 PACK LANGUAGE LISTS OR BOOKS
You will travel with a phrase book for every country you are visiting
10 LEARN A LANGUAGE
You will learn 1000 words of a new language each year (3 words a day every day of the year) so each year of your life you can speak enough to get by in a new language. (For me this year it is Spanish.)

Let's do something. Next post on Spanish words.

What are your new year resolutions? Mine include finishing my two books of the year, a Quotations Calendar and my unpublished best selling novel.

Happy 2015 !

Champagne and panettone. 

The Champagne we drank could be bought from Lidl for around £10 a bottle or less.

After the party was over, as the song says ...