Thursday, May 31, 2018

Kaya Toast at Harbourfront, Singapore

I love kaya toast. It looks like lime green lemon curd. It brightens up toast and butter.

I had coffee and kaya toast with two friends in the Harbourfront shopping complex next to the entrance to the MRT station (and adjoining the swanky Vivo Shopping Mall.) 

Harbourfront has the two shopping malls, office blocks and the old harbour. It's the end of the line, MRT, so easy to find. 

When we were invited for coffee after a lunchtime meeting, we accepted. Imagine my delight in finding we were hesitantly asked if we minded having coffee at a Kaya toast shop? 

Kaya? Yes, please! Kaya is one of my favourites. After durian, and fish head curry - just one of the Singapore specialities. It's also inexpensive if you want a quick stop, and you won't have to worry about spending too much on your guests, or asking too much of your hosts.

The coffee shop looked completely full just after lunch at about 2.30 on a Thursday afternoon.
However, when we walked to the back wall, we saw small square stools waiting without a customer -for a customer without a stool. We would be three, all perched on cube shape backless stools around a tiny round table.

Fortunately, I was too busy talking and being polite and making use of the time in conversation to worry about my surroundings. Just as well that I didn't waste time worrying, because by the time the host of our group returned from the kiosk queue with our coffees (the kaya toast is cooked to order and delivered to the table) we were kings of the coffee tables. As somebody vacated their table beside us, we moved to a table with a bench seat and backs to the wall (easier to watch your belongings and keep them off the dirty floor). We pushed two square tables together to make a bigger table for three.

As you can see from the picture, proper seats with backs are against the outside corridor.

I had wondered about the calorie count. However, the toast is in very thin slices, a thin sandwich, more flavour and less bread. I was happy with that.

I didn't have time to read the history of the company which is on the wall outside, so I took a picture of it to read later.

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

Photo opportunity - your head in a monster's mouth

A photo or poster of any animal or fish or bird or statue with an open mouth is an opportunity for a fun photo. This one was at Harbourfront, Singapore, on the railway station near the place where you etner and exit through the barrier. 

The posters for the safari park and zoo and films seen to attract a lot of people, Japanese tourists, teenage friends taking turns to be photographed individually, families photographing single children, pairs of siblings and small groups of children. 

You don't have to visit a zoo or safari park. Just see the poster!

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, atuhor and speaker.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Why You Should Take Self-Captioning Pictures Like This One of Singapore

St Andrew's Road near St Andrew's Cathedral. Self-captioning photo by Angela Lansbury, Copyright.

My night-time photo of Singapore shows, left to right, The Singapore Flyer, a big wheel, and far right Marina Bat Sands with its skyscraper towers of shops, restaurants and a hotel, with, at the top, an infinity swimming pool, a bar and fine dining restaurant.

Problem
Lovely picture, but where was I? How do I caption the picture? How do I find the place on the map? How do I go back? How do I send a friend to my new favourite place?

Answer
What was the name of the cathedral? The museum? The street? I have all three. I did not need to delay and miss the last train home because I was taking notes.

The answer is self-captioning pictures. I no longer need to keep copious records of every shot and location.
National Gallery of Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Travel writer and photographer.

visitsingapore.com
singaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)
https://www.ishopchangi.com
http://www.changiairport.com/en/shop-and-dine.html
http://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com/durian-fiesta-2018-,promotions_viewItem_1341-en.html

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


Slippery When Wet, Delights and Disasters in Singapore Toilets


Floor slippery when wet. These are signs you see in Singapore toilets (rest rooms the Americans say). England is not immune. We also have warning signs in gyms near swimming pools in the UK fitness clubs. 

So you can go to a UK fitness centre and slip and injure yourself. It's absurd.

Why are the floors slippery when wet? Why can't they invest in non-slip matt surace, slightly undulating floor tiles? Or what about an overlay of trellis to tread on?

I found out the reason for the sign about food waste in the basins. In Singapore, after a couple of hours I went back to the ladies' rest room. Somebody had left crumbs in one of the washbasins. The edge was teeming with ants!


Travel Information websites:
visitsingapore.com
singaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)
https://www.ishopchangi.com
http://www.changiairport.com/en/shop-and-dine.html
http://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com/durian-fiesta-2018-,promotions_viewItem_1341-en.html


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



St Andrew's Cathedral And City Sights near City Hall MRT, Singapore

Singapore's imposing and ethereal church by City Hall MRT train station in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Handy Information Panel Near City Hall and MRT beyond St Andrew's Cathedral. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

(More shortly.)

Angela Lansbury, British travel writer and photographer, Singapore Permanent Resident. 

National holidays - what's open and shut and why? A Singapore story.

Problem
I once took a holiday to a foreign city for a long weekend, hoping to visit a museum and a restaurant on my last day. Unfortunately, they both closed on Monday.

Singapore
In Singapore, on Tuesday 29th May 2018, I tried contacting people in Toastmasters. Nobody was answering. Why?

From the emails and chats with others I know that in the UK Monday was a bank holiday. America had Thanksgiving. Singapore has Vesak Day on Tuesday.

But surely there must be places which are open? What about other religions, such as church groups?

Answer
Finally, somebody texted me the answer. In Singapore, most Toastmasters clubs meet in Community Clubs. Two of the busiest are Braddell Heights Community Club near Serangoon MRT (train station) which has four clubs, Braddell Heights 1, Braddell Heights II, Braddell Heights Advanced, and Mandarin.

Cairnhill Community Club, almost adjacent to Newton MRT, has about eight clubs, a Mandarin speaking club, a bilingual Malay and English club, a French club, and several English speaking clubs including Cairnhill, Star Millenium Advanced, Filcom for the Filipinos keen to improve their English, and the Vietnamese club and IPA, the Indonesian Professional Association. I have been to the French Club, Francophone, and English speaking clubs.

You would think that like restaurants, Community Clubs would choose to open on National Holidays. Apparently not. Offices and public buildings are closed.

Community centres, although they have outdoor sports areas and open-sided indoor sports areas, are run by offices. Presumably, they also need cleaners to check the toilets every hour. So with those holding the keys to the room also on holiday with their families, the meeting rooms are locked and the clubs cannot meet.

Thanks to the person who enlightened me.

The moral is, don't wait until the holiday and try ringing around because you might get answerphones , recorded information, instructions to ring back after the holidays and phones not answered. When you see a holiday coming up, check in advance what will be open.

visitsingapore.com
singaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)
https://www.ishopchangi.com
http://www.changiairport.com/en/shop-and-dine.html
http://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com/durian-fiesta-2018-,promotions_viewItem_1341-en.html

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

See Schiele's Shocking Portraits, with another, exhibited in Liverpool, England, Vienna and New York, Austria

Problems
Who was Schiele?
Who loved and hated his work? How do I feel?
Who is the other painter exhibited with him?
Should I take a trip to see the exhibition in Liverpool in the North of England?
If not, where can I see more of these artists?

Answers
Artist, portrait painter, Egon Schiele lived from 1890 to 1918.  He died in his late twenties in the 1918 flu.

My favourite painting by Schiele is the one of Wally. I first discovered this when newspapers ran stories about the controversy and conflict over whether looted art from the Nazi era should be returned by galleries to the original owners.



It turns out that Wally was Schiele's long-term muse and girlfriend,  possibly stolen from his friend and patron, the artist Gustav Klimpt. She lived with Egon Schiele and moved around with him from city to city.

However, when he married respectable and rich Edith, who lived opposite, to his surprise, Wally took off.


Here's another of Schiele's 'acceptable' paintings. He also painted a lot of self-portraits.

He was notorious for his nudes with emphasis and revelation of the pubic area. 

His wife Edith died in the 1918 flu and he died of it three days later. So, if you have heard of the 1918 flu but could not name anybody who died in it, here's somebody you might remember from now on.

You have until September 23 2018 to see the exhibition at the art gallery in Liverpool, England.  

To sum up:
Where to see Schiele artwork
UK exhibition at Liverpool's Tate Modern, England, Great Britain
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
Vienna, Austria
New York, USA

Useful websites:
TRAVEL

RESEARCH
ART GALLERIES

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

Monday, May 28, 2018

Constipated On Holiday, Overseas, At Home or in Second Home? Some simple ideas

Corsica, island in Europe, in the Mediterranean. 

Problems
1 On a press trip in Corsica, after being hit by a car, I had multiple injuries and in hospital I was constipated a whole week away.

2 The wife of a friend was so constipated on holiday that they shortened their trip and he cancelled attending a meeting.

3 A member of my family had hospital treatment and was told he would have a side effect of constipation.

4 A member of my family was on medication which had the side effects of being constipated.

Answers
1 I was quite happy not to have any bowel movements when in a hospital for multiple injuries including broken ribs. Apart from the embarrassment, I did not want to be lifted onto a bedpan, pulling on my painful ribs and a broken collarbone.

However, I was puzzled. I wondered whether my body had gone into lockdown and whether my internal organs were paralysed.

When I friend visited me in hospital in London, England, her husband, who was an ENT specialist, told me that what I experienced was a side effect of morphine. That explained why I was so happy, manic-depressive when the pills were taking effect and started wearing off, as well as constipation.

Now I knew that once I was off morphine and onto mere everyday painkillers such as paracetamol, I was getting better in every way.

2 Could she have cured herself with the traditional medicine from a pharmacist? Apparently, it was a recurring problem for her.

3 The cancer website gave advice and set us on a hunt all over the internet.

Water
The first thing I learned was something obvious but a fact which I had been ignorant of all my life. If you take in very little water or get dehydrated in a hot country, due to diet, exercise, or any other reason, your body has need of water for your brain and other functions and will cut down on the water used to pass excreted food out of the body.

If you have dry skin, dandruff, a dry mouth, dry eyes, dry hair, are thirsty, it could be the side effect of an illness, too much or too little salt and sugar and food, or just not enough water! Also consider whether coffee and alcohol are not adding liquid, but dehydrating you. If your urine is dark yellow, it contains less water.

So, your first effort could be taking water. However, that is also supposedly a cure for other problems, such as diarrhoea, to clear out. (Consult a doctor if your symptoms are making you feel ill or stopping you from attending business meetings or going on tours when on holiday.)

(Obviously, do not drink, or continue drinking contaminated water. Tap water? in many countries, they claim the water is ok, which it is for local people. So why are you upset? Maybe they are immune to local bugs. What else might upset you? It could be the ice or water or washed salad even in a three, four or five-star hotel restaurant at home or overseas. If you already have a problem and suspect the local water, consider changing the source, from tap water to bottled water, but the purest water you can get.)
Prunes in apple juice from Waitrose in England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Prunes
Eventually, we settled on a fruit breakfast including two prunes. At first, we did not like the prunes. Now we love them.
Aloe vera growing in windowbox on a balcony in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Aloe Vera
4 By chance, I was wondering how to eat an outsize aloe vera plant growing on a balcony, a monster from a small baby aloe vera given to me by a friend. The website on how to scoop out the inner flesh warn that you should not eat aloe vera on a regular basis because of the side effects. So it might be a good cure or help if you have constipation. We have yet to try this out.

This is just my experience for your entertainment and information. To be sure that you are not experiencing or going to experience a serious condition, you should check the leaflets with any medication you are taking.  If you have a problem, consult a pharmacy, and/or a medically qualified person.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.




Strange Foods In Singapore and At Changi Airport: durian, kaya and pandan


SINGAPORE
If you are travelling to Singapore, or on a stopover to Australia or anywhere else, look around Singapore or the airport.

Singapore is like one long food festival, with multi-national stalls on the cheap hawker centres and department store food courts.

Pandan Cookies and Cakes
My unfavourite food is the so subtle green pandan cake popular in Singapore which rarely tastes of anything and has no much or crunch. However, try anything once.
Pandan Chiffon cookie at Singapore's Changi Airport. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.


Pandan cake, Wikipedia.

You will find pandan cake in many bakery counters in kiosks in hawker centres (food courts in the basement of upper floors of shopping malls and department stores).

Durian
Durian comes in many forms. The evil-smelling fruit, like a green football. Cut up into oozing greeny yellow pieces. Horrid, in my opion.




Durian cakes in shopping mall, Singapore. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Yet durian gives a wonderful flavour in ice creams and cakes, like banana, or chestnut.

You can also get chewy durian gums.
Durian gum. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 


And look for a durian topping, a paste squeezed like toothpaste over ice creams from hawker centres.

And this week Durian at the Goodwood Park hotel. On through June and until July.

Kaya Toast
Kaya is coconut jam, yellow and tasty, spread on toast for breakfast or a snack. I've also seen this at the airport.

Useful Websites
visitsingapore.com
singaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)
https://www.ishopchangi.com
http://www.changiairport.com/en/shop-and-dine.html
http://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com/durian-fiesta-2018-,promotions_viewItem_1341-en.html

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




Sunday, May 27, 2018

Foodies Festivals, Syon Park, London, on Bank Holiday Monday and more all year

Problem
I hate battling crowded car parks, buying tickets in advance to commit when I can't predict the weather. However, the food festival this year looks so good. What's good?

Answer
FREE
The lure of goody bags and beer if you get in fast with the code.

SEE - CELEBRITY CHEFS
'Great British Bake Off winner 2017 Sophie Faldo baking live in The Cake & Desserts Theatre, as well as top local talent 
64 degrees & Great British Menu winner Michael Bremner, 
Michelin-starred Matt Gillan of Pike & Pine and 
Michelin-starred chef of Ockenden Manor Stephen Crane all cooking up a storm in the Chef's Theatre'.

SEE - RAINBOW CAKE
The cake and bake festival with my visual favourite, the multi-coloured rainbow cake. The question is, how do you get it to taste as good as it looks.

SINGAPORE
If you are travelling to Singapore, or on a stopover to Australia or anywhere else, look around Singapore or the airport.

Singapore is like one long food festival, with mutli-national stalls on the cheap hawker centres and department store food courts.

My unfavourite food is the so subtle green pandan cake popular in Singapore which rarely tastes of anything and has no much or crunch. However, try anything once.


Pandan cake. Photo from Wikipedia.




Yes, Singapore has rainbow cake too.

Back to England - flavoursome rainbow cake sounds great.

MACAROONS
What if you love desserts but want to save calories, and costs, and leave room to eat something different later? Macaroons are the thing. They usually have great colours and flavours.

PROSECCO
Cheap and cheerful, I like Prosecco, more than Cava and Champagne.  It's less alcoholic, too.
The alcohol includes:
Champagne
Gin
Prosecco
Beer
If you really want to cut down on the alcohol, try the beer. Or the Tea Tent.

What about children? Yes, cookery for kids.

Anything sensible and savoury (yes, Cheese) or healthy and fruity?

COLOUR
If you don't want more to eat, feast your eyes on the red aprons advertising the foodies festival. Not just in London. They hold events at places as far apart as Brighton in Sussex on the south coast of England and up north in Edinburgh, Scotland. You might have missed the one in Brighton early this year, and if you miss the May bank holiday event in London, there's Brigmingham in June and several more run by the same company. And they are not the only company.

Plus coastal areas have seafood celebrations.

More information from:
http://foodiesfestival.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_festivals_in_the_United_Kingdom

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

WHY YOU SHOULD RECORD YOUR SUCCESS STORIES, TRAVEL AND MAPS

Problem - What Is Your Success Story?
I went to a Toastmasters International club meeting in Singapore where everybody around the table had to say their name and their greatest success or total success so far this year - or the success they hoped to achieve in the rest of the year.

Some people knew immediately what they had achieved (such as 'I passed such and such an exam'). I have been learning Portuguese, have given a workshop on writing your life story, and plan more workshops.

Several visitors gave vague answers. Some repeated what others said (such as I also plan to watch more films). Others paid repeated compliments to the hosts (my greatest success was coming here and meeting you!)

Raising Your Morale
I read in an article on curing depression and sad moments that you could energise yourself and keep up moreal and energy by creating a success book or a success wall.

Boasting and Introductions
Talking to yourself is not the same as talking about others. To boast of yourself, your spouse, your children or your grandchilden might annoy others, especially if their family is not equally successful.

Rags To Riches
But another speaker/trainer told us that if you spoke only of your past and current successes when introducing yourself as a speaker, you would alienate the audience. They would envy you and consider you boastful (or even a liar).

Chairperson's Introduction To You
The chairperson's job is to introduce the speaker in glowing terms. The speaker should appear modest and share secrets of certain success.

Achievable Success
What is certain success? 'You can do it' or 'a journey starts with a single step' is a great message for the timid person who is afraid to start a simple task.

Small Steps On The Ladder
However, another method is to break the task into simple steps and show somebody how to start and where to get free and easy help.

Typical Questions
What if you are in a conversation and greeted enthusiastically and asked lots of questions? I get asked these questions and you are likely to be asked something similar:
C - conversation starter for rapport.
FAQ ABC Frequently Asked Question - intended to get information for future action, business, commitment.

How long have you lived here (in this country)? C
Where do you live/stay? C 
What do you do for a living? FAQ (Do I say, teacher, semi-retired, author, workshop leader?)

Which country do you come from? C (My answer is London, England. However, I am a Singaporean Permanent Resident.
How many languages do you speak? C (Fluent French - and learning other European languages such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German.)
Do you speak fluent ....? C FAQ My child needs help with homework. Join our bilingual club. Our nearby school needs a foreign language teacher. Can you help me pronounce this word correctly ... (My answer is yes, if you pay me enough.)
Where did you learn to speak C French? (Grammar School A level.) FAQ - where can I learn to do it as well as you?
How long have you been married? (Too long!) C or FAQ meaning are you single, eligible, lonely, looking for a liaison?
Do you have children? C FAQ (Are you busy with family? Or free evenings and weekends to do a job or help me?)

When are you leaving? (I yo-yo between England and Singapore.) FAQ Our meeting is next week. Are you free?
When will you be back here? FAQ When can we meet? (If you want me to give a workshop, I'll be around in (month).

They all sound simple questions. Yet I and others struggle to answer them. If different members of the family give different answers, it sounds as if at best you are confused, at worst you could be lying. It helps to make a list and agree on which date you arrived in a foreign country (unless your and other members of the family arrived on different dates - in which case you need to be clear on which of you arrived which month and year.

Recording and Remembering Your Past
Firstly there's forgetting. Which year did I live in the USA?
1986. We lived in Rockville, Maryland; Stamford, Conecticut. We visited 25 of the 50 US states. (How you count states is another story, which I have dealt with in a post.)

Which  year did I first set foot in Singapore? 1993.

I became a Signapore Permanent Resident in 1999.

I joined Toastmasters International in the UK around 2005, the year my late father died. I recall a member of HOD Toastmasters coming to the funeral prayers.

We started an online travel diary in 1999 which lists every travel destination and trip.

Invitations To Meet Or Speak
The other important thing is to give a succinct story. When somebody asks: 'when will you be back?', you really want to know: 'Why are you asking?' "Are you making polite conversation, or planning to meet in future and tell me about events?'

If they want to invite you to a meeting on July 1st and you are leaving on June 30th, you can't accept. (They don't want to hear your entire life story, year's plans, reasons for travel. job history, spouse's change of job, children's school exams, parents health - and still no clue as to whether to speak to you and send an invitation!)

What they really want is your phone number or email. They want permission to put you on the mailing list and enquire which date in the year you are definitely in the coutnry to give a talk.

The way to appeal to an audience, according to many coaches and experts (and slides issued by Toastmasters International for talks) is to tell self-deprecating stories so the audience can feel superior, and feel and share your joy in overcoming difficulties.

The success may be due to:
1 Simply persisting until you get a lucky break - meet the right person or opportunity.
2 Persisting until you achieve the skills, pass the exams. This means not retreating at the first setback, and having a realistic idea of whether you might encounter setbacks yet still succeed.

Travel to multiple coutnries as an aim presents what at first sight is simply a collection. Add one new country a year and you are making progress. Along the way you might learn languages, find new foods, make friends, find a life partner, get offered a job, like a country and settle overseas.

To get a sense of progress, it helps to have a year by year list so you can see how your knowledge and travels have grown. You can keep many kinds of lists:

A map of the world.
A list of countries visited.
A list of words learned in other languages.

A list of successes such as:

ATTITUDE: diet; exercise; holidays; meditation; mindfulness; NLP; relaxation; stress-control; yoga.
BUSINESS / CONTACTS: Contacts in each country, each type of business. Purchases. Sales.
CERTIFICATES: Grouped in frames on a wall. Kept in a file.
FREEDOM: children left home for uni; debts or mortgage paid; use made of redundancy money; retirement.
IMPROVEMENTS: New home, job, possessions; even rearranged furniture.
LANGUAGES: Courses bought. Courses started. Courses finished. Words learned. Country visited.
NOVELTY:books read; create activites such as poems written.
SKILLS: business; ecourses; exams taken and passed;
SPORTS: First bungee jump, marathon, parachute jump.
SOCIAL: Friends from overseas - on Facebook.
TRAVEL; countries visited; foods tried; friends and contacts; recipes used; souvenirs.

Keep Medical Records
List everything. Try to memorise the dates. Keep dates handy where you can access them in a hurry.

Tetanus
When did you have a tetanus jab? I scraped my leg in Cyprus getting out of a car which stopped - then accelerated towards a parking place. The hospital wanted to give me a tetanus jab but needed to know when I last had one.

Chicken Pox and Shingles
A relative developed shingles. It is a kind of late onset revival of dormant chicken pox which you may have had as a child, many years later when you are elderly and low or stressed. Are other relatives liable to catch it? Less likely if they have had chicken pox. What did I have and when? Measles, mumps, rubella? Keep records with your passport and in your diary and on your computer.

Most of the younger generation have had a vaccination against chicken pox. You can ask for a vaccination if you have not had chicken pox vaccine earlier.

Doctors
You need your medical record for all sorts of reasons. When you apply to register for a new doctor in a foreign coutnry, they want your medical history.

When you go into hospital, walking into accident and emergency, or when admitted to a ward, they need to know your allergies.

Your family or colleagues fall ill - are you immune or have you had a vaccination?

Dentist
Visiting a dentist in Singapore, like in the USA, I had to list medications and allergies and give a long medical history.

I also needed a copy of my unviersity gradution certificate from University College, London. The year, the date, the original certificate - or oder a certified copy, at cost, and delay as it was available from the office only during university term time.

Job Applications
Applying for a job as a teacher in Singapore, I had to have a chest exray to prove I was free of TB and answer a whole list of questions.

Lists
What medicantion do you take (brand and generaic name) ............................ (strength / dosage) .........
Pharmacy address,  hours, ........ tel .........................
Have you had chicken pox, measles, mumps, polio vaccine?
Genetic conditions, major illnesses or causes of death of grandparents or other ancestors, parents or siblings ..........................................................
Your vaccinations ..................................
Your home doctor name, address, tel .......................... ......................
Your passport number. ...............
Emergency number for ambulance in country you are visiting ...............................
Your travel insurance policy number ...................
Your travel insurance company name and phone number ...................................

You can find pharmacies, doctors and hospitals online and in hotel phone direcotries, or ask the hotel concierge, or look in the bedroom information folder. You can also ask the concierge of any hotel you pass, or the reception desk in an office building. The numbers of emergency services are often on the plaques at swimming pools and other places, or on notice boards and public vehicles.

Photograph numbers.

In the USA it may be cheaper to take a taxi than to call an ambulance if you have to pay for the private ambulance.

UK
In the UK ambulances are free but they will only come out for major emergencies such as road accidents unless called by a doctor.

You can phone the NHS emergency line in the UK. If the nurse thinks your condition is serious she will get a doctor to call you back.

While you are sitting waiting in a hospital wiating room, you might raise morale by thinking of all the successes in your life.

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

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

Language Learning Groups


Conversation
A lagnuage or conversation group in Singapore has tables and they put flags for native speakers of that language. The rule is you must speak in that language. Only useful if you are already fluent. No use if you are trying to learn or want advice and help.

This is useful if you want to keep up a language you already know. But I would like:
A 'learn a language table. where I can get started on a new language which I am afraid to tackle, such as Tamil, Chinese (Mandarin) or Bahasa Malay. 

We could also have go-between translators. I can translate French and would like to practise translating.


B We could also have word of the night or subject of the night, for example drinks, or fruits, perhaps with photos. Add one sentence. I like oranges. I like apples. 

We could run a programme through the year, 52 themes.

Useful Websites

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

How to remember a Portuguese word. Like morango is strawberry




Problem
I have been learning Portuguese for a trip to Madeira but could not remember that morango was Portuguese for strawberry. The Portuguese word looked like mango or orange.

I got it wrong several times on the language learning games on the app Duolingo on my phone. I was halfway towards remembering. But a translation is either right or wrong.

I knew when I saw the Portuguese word morango that it was a fruit, a berry. It had to be either raspberry or strawberry. But which?

I looked at the letters again, hoping for a link, a clue. The letters ra are in both strawberry and raspberry. 

Where in the words morango and strawberry? The letter r has third place.  The letter a is fourth. It looks like _ _ r a...  So moRAngo is stRAwberry and stRAwberry is moRAngo.

How do I remember that the first two letters of the Portuguese are MO ? How do I remember that the last three letters are NGO? More strawberry, one more and g.

Strawberry meringue - Pavlova, picture from Wikipedia, photo author Hazel Fowler.

I told a member of my family this. They replied: I'd remember it from 
strawberry meringue. Morango.

If you have a problem, just ask somebody else. even if they don't care about your problem and you and they think they don't have an answer. Sometimes just repeating the problem means that the answer will pop into somebody's head. 

The same applies to any language learning and any travelling. In the next post I will tell you about a problem solved on my trip to Japan.

Useful websites
Portugal tourist board
duolingo to learn Portuguese for free for use in Brazil or Portugal or Madeira. See my other posts on Portuguese, Portugal, Madeira.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. I have many more interesting posts on learning Portuguese and other languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Jane Austen gifts and Regency Costume Festival for fans

Problem
What to get that's unusual, cultural as well as practical?

Answer
Jane Austen goodies. Tee-shirts, jewellery and a bag to put it in.
If in Bath, go to the Jane Austen centre.

The Jane Austen festival is in September 2018 and you can book tickets on line for
the dinner (about £69) and costumed promenade through the street of Bath (£15).

Useful websites
visitbritain.com
https://www.janeausten.co.uk/product/obstinate-headstrong-girl-tote-bag/
Author
Angela Lansbury

Saturday, May 26, 2018

My Medical Emergency - why insurance is essential


Map of Corsica from Wikipedia showing Corsica's capital, Ajaccio, on the west coast of the island.

Ajaccio has the hospital where I was flown.


Problems
On a press trip in 1984 I was hit by a car, crossing the road in Corsica. I was on a press trip for Brides Magazine, and we were on our way home to the airport, but the coach broke down. We were asked to leave all our luggage including our cameras on the coach and cross over to a nearby hotel to await a replacement coach. 

I do not recall the impact. I was unconscious. I had multiple injuries, head, ribs, calf. I had to be flown by a helicopter to the hospital. 

I was bandaged up with my right arm against my body. I could not lift my arms nor my head.

Language Problems
I had trouble talking to the lady in the next bed. I assumed she did not understand my French accent. I tried bonjour, which is French, then Buona sera, Italian.

Later I asked a friendly male nurse, who spoke French, if he could speak to the woman in Conrsican. He explained, in French, 'the patient cannot speak because she has had an operation on her jaw'.

I later demanded to see and receive my possessions, my bag and clothes and shoes. Somebody brought my sandals. One sandal was in two pieces.

The PR went home with the group. My husband had to cancel last night at the proms and fly out. 

It took several days in high season to find five seats on a plane to get me home on a stretcher, three seat spaces for a stretcher, one for my husband, one for the medically qualified person which the insurance company and airline insisted should accompany me on the flight.

Answers The best thing was that Brides magazine, who had commissioned me to write an article, insisted on taking out insurance on my behalf, although I told them I had my own annual travel insurance policy. Their travel insurance covered everything. I had a helocopter to Ajaccio, an X-ray, several days in hospital there, flight back to the UK, transfer to the private Clementine Churchill Hospital, care there for several days.

The best part
Finances taken care of. Private hospital with private room, great food, TV on the wall. The curtains were so good I asked to buy them when the hospital refurbished.

Worst thing?
The Coriscan hospital staff did not speak English. I asked for a 'radio' and got an X-ray (radiography).
My collar bone was not set straight but left to find its own way so I am slightly lopsided and can't wear horizontal stripes.

Moral
Take out travel insurance covering all countries. You can sometimes buy travel insurance at the airport.

Modern hospital with trees and greenery in Singapore.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Polyglot Groups in Singapore and Learning Languages Worldwide

Problem
Where do I find others keen on learning languages, or bilingual?

Answers
1 Polyglot clubs on meetup
2 Toastmasters International

Now on June 3rd 2018, (postponed from Sunday May 27 because of low take up rate) in Singapore meetup tells me there's a meeting of Speakeasy Language Learning and culutral Exchange at B1-20/27 Food Republish, Capitol Piazza, 13 Stamford Road, Singapore, 3-6. pm. The nearest MRT (train station) is City Hall which is about 3 minutes away. Exit B.
See their Facebook page.

Toastmasters International has numerous blingual groups. You can get their manuals in several languages, so you can use the English and foreign language manuals alongside each other to translate what is going on.

For example:

Singapore
A Tamil bilingual group.

Francophone is all in French, but usually one of two people speak English and you can speak to them in French or English after the meeting or in the interval.

Several Mandarin speaking groups exist, if you are already fluent in Mandarin and want to keep up the language.

London, England has a French-English group, a Polish group and several others.

USA
The USA has a Spanish speaking group which has bilingual newsletters. I use the newsletters as a language aid, comparing the English and the Spanish.

Useful Websites
Duolingo.com Brush up on your languages for free online with Duolingo and their Tinycards.
Meetup.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer. I have several other posts on Toastmasters International and their languages and on learning languages, plus Esperanto. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Travellers - how could you travel if blind, deaf or handicapped?


Problem
At Toastmasters for the two-minute impromptu table topics at a meeting in Singapore I picked off the table the question: Would you rather be blind or deaf?

For me that's an easy question, deaf. The answer I gave was:

"I would rather be deaf. Nowadays so many clever gadgets can help you. Speaking to an audience, like I am now, at least I could see your reaction and see your faces and smile and see you smile back. Lip-reading would enable me to understand what people are saying.

"Travelling here would be easier if I were deaf. I could read the signs and maps and watch the stations announced in rolling text.

"I admit that walking along when hard of hearing is scary. Even with most of my hearing intact, sometimes I hear a bicycle bell behind me and jump out of the way.

"How would I manage if I could not hear at all? I'd need a sign on the back of a tee-shirt - 'No point ringing your bell - I'm deaf! '

"My beloved late uncle was deaf. He wore hearing aids in both ears hidden under long hair. He played in an orchestra.

"Some people, including me, did not realise he was increasingly deaf. I only found out after he died that he was lip-reading, when I found a book on lip-reading.

"Yes, I would learn to cope with being deaf by lip-reading."

I won the ribbon for the best table topic at the club.

Blind Travellers
Afterwards I spend a lot of time thinking about how different people cope. On Youtube you can see a blind man travelling all around the world visiting as many countries as he can.

Travel When Sick
My son's late schoolfriend, Adam Jacques, travelled from the UK to Australia, despite being on medication including a pill-taking regime, suffering from cystic fibrosis. He died this year, and friends he made during his year in Australia flew to the UK for his funeral in February (2018).

Painting For The Handicapped
You have probably seen videos of people painting scenery, outdoors, using their feet to paint. Others play the piano with their feet - probably invited to travel long distances to demonstrate their talents and enter talent shows.

Music For The Deaf
Beethoven composed many of his symphonies after he went deaf. On YouTube you can watch a deaf percussionist.

Music For The Blind
Piano-tuners are sometimes blind.

Sub-titles
My father used to watch travel programmes on TV, with the TV permanently set to show sub-titles (after the people in the flat upstairs complained his TV was too loud).

Blind and Deaf
To be deaf or blind is less difficult than being both. Helen Keller had a constant companion. I remember from reading Helen's biography that the first time she swam in the sea she was totally shocked at being knocked over by a wave which she did not see coming. Later she loved swimming in the sea. She also enjoyed the feeling of sand under her feet, and grass, and when she came home being enthusiastically greeted by the family dog.

Other Options: Activities and Positive Places
1 Aromatic / scented garden for the blind in Canada, the UK, Hong Kong.
2 Massage (especially Thailand, Bali and Asian countries).
3 Music Holidays.
4 Paralympic Games.
5 Toastmasters international has members

Useful Websites
https://www.traveleyes-international.com
https://www.disabledholidays.com/about/blind-and-partially-sighted-holidays.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Glennie (Blind percussionist.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_musicians
https://www.disabledholidays.com/about/holidays-for-deaf-people.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveleyes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g304554-d7317966-Reviews-Blind_Tours-Mumbai_Maharashtra.html (Not for the blind, blindfolding you.)
https://www.britishdeafnews.co.uk/seaside-fun-deaf-50s/
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/02/23/Hong-Kongs-aromatic-garden-for-the-blind-NEWLNUPI-Special-Sections-Gardening-87/5611541054800/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralympic_Games
http://www.ladyironchef.com/2018/02/wheelchair-friendly-attractions-singapore/
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
News item on blind toastmaster in USA:
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/07/05/local/361526001/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
(That was my second ribbon in a week. I won another ribbon for a travel topic which I will describe in my next post.)



NEED SPECIAL FOOD FOR AN ALLERGY OR SPECIAL DIET? Allergy ha ha! No, it's not funny - what to watch for

Problem
Diets of all kinds are catered for online - but rather more essential to plan in advance or take your own special food on an airline. You can buy food for all kinds of special diets: eggless, free of MSG, gluten-free, halal, kosher, low-calorie, nutfree, and free of all kinds of foods you need to avoid when taking pills.

People often joke that the Chinese eat anything with four legs except the table, but many of them are lactose intolerant.

Airlines offer lots of meals. However, on Singapore Airlines, if you have a shellfish allergy the only way to get a meal supposedly without shellfish is to order a kosher meal. 

In-flight you really don't want to come out with a rash like chickenpox, swelling around your eyes and mouth and throat so you can hardly breathe, and non-stop retching for 24 hours even after you have vomited up your meal. 

Surprise - Mistake
I've had bad reactions to shellfish twice. The first time I ate crab by mistake for salmon. I had pointed at a pink fish sandwich filling when staff in a sandwich shop did not know the English word (for crab). 

The other time was after eating king prawns in a restaurant.  

Spots
It's disgusting and alarming for others to see you covered in spots. The sufferer, bystanders, even medically trained people might wonder whether it's chicken pox and contagious. Rashes are one of the danger signs which mean call a doctor. Could be meningitis, or bubonic plague (still prevalent in Africa). 

Without a doctor, you don't know if it's a food allergy, food poisoning, chicken pox, or shingles (a late in life recurrence caused by chicken pox earlier in life) or something else contagious. It could be dangerous to the person suffering, and passed on to you if you touch them.

Swelling
Then there's the swelling. You look pretty ugly with swollen eyes. Swollen face, Swollen mouth. Not what you want on a honeymoon, anniversary trip, nor any happy holiday. 

Nor, if it comes to that, a business trip. Just imagine, you are the sales person hoping to seal a deal. 'Yes, sir,' you or the sales person shakes hands with the potential buyer, 'all our food and drink is organic and healthy. Excuse me, sorry to retch over this contract I would like you to sign ... you will sign, won't you?'

Retching
I brought up the food and thought that's it, thank goodness it's over. It wasn't. I went on retching, just saliva, for hours. It's exhausting for the sufferer when you keep retching even when there's no more food in you because your body has gone into spasms. 

No sleep all night. The reaction is not amusing. Even if no long-term consequences, no start to a holiday for the passenger and companions. Not something passengers and staff would like to see on an airline.

So forgive me, I am not amused by the idea of accidentally eating something to which you have an allergy.

You can also develop allergies. Usually, possibly, after increasing amounts, or increasing events of eating something to which you are slightly intolerant. I love strawberries. After a long hot summer when I ate strawberries every day, sometimes twice a day, at the end of the summer I started swelling up around my mouth and went to the doctor. 

She said, "It's an allergic reaction. What have you been eating? How often?"

About ten years later I was tempted to eat a strawberry. I tried a tiny amount. Fine. Half. A whole one. Half an hour later, a couple more. Next day, a whole plateful. OK!

Luckily, even when I am surprised (by teeny shrimps in soups in Korea and rice in Thailand and Malaysia and Singapore) - most customers and servers - even at the Sheraton Towers hotel buffet - cheerily tell you they don't think the food contains any shellfish. I turn over the food and check. I can usually smell shellfish. A sharp smell. Pungent.

If I eat it I know immediately that it's shellfish. Sharp taste, like pickles in vinegar, like kimchee. Worse still, tingling in my mouth, inside lips seem to be pressing on my tongue - swelling.

I spit out, race for the toilet, retch, spit, clean my teeth and tongue, swill water, suck water between my teeth.

Always take care of yourself, your family, your friends, your colleagues.

Safety First
On one press trip, to Italy, the PR lady would not even let me eat fish in case a prawn had sat on top of a piece of fish, or a shellfish sauce had been added. She told me, and the group, that on a previous trip one of the journalists had had a reaction to shellfish. The person had to go to hospital. She, as the PR person in charge of the trip, had to accompany the stricken person to hospital, do all the paperwork, report to her employers and the insurance company, try to organize the following day when she was kept busy at the hospital, consider having to repatriate the traveller early.

The moral of the story?
The morals or lessons of the story:
1 Never give somebody something to which they are allergic or intolerant as a joke - because each experience increases their physical reaction - like vaccination in reverse as the body builds up hystamine as a reaction to try to expel the toxin.

2 Note what you are eating.
If possible give the pilot or driver different food so in the case of food poisoning another pilot or driver unaffected can take over.

3 Label packaged food carefully - fish is not a sufficient description, nor is seafood. I am fine with salmon and trout and smoked salmon and cod and plaice. It is only shellfish and molluscs which cause me problems.

If you are not allergic to nuts, strawberries or shellfish, lucky you. If you find yourself with somebody who can't eat certain products, you can get a double portion!

If you are ever in charge of packaging, supply food, serving food, acting as a guide, watch out for allergies. You could save yourself and others a lot of time, money and worry.

On one trip to a seafood restaurant in Spain I gave my shellfish starter to the person next to me in exchange for his chocolate dessert. We were both very happy!

What are the common dietary needs?
No shellfish (allergy)
No shellish (kosher)
No beef (hindu)
No meat (and sometimes no fish) vegetarian
No eggs and milk (in addition to no meat and fish) vegan
No nuts (allergy)
No eggs (allergy - that's why Bird's custard powder was invented by a man whose wife was allergic to eggs)
No lamb (Asians find it smells offensive)
No milk (lactose intolerance in a proportion of Asians - might be one sister can't drink milk but the other can)
No milk and meat at the same meal (kosher - so no butter on meat sandwiches and no milk in coffee or milky desserts after meat)
No meat (vegans find it smells offensive - I was asked not to eat a meat sandwich on a bus by a vegan tour guide.)
No pork (Halal and kosher - ancient law, possibly practical, reinforced by prohibition, originating from the book of Leviticus which is Greek word for laws in the bible, as it is called by Jews, known to Christians as the Old Testament after they added the new Testament featuring the life of Jesus and disciples.)

My friend Shan started a gluten free import business in Singapore when a member of her family became known to have a gluten problem.

Useful Websites

email: sales@glutenfreesg.com>
https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/flying-withus/dining/specialmeals/
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy

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