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Thursday, December 31, 2020

Bags of Bags and Purse Museums and Presents: The Leiber Museum In New York, The Esse Purse Museum, and The Jewish Museum in Florida - featuring the woman who designed the handbag she gave to the First Lady

Bag Museum, Netherlands, Europe.





Museum of Bags and Purses. 


You might not be able to afford the money for a Judith Leiber handbag like the one she gave to each successive the first lady, or the time to visit the gardens designed by her husband but you can see them online.https://judithleiber.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-judith-leiber-iconic-bagsrompted 

Before they went to live in the USA, Judith Leiber and her family had survived WW2 in Hungary. She trained in handbag design and worked for others. 

Later she set u her own company. The setback of a stain on a handbag resulted in the happy decision to conceal it with a rhinestone.

Another feature of her handbags was pictures of animals. Her first bags were green and constructed of calfskin. After that, prompted by calls from the consumer, came snakeskin bags in assorted colours.

Her designs included animals, food, fruit and money. 

She and her husband lived in the USA until their late nineties and his last words to her were, 'It's time to leave.'

They leave behind a website selling her hand bags and his garden which you can visit in person, and see online.

Look at the virtual tour of the Judith Leiber life story and handbags at the Florida Jewish Museum. The building itself has several small, rounded, uplifting, colourful stained glass windows in turquoise and yellow. Also notice the seven branched candelabra for the sabbath and the nine branch (eight and the serving candle used to light the others).  I described these in my earlier posts on the festival of Hanukah and the nine branch hanukiah.

You can not only spin around 36 degrees in the online view of the room in Florida's Jewish Museum. You can also zoom in on the texts on the wall.

If you were in Florida and can visit the museum you can photograph yourself holding a replica of one or both of the replica bags supplied for visitors to borrow for a magic moment for a selfie with a bag. (What a great idea. I first saw the selfie opportunities with museum props with hats at the museum about immigrant Indians in Little India in Singapore.)

Online, looking for Leiber gifts, the cheapest item I could find was a single post ear-ring for 50 dollars from a department store in the USA.

Other American Museums With Items Associated with Judith and her husband

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Americans use the word purse, where British English says bag or handbag. 

Esse Purse Museum

However, the Esse Purse Museum in the USA has a website showing lots of affordable funky designs, including one of lips which reminded me of the Leiber purse. The website also offers frog bags for children for parties at Christmas or birthdays.

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

Useful Websites and resources


travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com


Virtual tour of the Jewish Museum, Florida, USA, Judith Leiber

https://judithleiber.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-judith-leiber-iconic-bags

 http://www.leibermuseum.org/

https://www.lyst.co.uk/designer/judith-leiber/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/obituaries/judith-leiber-97-dies-turned-handbags-into-objets-dart.html

https://judithleiber.com/collections/best-sellers-home-page/red+novelty

https://essepursemuseum.com/

South Korea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Handbag_Museum

http://simonehandbagmuseum.co.kr/

https://www.facebook.com/simonehandbagmuseum/

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

5 TIPS to TRILL YOUR R's AND SOUND LIKE A NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKER | Rolli...


You might want to speak Spanish in Spain, one of the Spanish islands, or in Mexico, Venezuela and other Spanish speaking countries. You might also want to visit a Spanish restaurant or to talk about your travels. The USA has Spanish speaking Toastmasters clubs where you can hear  Spanish and practise. But what about rolling your R's! Help can be found on  the internet, on YouTube.



How to roll the letter r in Spanish.
Many videos on you tube.
Start with your tongue behind your teeth reaching up to the ridge, relax and blow.

Happy Honeymoon in Dubai





What can you do if Dubai and the desert are too hot for you? Drink water and stay by water. 

1 Stay in a hotel with a swimming pool, or a hotel by the beach. 

2 Go into the sea or an aquarium. 

3 Go skiing.

Take a boat trip. The boat trip they took lasted one and a half hours on a set route marked on a map. It went from the marina.

 My family on honeymoon stayed in three hotels in Dubai.


Hotels

Grosvenor House Hotel

https://www.guestreservations.com/grosvenor-house-a-luxury-collection-hotel-dubai/booking?

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 


Useful Websites and resources

https://www.visitdubai.com/en/

Dubai boat trips

alwaslyachts.ae

luckylifetours.com/Dubai.ht


travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com



Saturday, December 26, 2020

What A Honeymoon Couple Did in Dubai For Xmas 2020 - lunch on the QE2

 


Dubai is not a country but the capital of the UAE (United Arab Emirates). Ultra-modern.


QEII Ship Exterior
Photo by C.




Ship interior. Photo by C.

The ship is now a hotel and a restaurant open to diners who are visiting. they said it was the cheapest restaurant they had visited. The ship is not in the marina but the other side of the city near the harbour.

What did they eat? Steak and pizza.


Could you learn Arabic, and Hebrew, which is similar in vocabulary and sound? You already know arabic numerals. The word for peace, a greeting in many Arabic speaking countries, is salaam, in Hebrew Shalom, and the root word is in the city name Jerusalem.
Shukran is thank you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_of_Public_Speaking

 About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

To display Holiday slides in Zoom, Starting With Slides in Powerpoint


 

Open Powerpoint

In Zoom, click share.

Click on view.

To remove the boxes which say 'click here to add text', put your mouse over the corner circle of the text box. Click on delete.

To change view, click on the x at the top right of the left column. 

 About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/

https://www.wiki-calendar.com/

https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-write-christmas-card-poem.html


For one hour online individual tutorials or group workshops contact

annalondon8@gmail.com


Next BHA meetings log in to bha.learncool.sg

Jan 6 Wed eve 7 pm Singapore time which is the same as China and several other countries in Asia (GMT winter good time for overseas visitors from Europe as it will be before lunch in London)

Jan 16 Saturday afternoon 2 pm Singapore time (GMT winter good time for Australia as it is before midnight in the late afternoon and evening)


Friday, December 25, 2020

4 year old Russian girl speaks 7 languages - could you?



Russian Flag

Bella, the Russian girl who spoke 7 languages when she was aged 4.

Could you and I speak seven languages in four years? (Your own and six others.) How did this little girl do it?

Firstly, it helps if your mother or spouse is a linguist, teaches languages, and is prepared to speak to you in two language on alternating days. Your own language, alternating with a second language. 

You could do this if you married somebody who spoke three languages, and you spoke three different languages. And you agreed to learn another language or two together. 

With seven days in a week, with or without a companion, you could learn and speak:
English on Sunday, French on Monday, Spanish on Tuesday, Italian on Thursday, German on Friday, Greek or Hebrew or Arabic or Chinese on Saturday, and instead of English, or just Sunday morning or mealtimes on Sunday, add whichever of Greek, Hebrew, Arabic or Chinese you were not speaking on Saturday. You could also join a bilingual Toastmasters club or one that speaks another language. The Toastmasters manuals are in several languages, including French , Arabic and Chinese.

If you don't want to join Toastmasters, you can attend as a guest. Or you could watch foreign language films with subtitles.

On the Facebook Polyglot page you frequently see somebody who wishes to learn English and will in turn teach you to speak their native language which might be Chinese or Spanish.

Fast facts




Bella Devyatkina. Mother Julia.
Bella's first 10 months were spent on her native language Russian, alternating with English.



For two months from age 10 months to one year she learned French words on 60 flashcards. (See the word, such as hand, point to the object.)

One year later, aged 2, Bella can read French and speak in the 3 languages.


End of year 3, when she is 3 years old, she starts Chinese. She watches cartoons in Chinese.

I have been using Duolingo for Spanish, and Chinese flashcards from Chineasy.

FACTS ABOUT BELLA
RUSSIAN
SPEAKS:
Russian, 
French
German

INTRODUCTION

Why did you learn your first language? 

You wanted to communicate with parents, grandparents or carers who gave you food and drink, or a toilet. You wanted to share jokes, share disappointments, share hopes about food and gifts.

Point of view. (I was born late in life.)

Baby swallows fly. Subject verb object. Subject verb.

transitive verbs need an object.  

Later you learn English to communicate with friends, family and neighbours. Then colleagues, and customers. Then giving presentation to win business or train others.

Or to win contests at club, area, division, district and international.

I am going to tell you why you should be bilingual, and that it is possible for an entire city or country to be bilingual.

BILINGUAL CITY OTTAWA 

Let's take a city. In Canada, the citizens are divided between those who speak French in Montreal, and those who speak English in Toronto. In the capital, Ottawa, to get a government job you must be fluent in both French and English in order to deal with the public. 

In English sentence structure 

a) The subject is essential. Without it you get confusion.

I was born late in life

1 A study showed nuns who were bilingual lived longer without Alzheimers. Huge saving in cost to the government and the family and reduction in stress to outsiders and the elderly person. 

(show nuns. 

Show flag.)

2 Canada

Ottawa - capital - the city of the future

English is used as the common language in Singapore, so that the Chinese can speak to the Malays and Indians.

Bilingual

(show poster)

TOASTMASTERS

2 To win an International contest you must speak perfect English. Why because you lose 5 marks.

(show slide)

Sherri Su of China was second in 2018 

CHILD

Russian child, Bella, at the age of 4 speaks seven languages and sings

(show slide)

Toastmaster


More information from:

1 Duolingo



2 Bilingual Toastmasters 

 Tamil, 

Mandarin

French

Spanish

German

3

Odyssey



Could you and I speak seven languages in four years? (Your own and six others.) How did this little girl do it?
Firstly, it helps if your mother or spouse is a linguist, teaches languages, and is prepared to speak to you in two language on alternating days. Your own language, alternating with a second language. 

You could do this if you married somebody who spoke three languages, and you spoke three different languages. And you agreed to learn another language or two together. 

With seven days in a week, with or without a companion, you could learn and speak:
English on Sunday, French on Monday, Spanish on Tuesday, Italian on Thursday, German on Friday, Greek or Hebrew or Arabic or Chinese on Saturday, and instead of English, or just Sunday morning or mealtimes on Sunday, add whichever of Greek, Hebrew, Arabic or Chinese you were not speaking on Saturday. You could also join a bilingual Toastmasters club or one that speaks another language. The Toastmasters manuals are in several languages, including French , Arabic and Chinese.

If you don't want to join Toastmasters, you can attend as a guest. Or you could watch foreign language films with subtitles.

On the Facebook Polyglot page you frequently see somebody who wishes to learn English and will in turn teach you to speak their native language which might be Chinese or Spanish.

Fast facts
Bella Devyatkina. Mother Julia.
Bella's first 10 months were spent on her native language Russian, alternating with English.
For two months from age 10 months to one year she learned French words on 60 flashcards. (See the word, such as hand, point to the object.)
One year later, aged 2, Bella can read French and speak in the 3 languages.
End of year 3, when she is 3 years old, she starts Chinese. She watches cartoons in Chinese.

I have been using Duolingo for Spanish, and Chinese flashcards from Chineasy.

I learned the Cyrillic alphabet after vising Bulgaria.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_of_Public_Speaking

 About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/

https://www.wiki-calendar.com/

https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-write-christmas-card-poem.html


For one hour online individual tutorials or group workshops contact

annalondon8@gmail.com


Thursday, December 24, 2020

The Queen's Christmas Message and the Alternative Christmas Message




The Queen's Christmas Message

Firstly, the Christmas Message is not the Queen's Speech, another speech which is given to Parliament when it opens.

The Queen's Christmas message is broadcast on Christmas Day, December 25th, every year, at 3 pm UK time, giving those in the UK time to eat and clear their Xmas dinner (ie lunch). It is broadcast on BBC TV and radio. It lasts ten minutes. it has an impersonator doing the queen and an animation of the queen dancing. 

Alternative Messages

Deepfake on Channel 4 at 3.35 pm UK time. Will mention Meghan and the Canadians, and Edward and the USA.

Your Messages

If you are feeling lonely, send goodwill messages to friends and family - and even acquaintances.

Useful Websites

Friends

 https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/how-many-best-friends-the-average-person-has-and-what-they-share-with-each-other

Queen's Christmas Message Speech  until December 2020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Christmas_Message

Queen's Other Messages - April 2020 Coronovirus

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52183327

Alternative Messages

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55424730#:~:text=Channel%204%20said%20the%20intention,a%20TikTok%20viral%20dance%20challenge.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9083401/Channel-4-mock-Queen-using-deepfake-version-Majesty.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Christmas_message


 About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/

https://www.wiki-calendar.com/

https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-write-christmas-card-poem.html


For one hour online individual tutorials or group workshops contact

annalondon8@gmail.com


Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Special toilet at Changi with a built in bidet washing device - and how to install one in your own home



Singapore flag.

The bidet toilet is one of the wonders of Changi airport and some hotels and shopping centres in Singapore and increasingly all over the Far East including some office buildings. Look for the cubicle containing the one toilet which acts like a bidet. It has a shower which you can operate by hand by pressure on a knob on the right of the seat. The water pressure usually adjusts from a trickle to a jet.

One of the things I like about bathrooms in Singapore is that they have a shower attachment beside the toilet. I was in a DIY shop in Singapore and was surprised and delighted to see that a shower head was very cheap to buy. The price of one, two or three cups of coffee.

I bought one in Singapore and took it back to Britain. When I had a plumber already in the house checking something else, I asked what he would charge for fixing the shower head next to the toilet. 

He needed to find a suitable pipe with sufficient pressure, from the pipes to the toilet or the washbasin. Then to fix the attachment and seal it properly so it did not drip. If you already have a wet room with drainage in the floor and a pipe leading to a run out pipe, that is easy. I did not have it. So I needed a bucket or something more elegant under the shower head to catch the drips. I had a carpet over the floor lino. Ideally cut this out, or at lease cut it in the area of the bathroom or toilet under the tap. Or put down a tile or stick on lino tile which can be lifted and wiped or replaced.

Regarding the shower head itself, look at how it attaches to the wall.

A built in toilet with the fixed controls is even better if you are replacing the toilet. Too much trouble? Enjoy the one which somebody else has organized for you at large hotels and shopping centres and office blocks around the world. 

Now let's look back at the one in Changi airport.

Check the cubicle doors for the sign because there might be only one cubicle fitted with this device.
Sometimes in a Community Club you find this kind of toilet in the cubicle with the wide door adapted for wheelchair users.

It takes some practise getting used to it. Often the insructions are on the back of the door to the toilet cubicle.

For travellers, note that the Isle of Wight has a poo museum.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Poo_Museum

 About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/

https://www.wiki-calendar.com/

https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-write-christmas-card-poem.html


For one hour online individual tutorials or group workshops contact

annalondon8@gmail.com


Share umbrellas in Singapore - share this idea of Sharella



Great idea. For crossing the road when the covered ways are on both sides but not across the road.

Why would the roof not cross the road? Because a roof high enough to clear the tallest vehicle would let the rain reach the pedestrians.

The idea was started in March 2017, created by students at the Republic Poly (RP) in Sembawang in Singapore.

How can you finance this scheme? Sponsors.

1 Business

2 Charity

3 Government

You need containers both sides of the road. A dozen umbrellas to put six each side of the crossing. You need a board explaining that people can use the umbrellas to cross the road and should put the umbrella back in the container the other side. You may wish to thank the sponsor or appeal for more sponsors. You also need to monitor whether the numbers of umbrellas are static, declining, or increasing. If declning, you can change sponsors monthly or get the sponsor to keep replenishing umbrellas. 

If your city or area does not have such a scheme and you want to copy it, run the story and ask readers to write in if they like the idea and support it, and ask for sponsors and volunteers.

Useful Websites

https://www.facebook.com/sgsharella/

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/free-umbrella-sharing-scheme-rolled-out-in-sembawang-republic-poly-open-to-expanding-it

https://www.facebook.com/jtccorp/posts/introducing-sharellaone-north-an-umbrella-sharing-initiative-to-help-one-norther/10155555277883121/


 About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/

https://www.wiki-calendar.com/

https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-write-christmas-card-poem.html


For one hour online individual tutorials or group workshops contact

annalondon8@gmail.com



Dubai's Attractions: Hotels, museums and malls you must see

 

Dubai Museum.

Members of my family had planned a honeymoon in Mauritius with a stopover in Dubai. When Mauritius closed its borders to tourists whose journey was originating in the UK, the stopover in Dubai was extended to fill the days off work. The hotels had been investigated. What was there to do to fill the extra time in Dubai? 

Beautiful Buildings

1 Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. 

2 The Palm, a complex which is palm shape when seen from above. From a plane or a tall building.

All the hotels were lovely: Raffles, Oberoi and more.


Magical Gardens

Butterfly Garden


Magical Museums

Dubai Museum.

Shopping mall.


Shopping

Dragon Mart

Dubai Outlet Mall

Find brands such as Adidas, Clarks, Jimmy Choo and even cheaper shops such as Daiso.

A mall with designer outlets where you can buy clothes at a discount.

The Outlet Village


Cautions

1 ID needed. 

Have your identity card or passport or at very least a copy of it with you. A colleague was stopped and had no ID and was held for several days unable to resume work back home. 

2 Not traditional. 

Not for those who want to be in a historical city which is full of buildings from hundreds of years ago. Most of the attractions are ultra-modern. Some people say it's like an Arabic of Muslim Disneyland.

Encouragment

1 All clean and new. 

2 The latest thing. Luxury to buy and luxury to look at.

3 All are welcome. Muslims will feel at home with halal etc.  Non-Muslims will feel accepted with the latest accord with Israel bringing signs of even old enemies becoming new friends. A recent visitor told me that pork is available in some hotels, on request - check regulations in each place.

Useful Websites

https://www.dubai-online.com/malls/dubai-outlet-mall/ 

https://www.theoutletvillage.ae/en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Outlet_Mall

https://www.dragonmart.ae/


hpps://www.oberoihotels.com/hotels-in-dubai/rooms-suites/


 About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/

https://www.wiki-calendar.com/

https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-write-christmas-card-poem.html


For one hour online individual tutorials or group workshops contact

annalondon8@gmail.com


Dubai delights happy honeymooners

 


Raffles hotel tree.

A honeymoon in Mauritius with a stopover in Dubai was changed to Dubai as the destination when Mauritius closed its borders to travellers from Britain.I asked them, "Why did you stay at two different hotels?"

"To cut down on taxi travelling times."

I like a two centre stay, even within one country. Experience different disasters and delights. Whatever the shortfall in the first hotel, you get a different experience in the second one.

In the case of the honeymooners, they had told the Raffles Hotel that they were on honeymoon. The Raffles hotel did not do anything special. However, the place was so glamorous anyway that the couple were not disappointed.

However, the Oberoi made a special effort to make the couple feel like they were on a romantic honeymoon. On the bed were colourful balloons and white fabric folded like two swans meeting to form a heart shape.

The bath had red rose petals.

With prospects of peace in the Middle East in 2020 and ongoing, more people will feel that they will be welcome in Dbai and the UAE. Wiki says:

Image result for arab countries recognizing israel
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recognized Israel on September 15, while Sudan and Morocco announced their intention to normalise relations with Israel on October 23 and December 10 respectively. The most recent country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel was Bhutan on December 12

A quick reminder of where Dubai is:

Useful Websites

https://www.oberoihotels.com/hotels-in-dubai/rooms-suites/

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/

https://www.wiki-calendar.com/

https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-write-christmas-card-poem.html


For one hour online English language individual tutorials or group workshops contact

annalondon8@gmail.com



Tuesday, December 22, 2020

WHY DUBAI?

Xmas tree in Raffles hotel, Dubai. Photo by C.

 Some of my family from England went to Dubai for the season, escaping the dark days in London in winter. Why Dubai?

If you live in the Northern hemisphere, Dubai is warm. Secondly it was one of the few places accepting visitors from the UK.

Dubai is a popular stopover. It is in the United Arab Emirates.

This is the flag of the UAE.



What does it offer?

Beautiful Buildings

1 Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. 

2 The Palm, a complex stretching out into the sea, which is palm shape when seen from above. 


Magical Gardens


Marvellous Museums 


Useful Websites

wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai

simple wiki

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai

wikivoyage

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Dubai

wikitravel

https://wikitravel.org/en/Dubai

tripadvisor

Official website


About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 
She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:
 Please share links to your favourite posts.



 

Friday, December 18, 2020

The Covid-19 Test - and quarantine



The temperature test tell you and others whether you are already showing symptoms. It does not catch asymptomatic people who could be immune, or strong and healthy enough to fight it off but risk infecting others who might be inconvenienced, off work, or endangered.

 I was dreading the nose swabbing Covid-19 test. So many people said it was painful.

I was also afraid it would infect me, damage me, or cause some unexpected reaction. I believe in Murphy's law. Anything which can go wrong will do so. (Sorry to alarm you. Read on. The good news is at the end.)

The nasal swab was just as bad as I feared. I had started worrying about it weeks in advance, in England. Fortunately, as the time got nearer, I stopped worrying about it, on the grounds that I could not avoid it and worrying about it would achieve nothing except make me miserable in the days before, first in the UK, and later in Singapore.


My husband had had the same swab test in London, England, in the car park of a hospital. 


He had not been bothered by it.



Then when we reached Changi airport in Singapore.

No test at the airport. Just temperature checks and interrogation.

Then into the coach and off to the unknown hotel

We were in quarantine in the Orchard Hotel in Singapore. 

I was delighted that we did not have to get ourselves to a test centre. The authorities and the hotel had organized all the tests to take place in the hotel. That saved us the stress of getting there. It saved having potentially infectious people escaping the hotel and travelling around in vehicles which could be used by others, as well as exposing the driver.

On the day we were phoned to go down to the fourth floor.

On our floor we were all social distancing around the lift lobby, hanging back, letting one person or couple at a time use the lift.

When we got into the lift the doors closed. My husband pressed the button but the lift did not move. We could tell by the number appearing in a box at the height of the top of the door. He read that you could only operate the lift using the bedroom door keycard. We had no keycard because during quarantine we were not allowed to exit the room and re-enter. 

Eventually the lift moved. We arrived at the fourth floor, with a masked man in front of us and the floor covered in plastic.

We were directed to a sign in desk. Identity. Room? Symptoms?

Next the line for the test. I felt we were too close together.

The area was marked with colours for degree of danger. Red was the desk at the far end. The person doing the test on the right. The supervisor on the left. The chair for the victim with its back to everybody else and the desk facing an open door, in the middle.

After nearly two weeks in a room with windows which did not open, and air conditioning, it was good to see an open door and fresh air.

I sat down. The nurse put something into my right nostril. The surprise made me jump. 

She withdrew it and said she could not do the swab and had to try again.

This happened four times.

Everything stopped. The lineup was growing behind me.

If we could not succeed, I would have to go to hospital. 

Would they give me an anesthetic? No. Just the same thing again. Might as well do it here.

I then had the bright idea that we should change to the left nostril.

The supervisor called my husband over. He is normally a no nonsense person. Not overly sympathetic to fears nor delays. I expected him to tell me to shut up and get on with it. 

However, he could see that this would not work. He stroked my back and told me to relax and a minute later it would all be over. Just stay still

He held my hand.

They inserted it in the left nostril. I kept very rigid. It didn't stop. She went round and round. And round and round again.

Then it was over. Success!

By now a crowd of others waiting.

So glad it was over.

Just the next question was, what would the result be?

A day or two later, we had a phone call. Test negative.

No written evidence. We wanted a written report. In case we had to show it to anybody.

We were now 'all clear'.

However, we had to continue the quarantine.


The quarantine food delivered to our door in trays.

I ask myself, do I really want to remember this? Do you really want to read it?

It is important to know how to cope. It could be a historic account.

I definitely do not want to repeat the invasive test. I look forward to the development of a non-invasive test. 

However, the quarantine was fine. I am more tolerant of airline type food than my husband. I am also prepared to eat unhealthy food, lots of rice and no fresh vegetables except the occasional apple with breakfast.

We were out - into the hotel. What a delight. 


Into the city. Trees, people, buildings, vistas.

That test was my passport to freedom. 

Useful Websites

Singapore government health

https://www.moh.gov.sg/

To verify whether a  call is genuine check

MOH hotline at 1800-333-9999.

A guide to sources of information worldwide

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Articles-l297-COVID_2019.html

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

Books include Wedding Speeches and Toasts (Ward Lock/Cassell)

Quick Quotations (Lulu.com) 

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Useful Websites & Resources

https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/

https://www.wiki-calendar.com/

https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-write-christmas-card-poem.html


For one hour online individual tutorials or group workshops contact

annalondon8@gmail.com

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Christmas Customs, Food and Drink Around The World - turkey, carp, midnight mass, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, stollen and panettone

Turkey lunch.

Christmas dinner in London consists of turkey with red cranberry sauce, green Brussels sprouts and roast potatoes. Other options include a bread or bread and chestnut stuffing; and small sausages wrapped in bacon, called pigs in blankets.

Why turkey? To make a change. Because a turkey is larger therefore more convenient when you have extra visitors to entertain to a Christmas meal. After that, what's next?


Christmas Pudding

This hearty, filling dish is followed by dark, dried fruit Christmas pudding. Accompanied by cream.


I find this too rich. I prefer the contrasting colour of yellow custard. 

Christmas Pudding in Dona Theresa Restaurant, Hatch End. The restaurant used to find customers were ringing another Dona Theresa Restaurant elsewhere in London, so the restaurant name was change to Zia Theresa, meaning Aunt Theresa.
You can see on the right of the picture the words Dona Theresa, which is hte name of a restaurant in Hatch End.

An individual Xmas pudding with a single portion of cream at a Christmas dinner in an Italian restaurant in Hatch End, London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

We used to make a Christmas pudding weeks in advance. As it dries out, the flavour improves. An alcoholic drink can be added to the mixture as a preservative.

Another year, we bought three small size Christmas puddings from different supermarkets and compared them. When we made our choice, we bought a large one for Christmas Day.

This went on for years. Until the revolution. Heston Blumenthal introduced a citrus fruit in the middle of a Xmas pudding. The novelty sold out.

Now it has become a Xmas staple. Not cheap. Sixteen pounds sterling when I looked on Dec 17 2020.

In England Xmas pudding is sold for Xmas. The price comes down in January. 

When we went America we found that Xmas pudding was available all year. But it was known by its old name, plum pudding. A pudding made, no longer with plums, but with dried fruit such as currants.

As a child growing up in in London, England, I assumed that turkey, Christmas pudding, and Christmas cake were all the standard all over the world. To a limited extent this is true, Many countries, those still in the Commonwealth, continue to enjoy the old traditions. Europe does things differently.

However, the English speaking Americans also don't eat turkey at Christmas. Why? Because they have already had turkey for Thanksgiving dinner in November. 

When we spent Christmas in Prague, Czech Republic, we had Christmas dinner there at our hotel. The main dish was fish. 

Afterwards we went to midnight mass at the nearby church. The service was in the Czech language. No translation into German, Russian nor English. Luckily, we could copy the others standing up and sitting down when instructed to do so by the priest. I could see the page numbers of the hymn book of the lady standing next to me. I recognized some of the famous music. If I remember rightly, we recognized Silent Night, Ave Maria and a classical piece of music.

In England, after Christmas Day dinner (lunch), when we Brits are in England, we watch the Queen's Speech. (Actually it is called the Queen's Christmas message. The  Queen's speech is what she give to Parliament when she opens it after their recession.)

It's a treat to hear the Queen speaking the Queen's English. Here I am at Heathrow airport, London, England, beside a cut out model of the queen.




Tea time is the time when we produce the Christmas Cake. A heavy fruit cake. With white icing on top. Reminding you of snow. Most supermarkets can supply miniature cake topping such as red hat Santas, green plastic Christmas trees, reindeer.

Or you can buy a complete cake. Marks and Spencer usually stock one in a round, square or oblong shape. It must have marzipan under the icing. Make sure the expiry date is after Xmas day!

One year we left for Singapore before Xmas. I bought a Xmas cake. When I got it home, I discovered that the expiry date was before Xmas day.

Again, I had always assumed Xmas cake was universal. Until the foods of Europe reached the UK supermarkets.

Another British favourite is mince pies. Found everywhere in supermarkets. Cheap.

Mince pie.

Yule Log



If you visit Prague for Xmas, as we did, you can see the statue of composer Smetana, and a star commemorating him in the walk of fame.

France offers the world what the Americans call the Yule log. The English call it a log cake. The French call it buche noel. (Not to be confused with the French word bouche which means mouth.) This alternative cake can be a a Swiss roll, or spiral of sponge, with a chocolate covering, You scrape the chocolate icing with the tines of a fork to make it look like a log. Reminders of a log fire to warm you at Christmas time, in the snowy winter.

Stollen - Germany

Stollens are a solid roll shape cake with a scattering of dried fruit inside, white icing sugar covering the outside and, ideally, a marzipan centre. Stollens vary wildly in size and marzipan content. You can buy a traditional large roll, or cheaper individual miniature portions, which is more calorie controlling. 

Stollens could have a large marzipan centre, a thin one like a pencil, or, disappointingly, no marzipan at all. If you are a marzipan addict, check the ingredients and/or photo on the packaging before buying. 

Small individual stollen.


Large stollen.


Stollen with individual filling.

One year I bought a stollen ingredients kit. I wanted to know how it is made. Simple, really. Soak dried fruit overnight. Next day, mix up a batter. Add the fruit, well distributed. Roll out your soft marzipan into the length of the intended cake. Roll the marzipan in the cake mixture. Bake. Dust with icing sugar. However, the results were not as good as the top quality ones. Timing is critical to get it done but soft, with enough marzipan but not too much. 

Marzipan is basically ground almonds mixed with fine sugar. When my late father was diagnosed with late-onet diabetes, which is diet related, I started checking sugar content of everything I bought. I found that marzipan content varied from 75% almonds for the dearer brands, to fifty percent sugar for the cheaper supermarkets own brand. 

Panettone - Italy, Spain and Venezuela

More photos and text and websites will be added later.

See Statues of Smetana in Prague.

To sum up, you can enjoy the best of every country now in supermarkets around the world. My top three countries for Christmas are the UK, Singapore and America. The UK has Christmas decoration and crackers in window displays and restaurants. Singapore has street lights and decorated malls. American has giant displays on home lawns and rooftops and office blocks and skyscrapers.

Useful Websites

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/heston-from-waitrose-hidden-orange-christmas-pudding/700239-99398-99399

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com