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Friday, July 31, 2020

Lightweight Essential Cosmetics And Perfumes To Pack In Purses For Travelling


Perfume Sets In Duty Free
If you look in duty free at airports you often see sets of small perfumes. The biggest bottles are usually the best value, but if you forget to pack perfume, or want something small enough to be under the size limit, this could be your solution. 

I found the sets very convenient when I went to stay overnight with my former au pair girls' family in France, south of Paris. I had thought we needed something to give the father and mother. I had not realised that their huge extended family would all be there so it would be embarrassing to give to one person and not another. So I offered the mother the first choice of the perfumes. Then the other items were offered to other relatives.

Perfume Sticks
My smallest perfume is a perfume stick (White musk from Avon). It looks like a lipstick or lipstick refill. It is is tiny enough to go in a handbag, purse, or pocket. it has lasted me years.

Toothpaste miniatures
I look for toothpaste miniatures in supermarkets, and cut price stores. My dentist in the UK has lots of these freebies in the dentist's room. They don't offer them to you. You need the chutzpah to ask and they always give me one. That's what the samples are there for, to give to customers.  

You might get told, 'We have them for sale at the desk on your way out'. But it's worth asking. If I have checked on the way in whether they sell small sizes, and they don't, I could try saying, "But I would like a small size". Maybe a call to action with the word your would be more effective, "You could give me a small one". Maybe they would reply, "We are running short,' or, "They are for people who don't use that brand, or don't use toothpaste at all." 

In that case, on your next visit, when dealing with another dentist or anaesthetist, you might admit, "I brush my teeth with toothpaste at home, but I forget to take it on holiday, and don't know what to ask for in a foreign chemist (US drug store)." 

Useful Websites
Amazon
Ebay

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

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

New English words and Americanisms every day



Today I read in the newspaper about Americans discussing the'hood' for neighbourhood. What a lot of new words.

Here's a quick short list:
bling - ostentatious glittering objects such as sequinned clothes and large diamond rings
Feds - Federal officers
highway patrol - motorway police
hood - Americanism - neighbourhood
pharma - pharmaceutical industry
rangers - park staff
woke - African American from the verb awake, (no ed past tense) alert to injustice or racism

Useful Websites

About the Author
I have many posts on Americanisms and British English. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Weird and Wonderful Underwater, Waterside and Shell Restaurants, Hotels & Grottoes



Shell Grotto, Margate, Kent, UK

Jules Undersea Lodge, Key Largo, Florida, USA
2 bed, 1 bath. A former underwater observatory.

Underwater Hotel, Fiji

Useful Websites

World's Best Vineyards - and a tipple or two

What makes the world's best vineyard? The one where you get the best photos? The tour which explains everything? The best lunch? The best shop selling souvenirs of scarves with grape designs, jewellery and items for yourself and friends? The tasting which tells you which wines to buy?

My favourites


USA California
Drive north from San Francisco


UK
London has tours of breweries and wineries and places producing spirits.

Drive from London.
Denbies. Outdoor tours in summer. Indoor tours. Must book. Huge busy place.

England has many more. Get a map and pick your favourite.

France
Champagne in Rheims.
Numerous tours in the Champagne region.
Drive from Paris


Spain
Rioja in the North. Drive from Santander.
Numerous establishments around the wine capital, all grouped around the old railway station.

Some surprise wines
For Jews who don't drink much wine
Sabra Chocolate orange liqueur




More details of my favourites
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-best-vineyards-to-visit.html

Official current awards
 https://www.worldsbestvineyards.com/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-8521055/Worlds-50-best-vineyards-2020-named-years-Argentinian-winner-No1-overall-again.html

Travel and wine information

Victoriana Nursery
https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Grape_Vines/
top vineyards around the USA
https://www.travelandleisure.com/food-drink/wine/best-vineyards-yelp
visittheusa.co.uk
visitbritain.com
visitengland.com
https://www.denbies.co.uk/tours-and-experiences/
https://www.denbies.co.uk/events/forthcoming-events/

https://www.denbies.co.uk/
To learn languages to translate wine labeles
duolingo.com
memrise.com
translate google

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-best-vineyards-to-visit.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/06/english-wine-white-sparkling-rose-and.html

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, based in the UK and Singapore. Her family has also lived in Spain, Switzerland and the USA.

Where it is usual and unusual to see sheep in the street? Samsun - the city where the sheep flocked down the street


Turkish flag

I usually see sheep in fields in Wales and New Zealand. in New Zealand I asked the driver to stop so I could photograph a sheep in the field. As I stood by the fence taking my photo, up bounded another sheep, then another, until a crowd of them were behind the fence staring at me expectantly. Were they expecting to be fed? I was heavily outnumbered. I was quite scared and raced back to the car.


Often in Rural Wales you encountera street obstructed by sheep crossing the road, usually from one field to another.

Photo by Jonathan Billinger in Wikipedia under Sheep.

I loved the video which has gone viral on Facebook of a seemingly endless flock of sheep invading the city street dual carriageway. The sheep baaed and bleeted. The sheep bells rang. The traffic was stopped. The sheep dogs ran ahead. The shepherds brandished their sticks or shepherd's crooks. The river of sheep ran on and on.

Some sheep lost their way, like the one in the nursery rhyme. When I checked, it was not the sheep that were lost, but Little Bo Peep who had lost them, as recorded in Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes. (Why mother goose? Amazing the number of things you do not question as a child,or even an adult.)

Never mind. Here the lost sheep were not lost for long. The intrepid sheep jumped back straight through a seemingly impenetrable hedge to join the rest of the flock.

I had wondered whether the videoed sheep were in New Zealand. But a search on the internet for sheep in the street brought up a video of the sheep on the British Guardian newspaper with the vital information of the location. Samsun. Where is that?

Samsun, North Turkey
Samsun is in North Turkey, on the Black Sea coast. I tracked back and found the video was taken in May when the city was in a four day lockdown.

How many were affected? The population a million and nearly a half.

Giant Landmark Statue
I then checked what there is to see in the city from a tuouris's point of view. The main landmark is equestrian (horseback) statue of Turkey's revered leader Ataturk.

Museums
The Population Museum is about the exchange of Turks from Greece and Greeks from Turkey in 1923.

What else is there to enjoy in Turkey? Turkish coffee and Turkish delight.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tourist_attractions_in_Samsun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ala%C3%A7am_Population_Exchange_Museum

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

Free masks and thermometers for all households in Singapore before National Day, August 9th




Singapore Flag.

Ahead of Singapore's National Day, August 9th, the Singapore government has organized the distribution of a handy bag containing the Singapore flag to wave, and free masks and a thermometer for you before you leave home.







The householder collects the bag from a local distribution point by showing the NRIC (national registration identity card - equivalent to a passport) which is issued to all Singapore citizens and permanent residents.

What is the message?

1 The message on the bag is Together A Stronger Singapore.

2 The message is also the government is looking after you. I have seen lots of online discuss about what should be in the bag. The general opinion was a majority in favour of not spending on one off items such as baloons which would be thrown away and create litter. Instead, masks, items which were for the health of all ages and of permanent use.

The packet for the large flag has the explanation of the flag's meaning.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Singaporean_patriotic_songs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day_(Singapore)
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ndp-funpack-collection-exercise-kicks-off-for-every-singaporean-and-pr-household

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Follow me on Facebook. See my books Wedding Etiquette on Amazon and quick quotations Lulu.com


Monday, July 27, 2020

Dickens' Statues Museums, Memorials, Films, Fagin and Antisemitism






































Stained glass window showing Charles Dickens, Otawa Public Library, Ottawa, Canada.
Chalet in Rochester, Kent, England.
Chalres Dickens gravestone in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, London, England.

.
Bleak House, Broadstairs, Kent, England.

Dickens and Fagin
Dickens published a story about Fagin, based on a true character. Dckens' book Oliver Twist, echoed current antisemitism in his day and inspired a wave of antisemitism.  You can visit Dickens House museum in the centre of London near the British Museum. Other places associated with Dickens are around England.

During Dickens' lifetime, wellwishers were appalled at the animosity directed towards both the Jews, and towards Dickens. Dickens revised later editions of the book, encouraged by the Jewish banker who bought Dickens' house, and the banker's wife, of whom Dickens was very fond.


Dickens House Museum, 48 Doughty Street, London, England, UK


Dickens Study in Dickens House Mueum, 48 Doughty Street, London, England. Picture from Wikipedia.


Charles Dickens Birthplace House at 393 Commercial Road, Portsmouth, England.


English: Dickens Festival, Rochester. Charles Dickens lived in Rochester and set many scenes from his books here. Fagin, Miss Havisham and Bill Sikes are outside the Kings Head.
DateMay 1997
SourceFrom geograph.org.uk
AuthorColin Smith
Attribution
(required by the license)
Colin Smith / Dickens Festival, Rochester. / CC BY-SA 2.0

To counteract the image of Fagin, George Eliot wrote Daniel Deronda, in which the hero married a virtuous Jewish girl whose father is a ne-er do well who causes her embarrassment.

But a book was not enough. The rich Rothschild banking family stepped in. The Rothchilds were good organizers and gave money to rebuild churches. One of them had set up The Bank of England, which later helped pay troops in the first world war..The Rothschilds stepped in to improve the English language and character and appearance of the poor East End Jews. The Rothschilds set up The Jewish Free School in London's East End. Mrs Rothchild herself went into the school and listened to the children read. The poor children were given free uniforms and the pockets were sewn up so the children could not slouch. The school had over 1,000 pupils and was the biggest school in England and Europe.

I remember puzzling over the fact that my late father and his parents lived in the Jewish East End but did not have 'East End' accents but spoke perfect English. Why? Researching back over the history of the East End in the 1880s for a yet to be published novel based on my family history, answered this question. For several years, in London's East End, you were surrounded by a thousand children, plus school leavers, who were trained to read and write and speak perfect English.

You can take walking tours of the Jewish East End, and see the outsides of several famous buildings.
During Covid19 many festivals and events have been cancelled but online you can see pictures of past events and costumed characters.

Now let's look at Oliver Twist. I have extracted the interesting parts from a long Wikipedia article. Wiki has this to say:


Fence Ikey Solomon, on whom Fagin has often been said to be based
Fagin has been the subject of much debate over antisemitism, during Dickens' lifetime and in modern times. In an introduction to a 1981 Bantam Books reissue of Oliver Twist, for example, Irving Howe wrote that Fagin was considered an "archetypical Jewish villain."[4] The first 38 chapters of the book refer to Fagin by his racial and religious origin 257 times, calling him "the Jew", against 42 uses of "Fagin" or "the old man". Dickens, who had extensive knowledge of London street life, wrote that he had made Fagin Jewish because: "it unfortunately was true, of the time to which the story refers, that the class of criminal almost invariably was a Jew".[5] It is often argued that Fagin was based on a specific Jewish criminal of the era, Ikey Solomon.[6] Dickens also claimed that by calling Fagin "the Jew" he had meant no imputation against the Jewish people: "I have no feeling towards the Jews but a friendly one. I always speak well of them, whether in public or private, and bear my testimony (as I ought to do) to their perfect good faith in such transactions as I have ever had with them..."[7]
In later editions of the book, printed during his lifetime, Dickens excised over 180 instances of 'Jew' from the text.[8] This occurred after Dickens sold his London home in 1860 to a Jewish banker, James Davis, who objected to the emphasis on Fagin's Jewishness in the novel. When he sold the house, Dickens allegedly told a friend: "The purchaser of Tavistock House will be a Jew Money-Lender."
Dickens became friends with Davis' wife Eliza, who told him in a letter in 1863 that Jews regarded his portrayal of Fagin a "great wrong" to their people. Dickens then started to revise Oliver Twist, removing all mention of "the Jew" from the last 15 chapters; and later wrote in reply: "There is nothing but good will left between me and a People for whom I have a real regard and to whom I would not willfully have given an offence". In one of his final public readings in 1869, a year before his death, Dickens cleansed Fagin of all stereotypical caricature. A contemporary report observed: "There is no nasal intonation; a bent back but no shoulder-shrug: the conventional attributes are omitted."[9][7]
In 1865, in Our Mutual Friend, Dickens created a number of Jewish characters, the most important being Mr Riah, an elderly Jew who finds jobs for downcast young women in Jewish-owned factories. One of the two heroines, Lizzie Hexam, defends her Jewish employers: "The gentleman certainly is a Jew, and the lady, his wife, is a Jewess, and I was brought to their notice by a Jew. But I think there cannot be kinder people in the world."[7]
The comic book creator Will Eisner, disturbed by the antisemitism in the typical depiction of the character, created a graphic novel in 2003 titled Fagin the Jew. In this book, the back story of the character and events of Oliver Twist are depicted from his point of view.

Media portrayals



Fagin waits to be hanged.
Numerous prominent actors have played the character of Fagin. Alec Guinness portrayed Fagin in David Lean's 1948 film adaptation of Oliver Twist, with controversial make-up by Stuart Freeborn which exaggerated stereotypical Jewish facial features. The release of the film in the USA was delayed for three years on charges of being anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the New York Board of Rabbis. It was finally released in the United States in 1951, with seven minutes of profile shots and other parts of Guinness' performance cut.
Ron Moody's portrayal in the original London production of the musical Oliver! by Lionel Bart, which he repeated in the Oscar-winning 1968 film, is recognizably influenced by Guinness' portrayal. However, the antisemitic quality of Guinness' portrayal was considerably toned down in the musical, partly because of Moody being Jewish himself; he was in fact the first Jewish actor to portray Fagin. While Fagin remains an unrepentant thief, he is a much more sympathetic and comic character than he is in the novel. His plot with Monks is deleted and his role in Nancy's death is similarly excised, and he is portrayed as being cowardly and deeply afraid of Bill Sikes. Fagin is completely innocent of Nancy's murder and is horrified when he finds out. He even admonishes Sikes saying that: "[He] should not have done that." Bart's musical also deletes Fagin's arrest and the musical ends with Fagin, faced with beginning again, pondering the possibility of going straight. The film version reverses this ending, with Fagin briefly considering reformation, but then gleefully teaming up again with Dodger to start their racket again. Moody's performance as the character is often considered the most critically acclaimed. He won a Golden Globe for his performance, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. When Oliver! was brought to Broadway in 1964, Fagin was portrayed by Clive Revill, but in a 1984 revival, Moody reprised his performance opposite Tony Award winner Patti LuPone, who played Nancy. Moody later stated: "Fate destined me to play Fagin. It was the part of a lifetime."[10]
Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley's portrayal of Fagin in Roman Polanski's 2005 screen adaptation was also inspired by the 1948 version.
In the 1980 ATV series The Further Adventures of Oliver Twist, Fagin was played by David Swift. In this 13-episode series, Fagin has escaped his hanging by pretending to have had a stroke, which has left him paralyzed (and therefore unfit to be executed) and is in hiding at The Three Cripples, tended to by Barney.
In the 1982 made-for-TV movie version, Fagin is portrayed by George C. Scott. Although the character is generally portrayed as elderly, diminutive, and homely, Scott's version of the character was markedly younger, stronger, and better-looking. Also, this version of the character had him more caring of his orphan charges, feeding them well and treating them with obvious concern. In the 1985 miniseries, Fagin is portrayed by Eric Porter.
In Disney's animated version, Oliver & Company (1988), Fagin is a kind-hearted but poor man living in New York City. He lives in poverty with his five dogs and is desperately searching for money to repay his debts to a ruthless loan shark. This version does away with the moral quandary of child exploitation as all the characters are dogs who have no real need for money and genuinely want to help their owner. Informed by earlier portrayals, he retains a large nose but his racial characteristics, religion or "Jewishness" play no role in his character. He is voiced by Dom DeLuise.

Fagin was based on one of two or three characters. One was:
Isaac or Ikey Solomons who had a jewellery shop in the East End. He lived from about 1787 to 1850.
The Wiki account of the life of Ikey is worth reading purely for its entertainment value.
Certainly a far cry from anybody Jewish I have known. (Mostly hard-working honest, educated doctors, lawyers, teachers, musicians, professionals and shop keepers from small families.) 

 The funniest not only strange but hilarious, incident was that the police transported him from court in a taxi cab owned by a member of his family, who set up an ambush and released him. he escaped to the USA. The funniest, strangest part, is that he went from the USA to Tasmania, Australia where his wife was deported, but he was sent back from Australia to the UK by ship to be tried, then returned as a convict to Australia.

Dickens himself visited the USA, and Canada. he visited the USA in 1842. He visited New York, Boston and New England and other places. His notable effect was priaising the school for the blind, causeing Helen Keller's mother to send Helen Keller there, where Helen met her Teacher Anne Sullivan.
Dickens visited the USA again in 1867-8.
The places he visited were re-isited by Miriam Margolyes for a TV series on Dickens in the USA and Canada.


Back in London, lots to see.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The George and Vulture
The George and Vulture is a restaurant in London. There has been an inn on the site, which is off Lombard Street in the historic City of London district, since 1142. It was said to be a meeting place of the notorious Hell-Fire Club and is now a  City chop house.
It is mentioned at least 20 times in the 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
Places to Visit
UK
London
Statue of Charles Dickens, Guildhall.
Dickens House Museum, 48 Doughty Street,  (re-opened in July 2020 but must book tickets, rquirement for no overcrowding and social distancing due to Covid-19 and regulations.)
Burial place in Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey, London, England. 
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub, 145 Fleet Street, London. (In Tale or Two Cities.)
Jewish Museum, London, check for exhibitions about the East End of London.
Tours of the East End of London.
Check for Dickens tours in London.
The George and Vulture restaurant, London (Pickwick Papers).

Dickens House, Portsmouth, England. See outside. Check online for latest details.
Rochester Festival (check online for events and museums in UK).
Bleak House, Kent.
Gads Hill Place, Gravesend, Kent.
Many other places in the UK are connected with Dickens or his novels. 

AUSTRALIA
Statue of Dickens in Centenniel Parklands, Sydney
Grave of jilted Miss Eliza Emily Donnithorne, who probably inspired Miss Haversham
Jewish Museum
The Jewish cemetery where Ikey Solomon was buried in Tasmania was demolished and has been built over.

USA
Statue of Dickens & Little Nell, Philadelphia, USA.

CANADA
Ottawa Public Library, Ottawa. Stained Glass Window.
Photo credit:
Mike Gifford, Ottawa Public Library, Ottawa, Canada. Stained Glass Window showing Dickens. 
Niagar Falls Museum, visited by Dickens.

Useful Websites
Dickens Museum, London:
Gad Hill Place, Kent.
BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL BY PHONING ON 01474 33 76 00 BETWEEN THURSDAY AND SUNDAY IN THE FIRST INSTANCE OR EMAILING INFO@VISITGRAVESEND.CO.UK.
The Jewish Museum of Australia, not to be confused with the Sydney Jewish Museum
Dickens' descendants:
Detailed account of places Dickens visited in 1842, described in his book American Notes, and again in 1867-8. visited by Miriam Margolyes and Dickens items in museums and libraries.
About the author

Come back every day to read a new post.
I have many more posts on famous authors, and sites in the UK, USA, and worldwide. Also several posts on learning languages. Please read my other posts and share links to your favourite posts with your faourite colleagues, friends and members of your family.

How To Travel Light With Co-ordinated and Reversible Clothes





Angela Lansbury wearing a reversible dress, black or red. Worn with a jacket for zoom. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Do you find it challenging to fit everything you want into a bag that's small enough to carry?

In my heyday I was a travel writer constantly going on press trips at short notice and had to drag my suitcase on and off trains. We had trips around the USA staying in a different city every night.

I used to travel with a colour co-ordinated scheme. A black skirt for evenings, with three different tops and three different scarves. Red, white and black. Red, white, black, gold scarves.

I was often given a free tee shirt to take home or bought one at the destination.

Since I never throw anything away, now that I am semi-retired I have a large number of clothes.

On Facebook.I have worn more than 20 outfits which I have called dresses.

They are not all dresses. I did a count. I have about 150 outfits, if you include day dresses, evening dresses, beach dresses.

However, they are not all dresses. If you have a four piece combination of two tops with trousers and skirts, you have 2 pairs of outfits but can make 4 combinations. With four, you get 16, and from 5 you get 25.

I ran to a statistician and he saw at once that this is squared. So to get 150 outfits I need only 13 sets of tops and bottoms which co-ordinate with all the others. Add a jacket, or hat, or shoes, or umbrella, so you have three items, and you need only six triple outfits.

I buy reversible dresses, skirts and jackets. I can also wear t-shirts and dresses back to front, and some silk-lined jackets inside out. You have to remove the labels

. In this picture I am wearing a reversible red dress which has black the other side, with a red spagetti strap top and matching jacket.

I am tired of having to match up clothes. So I am wearing long skirts and beach wraps with a black or white tee-shirt, then converting the skirt into a dress

Convertible clothes
.I also bought a sarong in Hawaii which is supposed to make about 10 outfits. And a multi-way dress from Avon which supposedly makes several outfits, but required a wearer with stick figure and a lot of safety pins to be sure I didn't unravel on the dance floor.

Useful Websites
Ebay
Etsy
Catalogues

Useful Websites
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-to-convert-beach-sarong-or-wrap.html
https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/angela-lansbury/quick-quotations/paperback/product-1rejp7p8.html
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-in-1-Women-Pockets-Scarf-Convertible-Journey-Winter-Infinity-Scarf-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Convertible-Scarf-With-Hidden-Zipper-Pockets-Bandana-Headscarf-Wool-Neckerchief
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Womens-Evening-Convertible-Multi-Dress-Way-Wrap-Bridesmaid-Formal-Long-Dresses
Reversible t-shirt, tunic, dress and coat - discount offer on sign up
https://www.simplybe.com/en-sg/ (switched to your country, whichever you choose to type)
Freemans reversible wrap dress, frequently on sale at end of season, as it is now in July 2020, plus discounts for first order
https://www.freemans.com/products/joe-browns-reversible-wrap-dress/
Dearer - is it the same dress or different fabric, or does one include postage in the dress price and does the other seller add postage later?

Come back every day to read a new post.
I have many more posts on packing, plus famous authors, and sites in the UK, USA, and worldwide. Also several posts on learning languages. Please read my other posts and share links to your favourite posts with your favourite colleagues, friends and members of your family.

About the Author
Travel writer and photogrpaher Angela Lansbury. See my books such as Quick Quotations on Amazon and lulu.com
follow me on facebook.
Join me at Toastmasters International apeakers clubs online such as Braddell Heights Advanced.

Sunday, July 26, 2020

How To Secure Pockets When Travelling


Photo by Michael Sheehan in Wikipedia.

The ideal travelling jacket has outside pockets for quick access to unimportant or not valuable items such as handkerchieves and combs, but secure inner pockets for money and credit cards and identity cards or passports.

If you don't have the time or money, some inexpensive items can be bought new or second hand. Search for photographer's jacket, fishing jacket, travelling jacket and pockets. Other words such as gilet may bring up more results. I check Amazon, Ebay, Pick pocet proof clothing.

You can also find belts with pockets at camping shops and ski and outdoor wear shops.

If the clothes you order on line have pockets which are not secure, or you have clothes which you love, but want to add security, here are some options.

1 Wear a belt with a zip compartment under your jacket.

2 Make a belt with a zip. Cut a wide hem off a long dress or old coat or old coat or jacket lining.  fold it horizontally and before seaming it up, add a zip in the middle.

 3 Secure all the pockets on all garments you intend to wear whilst travlling and clothes you are packing to wear at the destination.





When buying bags and tote bags, look for zips and press studs or Velcro (touch and loop closure).

Inserting a zip is easy. Decide where you want the pull part to be and pin or safety pin that in place. Decide if you want the zip visible or hidden half an inch inside. Sew down both sides of the zip. Secure the end by sewing across.

No time? No Zip?

Use a small zipped fabric toiletry bag. One you already own or buy a cheap zipped bag. Sew it inside a tote bag. Remove the inner pockets from a garment you were throwing away and keep them in a sewing box and add them to your travel garments.

Do you have a garment with false zips, ones which actually work but have no pockets behind them? Add a pocket behind. The simplest pocket is just a square sewn up on three sides.

Useful Websites
amazon
ebay
pickpocketproof clothing
https://www.facebook.com/ClothingArts
https://www.clothingarts.com/

About the author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer.

How To Secure your bags and pockets on trains - and in restaurants



Some people travel with their own helmets to go cycling, motorcycling or skiing overseas.

Before travelling, check your clothes pockets for security and your bags and locks and keys.

Pockets
I ordered a multi-pocket jacket. I was disappointed that it arrived with pockets which had no fastening. However, with a day or two to spare before my journey, I had time to add zips and press studs and even extra pockets behind the front pocket.




 Even if you are capable of carrying a large item, a bag which is too large to keep under your seat can be a security risk when you are travelling.

 
Most years I take at least one train trip. sometimes from London, England to Wales to a Writer's Holiday. Sometimes, from London up north to Derby to Writers Summer School.
 I remember my journey on a train within Switzerland. They had a rack with hooks for your coat to hang up.


I have also travelled from the airport to Philadelphia. I sat around in the airport for hours. All sorts of people, porters, waiters, people at the next table, tried to apparently help me by movin my bag our of my way and theirs to a position away from my table.

I never allow that. My shoulder bag and wheel on bag must be in front of me, visible, ideally attacheched to me by the shoulder bag handle looped around my arm or the chair leg.

I have a friend who have lost her bag which was by her feet at a large table for ten in a Chinese restaurant in London.

My husband lost his wallet and sunglasses from his coat on the back of a crowded restaurant in Prague, Czeck Republic, one New Year's Eve. In addition to the manager and waiters, people passing to and from included diners leaving. Would-be diners walked in to enquire about a table and leaving disappointed. We had a guitarist and his assistant with a cap for money approaching us and passing to and fro. A person selling flowers. Another collecting money for charity.People at the next table getting up to go to the toilet.

I don't let a coat out of sight either. A coat hanging in a cupboard can disappear. Unless it is on a hook on the wall behind your table and you are facing it or leaning against it, don't let it go.

I also have a distinctive cover on my phone. A black phone could easily be picked up by mistake by somebody else. Or left behind by you, not realising it was your phone, thinking it was somebody else's.

I get onto a train and the man who helps me onto the train wants to heave my bag onto the luggage rack by the door. My reserved seat, or the only empty seat, is further into the train with its back to the distant luggage rack.

Thieves' tricks
A well-known trick is for a thief to get onto the train just before it is about to depart. When the signal for departure goes, he grabs a nearby bag and leaps off the train. Even if you had a distinctive bag and were watching and saw this happening, by the time you have raced to the end of the carriage, the train is moving.

Porters
In some hotels the porter wants to take your luggage away and up to your room via a service lift. I don't allow that. I recall ariving at my room and can't clean my teeth because the bag is delayed whilst they wait for somebody else on the same floor to load their stuff onto the trolley.

I once decided to change rooms, because mine looked out onto scaffodling and rubbish bins (Americans say trash cans). I had not left my rented home overlooking a swimming pool to stay in a room overlooking a buldging site and rubbish. But where was the luggage. (Americans can baggage.)

If the porter insists the luggage must go in the other lift, go with the luggage in the other lift (if you feel safe), or remove the wheel on bag containing your lap top and keep that small item with you whilst they take the larger suitcase.

Or just take your own luggage.

What can you do?

Bicycles
Which rack is easier to watch, the one in front or the one behind?




1 Buy pickpocket proof clothing. (That's a brand name.)
2 Add inside pockets to your clothes.
3 Add zips to all pockets with flaps.
4 Add a second zipped pocket inside and behind the main pocket compartment.
5 Wear a second garment such as a jacket or cape outside your jacket.
6 Keep a social distance from anybody. Face them when speaking to them, watching for people standing alongside.
7 Keep your wheeled bag between yourself and others in a queue (Americans say line-up) so they are not right next to your pockets.
Turn your wheel on bag so the front zip comparment is towards you or on the floor with another bag on top.
Buy a wheel on bag with a compartment at the back instead of the front.
Keep only newspapers in the front zipped compartment.
Count your bags.
A jacket with pockets on the outside can be worn inside out. Remove the neck brand and size labels or cover with satin ribbon.

Useful Websites
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-in-1-Women-Pockets-Scarf-Convertible-Journey-Winter-Infinity-Scarf-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Convertible-Scarf-With-Hidden-Zipper-Pockets-Bandana-Headscarf-Wool-Neckerchief

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer. Author of Quick Quotations and several other books.

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