useful Information and Websites
Duolingo
Duolingo teaches Bokmal.
What is Bokmal? See Wikipedia.
About the Author
See previous post on Norwegian words.
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
What have I learned about blogging? And Facebook?
Sharing Posts
Sometimes I start to write a reply to a person or a picture on Facebook and I think, that would make a good blog post.
However, when I shared a post from one website to another, I found I had many readers on blogger, far fewer on the copied version to Wordpress. My son, who works in CEO, explained that the search engines ignore the second version and direct people to the original, rather than the copy.
Hoping to get more readers, I copy the link to my blog post onto my Facebook page.
Copying from blogger to Facebook is easy and up pops the title and a picture.
Checking Spelling
In Facebook, if I go back to re-read, I often spot a spelling error and change it. If I copy from Facebook to blogger and find the spelling error in one, I then go back and change the other.
Adding Accents
To add the diacrtics (dots and so on above letters), if you cannot find them on your own keyboard, copy the words from a dictionary or anywhere on the internet. I often find that if I type a word into Google, up pops the correctly spelled word in its original language.
Once you have the correctly spelled and accented word in your own post, you can copy it elsewhere.
Likes
On Facebook I go back and like my posts and the replies. I heard that even liking your own post can boost the rating.
About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Monday, September 28, 2020
Spanish words from American and Costa Rican and Spanish Place Names, Personal Names and History
Flag of Costa Rica
Costa rica means rich coast. The adjective comes after the noun.
Here's a handy list of Spanish words you can easily learn from place names and the history of the country
Spanish - English (alphabetically)
angeles - angels
bahia - bay
costa - coast
de - of
en - in
flores - flowers
haciendas - plantations
himno - hymn
Jose - Joseph
la - the (singular)
Los - the (plural)
mueva - move
nacional - national
patria - fatherland
Republica - republic
rica - rich
San - saint
San Jose - saint Joseph (city in California, USA; capital city of Costa Rica)
sinopsis - synopsis
symbolos - symbols
un - a/an
y - and
English - Spanish
a/an/un
and - y
angels - angeles
bay - bahia
coast - costa
fatherland - patria
flag - bandera
flowers - flores
hymn - himno
in - en
move - mueva
national - nacional
of - de
Republic - republica
rich - rica
symbols - symbolos
synopsis - sinopsis
the (plural) - los
the (singulare) -la
Useful websites
dictionary.com
duolingo.com
translategoogle
tripadvisor
wikipedia
https://wikitravel.org/en/Spanish_phrasebook
About the Author
Norwegian Language - 50 handy, easy words
I was looking at photos of Norway and saw signs on buildings. I wanted to translate them. I saw the word bread. It was brød . I thought, let's put some other everyday words into translate Google and see what we get.
You will be delighted how similar Norwegian is to English and how quickly you can recognize words, especially if you know what to expect.
First ten words
Second ten words
Third Ten words
Fourth ten words
Fifth ten words
De første ti ordene
Andre ti ord
Tredje Ti ord
Fjerde ti ord
Femte ti ord
The letters ORD are in word and ord.
Isn't Norwegian similar to English? Isn't it easy!First ten words:
English
bread and fire
north
south
east
west
bridge
church
sea
harbour
ship
Norwegian
brød og ild Nord sør øst vest
bro kirke hav havn skip
That is ten.
Second ten words:
English
car bus coach train station mother father son daughter child
Norwegian
bil
buss
trener
tog
stasjon
mor
far
sønn
datter
barn (like Scottish bairn)That is twenty.
Third ten words:Englishmoney
cash
cheque
credit card
hotel
bed
bedroom
night
day
breakfast
Norwegianpenger
penger
kryss av
kredittkort
hotell
seng
soverom
natt
dag
frokost (German is frühstück which means early bite)
That is thirty words.
Fourth Ten Words:
English
lunch
dinner
tea
coffee
cake
meat
how much
receipt
I
want
Norwegianlunsj
middag
te
kaffe
kake
kjøtt
hvor mye
kvittering
Jeg
ønsker
That is forty words!
Fifth Ten Words:
English
I want to pay
how much
expensive
cheap
cheaper
smaller
larger
small
large
what size?
Norwegian
Jeg ønsker å betale
hvor mye
dyrt
billig
billigere
mindre
større
liten
stor
hvilken størrelse?That is fifty words.
More wordsten more
what time
which day
which month
which year
today
mindre
større
liten
stor
hvilken størrelse
når
hvilken dag
hvilken måned
hvilket år
i dagUseful Website explains what is bokmal (literally book) na has a handy chart showing English, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Afrikaans and Icelandic. It looks to me like you can learn any one of these in addition to English and you are half way to reading and understanding any of the others.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_language
About the authorAngela Lansburytravel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Teacher and tutor and workshop leader on learning and improving English and other languages.
High and Horrific Preikestolen Cliff, Norway makes Viewers Scream - what is memorable about Norway?
Flag of Norway.
Map of Norway and Europe.
Norway, land of the midnight sun, as the name suggests is north, in the north of Europe, north of the UK. Norway, Norwegians, people from the north.
The main attraction in Norway is the stunning scenery. Lots of daylight allowing you to explore the scenery in the Land of the midnight sun.
Photo by pajdaCZ in Wikipedia.
From the right, you can see that that everybody is standing or sitting on a rock which has more than one crack! The rock is called pulpit or priest's standing point. Think of priest, but spelled with an e or ei.
Everywhere, four-legged friends. Not so friendly when on the road. Hence the warning signs. Watch out!
Water, water everywhere. Long sea coast. Fish and fishballs are favourite foods.
In the UK venison can be expensive. However, do indulge in the local food. In Scandinavian countries, if you order steak instead of the local dish, you may be costing your hosts more. (I made this mistake in Finland on a travel press trip.)
In addition to fish, inland you find animals.
In the north, polar bears.
Everywhere, four-legged friends. Not so friendly when on the road. Hence the warning signs. Watch out!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preikestolen#/media/File:Ps_nov_2018.jpg
An arresting photo of Preikstolen is making the rounds on Facebook. The picture shown is the one which shows a crowd of tourists on top and reveals the crack down one side, not apparent from where they are standing. Naturally, this attracts lots of comments, such as,
"No, I wouldn't."
"Not me."
"Not in a thousand years!"
I typed the name into google to seek Wikipedia and check it out. I discovered the name is spelled stolen, not like the German cake, stollen. You can also leave ut the i in the first syllable.
Norway's Capital, Oslo, Sweden and Denmark
I then researched Norway. Capital Oslo. How do I remember that the capital of Norway is Oslo, the capital of Sweden is Stockholm, and the capital of Denmark is Copenhagen? Easy, once you set your mind to it.
Norway and Oslo have the letter o.
So does Stockholm but we can eliminate Sweden and Stockholm which both start with the letter S.
What about Denmark and Copenhagen? DC as in Washington DC.
Norway has fijords, like fords, over water. Norway and Oslo. High cliffs and low water below.
When I visit a country, I usually fly into the capital and spend a couple days there before going off to a conference or business meeting or countrywide tour or regional hiking holiday. So, whetever type of visit I was planning, I would arrive in the capital, Oslo. What is in Oslo to see?
Oslo's Most Memorable Museums, Art and Attractions: Art, Vikings and More (alphabetically)
In order of memorability, I would agree with Wikipedia and list them that way, and put
1 Munch's Museums and The Scream first.
Then
2 Vigeland, on to the
3 Nobel prize museum and then
4 Kontiki. However for ease of compiling and reading back later I am listing attractions, galleries and museums alphabetically.
Alphabetical Art, Attractions, Galleries and Museums in Oslo
1 Kontiki
2 Munch Museum featuring The Scream.
3 Nobel Prize Museum
4 Vigeland sculpture park
5 Vikings
Summary For Admirers & Visitors
To sum up, what is great about Norway? The country has stunning scenery which you can admire on the internet. Norway once sent victorious Vikings, more recently gave the world the peace prize. Now the coutnry sends us smoked salmon, and when you get to visit it, no need to tip.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preikestolen#/media/File:Ps_nov_2018.jpg
Practical and realistic warnings about glaciers, tickes and treacherous waters, from:
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Norway
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author of 20 books and speaker.
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Which Is Your Favourite Underground Station Decor - Baker Street or Charing Cross?
UK flag.
London's trains are interesting. They have the same design on the banquette seating but the colours vary.
 |
| London underground train, blue seats. Picture by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. |
Baker Street
Baker Street station. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Baker street has pictures of Sherlock Holmes.
Charing Cross
Charing Cross has a map of the area beside the station, Trafalgar Square, and landmarks.
What about the rest of the world?
Singapore also has art on the underground, called the MRT.
Russian stations are famous for their luxurious stations with chandeliers.
New York, the city in New York State, in the USA, is also popular with train travellers and arthitects and designers and railway buffs.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charing_Cross_tube_station
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charing_Cross_railway_station
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/passengers/our-stations/london-charing-cross
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/passengers/staying-safe-and-secure/
Wikimpedia gives lots of links.
External links[edit]
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charing Cross tube station. |
- The Charing Cross-Embankment-Strand conundrum explains the various names of the tube stations in this area.
- London's Abandoned Tube Stations – Charing Cross
- London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
- Subway entrance to Trafalgar Square station, 1906
- Stairway entrance to Charing Cross station from Craven Street, 1909
- Trafalgar Square station booking hall, 1922
- Strand station booking hall, 1927
- Craven Street entrance to Strand station, 1937. Note sign pointing way to Bakerloo line.
- Strand station booking hall, 1973, two weeks after closure for reconstruction
- Northbound Bakerloo line platform with original all-white tiling scheme, 1979
- New Charing Cross station booking hall, 1979
- Platform murals
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Sherlock Holmes Pub, the stations, the statues, the museum, the shop - our sleuth searches for you
Sherlock Holmes Pub. Sept, 2020. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
The Sherlock Holmes pub on the road downhill from Traflagar Square. We arrived at Charing Cross station by Trafalgar Square. We walked downhill and the Sherlock Holmes pub was on our left. It is always a pleasure to see it, even from the outside. Later we walked downhill a few steps further to Embankment station. On the way there we changed stations at Baker Street station. I was able to read and take photos of the pictures of Sherlock Holmes.
We often go through Baker street station. Outisde is the statue of Sherlock Holmes.
Turn right along Baker street and you come to the Sherlock Holmes museum and shop. The shop alone is worth a visit, full of curiosities.
On the way back from our trip to the Tralgar Square area, we passed through Baker Street station again. if you are on the right line,you will get a glimpse of the panels about Sherlock Holmes.
I looked up the pub online. It is part of the Hungry Horse marketing group. I wanted to know whehter they were still open and how covid10 was affecting them.
The rules changed in September 2020. Look at their website for the latest news.
Useful Websites
https://www.hungryhorse.co.uk/pub-safe/
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Saturday, September 26, 2020
Travel in London During Covid-19 Is Safer and Stress-Free
London tube train. September 2019 during Covid-19. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Look at my photo on a large screen, or, on a mobile push two fingertips apart to expand the picture. You will see two notices about social distancing.
What effect has Covid19 had on transport such as trains and cars? My family went to central London last week, midweek, on a Wednesday, in September 2020, to Trafalgar Square.
The trains were quiet. Just a few people. I put my umbrella across the seat beside m to prevent anybody sitting there.
Baker Street station was quiet. it is a point where lines cross so usually there are many people changing trains.
Charing Cross station was quiet. The exit for Trafalgar Square.
On our return journey we walked downhill towards Embankment station. Embankment station was quiet.
The train was empty.
If you have the photo up on a large screen and look carefully, or if you expand it on your mobile phone by pushing your fingertips apart on the screen, you can spot two signs about social distancing.
The good news - it was easy to find a seat.
It was easy to park the car near a station.
On a later journey to a lunch, before and after lunch time on a Friday, trains were busier. My husband reported that people were sitting in every other seat, with bags and briefcases on the seat beside them to prevent others from sitting down too near. Most people were wearing masks.
No Smoking
You will notice the no smoking sign. Funny how, after a few years, no smoking is the norm and it seems strange to have to tell people not to smoke. that gets rid of smoke and cigarette ends.
No Sign For N Spitting
Unlike buses in other coutnries, there's no sign saying no spitting. An advantage of wearing masks is that it cuts down on spitting.
Streeful or Stress Free?
First , there's thre stress of carrying and wearing a mask. Before you leave home, have you got your mask. Wear it in the car. "Don't be absurd. We are not seeing strangers. You don't need it."
But you can infect your own family, if you catch it whilst you are out.
What if there's a rule we have forgotten? better get in the habit, ready for the time it becomes mandatory to wear masks in cars. What if we infect the surfaces and offer a lift to somebody else?
After Thursday Sept 24 new rules came in about wearing masks in taxis. Supposing an automatic system thinks our car is a taxi? We will be in for correspondence protesting that we are not a taxi.
The laws are there, not to make life difficult, but to protect us. Feel good that somebody is protecting you.
Useful Websites
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/passengers/staying-safe-and-secure/
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author and speaker.
Friday, September 25, 2020
Travel The World's Tourism Attractions With Google 3D from Sunday 27th Sept 2020
Sunday 27th is a World Tourism Day. Gogle is celebrating with videos. Well, yes, was my first thought. But I can already use a search tool for travel. Many hotels and museums already offer 3D videos. What is new?
All the top sites accessed from one place. Not real places. But in models.
Not the places you would automatically normally search for. Novelties.
Where? What have they picked? Let's start with countries I know well. The USA.
One of two featured places I already knew. Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC. (I used to live near there in Rockville Maryland.)
But plenty more which I didn't know.
Take Canada.
Even though I'd been to Niagara Falls in Canada. A fort in Canada.
Now, what do national, international, worldwide, and global mean? national tourism clearly is tourism around one nation. International, could be between two or more different coutnries. Worldwide means all over the world. I would use the word worldwide, as something which has been all over the world at some time. I might travel worldwide, so might my suitcase. A company might have had offices worldwide, over the years. But a global company has offices worldwide at one time, or intends to do so.
Useful Websites
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-8768525/See-wonders-world-Edinburgh-DC-Googles-new-augmented-reality-Search-tool.html
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer writes about travel, languages, novelties, statues, what to do and what you can see and buy online. Please share links to your favurite posts.
What To Do In Homestays and Lockdowns: Sewing; And No-Sew Clothes using safety pins and straps
Elizabeth Hurley in Versace Dress before the opening of the film (Americans say movie) of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Advertising picture from Wikipedia. Showing the dress with safety pins down the sides.
Further to my earlier post on no sewing, here are some more ideas for simple sewing and no sewing.
When travelling from Singapore to the UK (for a family wedding) I had two weeks of homestay in the UK. After the wedding the homestay was lifted. (But the numbers at weddings were restricted from 30 to 15!)
Returning from the UK to Singapore, in Singapore there is an enforced two week quarantine in a hotel of the government's selection.
Sources of Sarees England
This is an ideal time to turn fabric I have never used, such as a saree length, bought from a sale of new and second hand sarees at a temple in Watford north west London.
Singapore
In Singapore you can buy sarees from shops in Little India. Also from 24 hour Mustafa's department store which is on the edge of Little India.
Uses for Spare Fabric
The extra fabric provides opportunities for making:
1 a skirt,
2 top and
3 jacket, with
4 a matching hadband,
5 scarf,
6 tote bag,
7 cover a clutch bag,
8 add a fabric rose,
9 cover a scratch straw hat,
10 or a baseball cap with added neck cover at the back -
11 and even a matching mask!
12 A hanging pocket from the belt loops of a skirt or trousers. Useful at home. when out can take a hanky, or one use wet wipe.
13 A hanging pocket with zip closure or tabe plus concealed zip to hand inside your clothes for security when travelling.
17 Matching cover for bra straps in case they peep out.
18 Matching sarong for husband or mother and daughter outfit or tiny tots in case they get lost.
19 Spare material attached to a garment is there, not just for matching up cottons and buttons, but also for testing shrinkage, stretching, distortion and colour run during washing by hand or machine - or home dry cleaning kits.
Stocking Up Sewing Equipment
If you are planning sewing, it helps to stock up with matching cotton or suitable thread, and self-threading needles, or needle threaders, and small scissors.
If you are flying, often you cannot take scissors and needles in hand luggage. You might need to be sure to put them in a sewing kit or cosmetics bag in your checked in luggage.
Or leave them in your departure and return home country before your outward leg of the return journey, in a bag for a friend or stay-put family to deliver or send by delivery company to your lockdown hotel.
Hire Sewing Machines
Could you hire a machine?
In the UK a company was advertising hire of industrial machines from 45 pounds sterling a day plus delivery charges.
You can also obtain a machine for edging carpets and a carpet fringing machine. I always wondered how it was done. Now I know. By a machine. Aha!
Fabric Choices
Some fabrics can be cut with pinking sheers. Watch out for very fine fabrics which fray easily. Also fabrics with large holes which pull apart easily.
A close weave cotton is generally safer. Make a small test cut first.
Happy cutting, sewing, dressmaking and crafts!
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Versace_dress_of_Elizabeth_Hurley
http://www.anglosewing.co.uk/industrial-sewing-machine-rental.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
Thursday, September 24, 2020
The Premature Burial Of The Lady With The Ring, and Sites Connected with Edgar Allen Poe Who Wrote Premature Burail Stories
Premature Burial in Ireland
The Irish version of the story has a gravestone inscribed Lived Once Buried Twice.
The creepy story goes that wife was buried with her ring. When grave robbers could not remove it, they tried to hack off her finger.
Dripping blood, she crawled or staggered back home. The husband, on seeing her, got such a shock that he died, and was buried in her now empty grave.
Would she have turned 'white as a ghost'? If still alive? I recently, September 2020, fainted at our son's wedding in London, England. My husband said that I, 'looked grey'.
I wrote this reply on Facebook.
England
I heard the same story about a lady buried with a ring on her finger and roused by grave robbers trying to remove her finger. In the north of England when I was an active travel writer. If I remember rightly, in the north or midlands in the area of cutlery making where you cannot visit the famous cutlery factory so we did this excursion instead to a Christian building with a family mausoleum. In this version of the story, the wife crawled uphill. She surprised the husband with his new love, the housekeeper.
The tourist board took us to a place where the mausoleum of a family had a bell inserted so that a person buried alive could ring it. Hence, one version of the phrase for whom the bell tolls.
Versions of the story also include the incident that a servant looked out of a window to see who was knocking on the door. The husband or family were told that the woman, or her ghost was outside the dor and replied, I'll believe that when the horses get out of the stables.
At that moment the horses broke out of the stables and poked their heads through the window.
Premature Burial In Germany
In Germany a tower has statues of the two horses' heads. How the horses climbed the tower I do not know.
In addition to three countries which have something to show you, other countries have the story to tell you. What is a local guide for? To tell you fascinating stories - which may or may not be true.
BELGIUM
In Belgium, the Museum of Fine Arts has a portrait of someone being buried alive.
USA
In the USA you can visit the home of poet and short story writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Poe wrote a short story called, The Premature Burial.
He also featured premature burial in four other stories:
If you are worried, an alternative to the bell is a vault with a handle enabling the occupant to turn the circular closure to the semi circular shaped aperture, a bit like a porthole. This was designed back in 1880 but doesn't seem to have caught on.
Places to Visit
England
Ireland
Germany
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_with_the_Ring
Edgar Allen Poe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Premature_Burial
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
How to Create Clothes in Stay Home or Stay Hotel Quarantine-
Photo by Dmeranda in Wikipedia under sewing.
No needle? No machine? Never mind. the internet has videos showing how you can create and re-purpose clothes. As I contemplate two weeks in lockdown quarantine, with not enough clothes, I am wondering what I can do. Watch videos for answers. My own answers include: glue, staples, safety pins, ribbons, scarves, beg and borrow.
Glue
If you have a fabric glue, that helps.
No glue? Some fabrics have a glue backing. For example iron on patches. With a reversible white tee-shirt, you can iron patches onto the front and the back to create different looks for a video conference everyday. Or add patches so that on day one you have one, on day two two, and so on. This would work if you bought patches in sets of assorted patches on the internet.
Staples
You can also use staples, i am cautious about bits of metal and points.
Pins and Safety Pins
Another choice is safety pins, concealed.
Brooches
Or Brooches.
Ribbons
Ribbons.
Ribbons can be made into belts, straps for tak tops, and matching hair bands.
Wrap Dresses, Sarongs and Wrap Skirts
Or do what they did in the old days with togas and sarongs and sarees. Wrap it around and fasten it on one shoulder.
You can also secure an off the shoulder dress with a ribbon strap over the other shoulder.
Scarves
Stock up on or buy a set of different colour scarves, or same colour scarves. Or remember to pack a few of your own scarves.
Finding Fabric
Or cut up an old garment which has stains or tears, or just one you no longer like, as you would not wear it anyway. But the colour might contrast or match a shirt, or blous ir skirt or dress or trousers.
Cut the hem off a long dress. Buy a maxi dress and cut it to knee length and you have matching fabric for a stole or jacket.
A scarf, like a sarong, can be tied in a dozen or more ways. For example:
1 Hanging loose with ends forwards.
2 Hanging loose backwards.
3 Hanging loose forwards with ends looped.
4 Hanging loose forwards with ends knotted.
5 Hanging loose forward with ends in a bow below the neck.
6 Twisted in a spiral and knotted at the side of the neckwith one pointed end hanging forwards
7 A bandanna tied in a bow at the top of the head in front.
8 A bandanna tied behind the neck and spread to make a cap.
9 A bandanna tied with a bow at the side of the neck above the right ear.
10 As 9 but add a broch to fasten the bandanna, above the ear on the other side, the left ear.
11 Tied in horizontal pleats around the neck with a bow at the neck, like a bow tie.
12 Folded scarf into half and then again to make a concertina, then spiralled to make a rose. Fasten with glue or safety pin. Use on ribbon as a pendant, on shoulder as a brooch or decoration, or between bust to cover cleavage.
Patches
Think about quilts from patches. think about iron on patches. Most hotels can supply an iron.
Beg and borrow
Your home or hotel probably has sheets and pillowcases. A sheet or pillowcase can be repurposed for daytime or evening clothing.
Sheets and Pillowcases
In a hotel I had no costume, so I used a toga style sheet over white underclothes and slip to make myself into a ghost with a white pillowcase as a hat.
You could ask housekeeping if they have old sheets or curtains which are torn or stained which you can borrow or keep.
Flowers
A flower can be turned into a corsage or button hole decoration. Or tuck it into a bandanna or hairband.
Fruit
Fruit could be made into a Carmen Mirands hat with a pillowcase twisted into a circular support.
Plastic tray
Even a plastic tray could be cut with two slits for ribbons as a head-dress or head-dress support.
Useful Websites
About the Author
Agnela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
The Jolly Jewish Harvest Festival of Sukkah or Sukkot(h) - Why Build a Fruit-Filled Sukkah? Outdated or Reassuring?
After New Year, we look forward the tiring day of fasting for Yom Kippur. However, we are already hearing about the jollity of of Sukkot, October 2nd in 2020, a harvest festival, when fruits and/or greenery are hung on a temporary dwelling outside the house or religious buildings.
If you live in a block of flats, or are too elderly or lazy, or not Jewish, you might still be invited to a neighbour's or a communal Sukkah service, in an awning bedecked with hanging fruits and grenerywith prayers, and servings of food such as donuts and honey. Kosher donuts. Home made donuts. Or just fruits.
UK
I recall going to the Northwood and Pinner synagogue. A large awning was built in a car park against the wall.
India
When I took a trip to India, driving to Agra, by a driver-guide, I saw we passed fields of crops and the little, leaning ramshackle huts in fields at harvest time. Then I saw a man standing by one. I asked, "What's that little wooden hut in the middle of the field?"
My local Indian guide told me, "The guards are living in the hut. In the middle of the field."
"Guarding what?"
"Guarding harvest."
"Do they sleep there?"
"Yes. All day. All night."
"Why are they there?"
"To guard the - what do you say?"
"Bales?"
"Yes. To guard the harvest from animals. And people. Better safe than sorry, isn't it?"
"What if it rains?"
"Yes. Also to watch the weather. Summon human help if it rained and harvest had to be moved under cover."
Suddenly the succah made sense. A hut at harvest time. Not inside your building, but outside, watching your harbest. In London in September, we had to put netting over our grape vines to keep off the birds. maybe squirrels. Foxes. So that hut, from before the days of big glass picture windows, is a reminder of the old days.
I remember standing in a neighbour's house's sukkah in London. He gave me a frond to hold. He said, 'You have to face first north, then west, then south, then east."
I got it wrong. Id din't know which way was north. East is Jerusalem. From London. But houses one side of the road face a different direction from the other side of the street. Like many people, when I get things wrong, and told to redo it, start again, I get irritated.
I decided, enough of this old-fashioned nonsense.
However, I can now take a wider view. The members of a Liberal synagogue tried to modernise their synagogue services on Saturdays. No more parading around the aisles in a circle from the altar and back, led by the rabbi, holding the torah (bible written on a scroll, in a handsome velvet case with beautiful embroidery by the ladies sewing group). No more little bells.
Everybody objected. They liked the parade. they liked the bells. They liked the torah coming near enough to see it. They liked the service as it was when they were younger, were children.
Ah, I sigh. So modern Jews try to be rational. Yet, emotionally, we, as Jews or spectators, also enjoy the rituals. Just as travellers worldwide, or simply on the internet, go physically, or stop working to see a video, to watch natives dancing in traditional costumes, singing traditional songs, all over the world.
Why? It is a link with the past. Something which we do and pass on, continuing into the future. Our way of cheating death, feeling we are a link in the unbroken chain or life and tradition, passed from one generation and the next.
Useful Websites
Wikipedia - Sukkah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkah
About the author
Angela Lansbury is travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Contact Angela if you need a speech, podcast intervieweee, workshop or guest blog. Please share links to your favourite posts.
How and why to keep in contact during lockdown
A report from Finaland says that people in a later generation, now elderly, have better physical and mental health than a group tested a decade earlier. The article ends with a section reporting that people in care homes improved when talking to robots.
Robots Versus People
This is a new positive development. The robots cannot give you illnesses such as Covid-19, which, according to current reports in September 2020, hit hardest at care homes.
Why robot voices? They could just link up people in care homes with those real people in other rooms. Or other care homes. Or volunteers.
You would need checks on deterioration, because, in my experience, people enter care homes because they have physical problems and slight dementia, but as they grow older, and get worse, they can be aggressive, or start singing, or shout. So you need to minitor for inappropriate conversations. First the user, then any predatory outsider. This can be done. You could also have a conversation panic button. Or a group, so that a group monitor could quickly turn the microphone off anything ina pprorpriate, and recordings could witness. Zoom meetings for the elderly.
You could even suggest mutual interest topics, on non-controversial subjects. For example: such as the weather, improved health, happy memories of childhood, building styles.
You could build into the system prompts to encourage a chatty speaker to stop speaking and allow the other person, or group members, to talk.
Mechanically Monitoring Toastmasters' Speeches
Similarly, using a chatbox for Toastmasters international speakers, we need a mechanized app which listens to your speech, or check the text. We already have a tick box for preparing a speech.
We could have, give you a tick box. Or arrange for the system to ask the speaker to stop and address the audience, or ask the audience for questions.
You could train the moderator of the group to deal with aggression, talking off the point.
You could add subtitles to translate.
Add reminders to stand up and exercise every half hour.
Useful Websites
About the Author
What opportunties for the future.
Thank you - WTM London
World Travel Market Goes Online November 9-11 2020 Thank you - WTM London
This year the World Travel Market held in London every year is going on line. It is the place to go if you do anything in the travel industry, such as promoting a restaurant, museum, hotel, destination, city, country, car hire. The travel industry has been hit hard so everybody is looking for ways to keep customers interested.
Travel writers and bloggers are also interested. Maybe you have an interest, such as arranging group bookings of venues such as conference centres, hotels.
This year my family held a wedding. Events are still hapening but with many new options. Registration is now open for the World Travel Market online event.
Useful Websites
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.
What happens on Jewish New Year? The food, drink, prayers, singing, and sound of the Shofa
Reading The Prayers
On this serviette the word Shanah Tovah are read from right to left. The vowels are not always printed. Like speedwriting and texting, you can usually guess the word from the consonants and the silent letters which acts like trees on which you hand the dots and dashes for the vowels.
You can see the pomegranate. Its many seeds represent abundance.
Greeting
When you arrive, remember to say, Shanah Tovah, meaning happy new year.
Food And Drink
The evening before New Year's Day there's a celebratory festive meal, featuring special foods such as honey for sweetness and kosher wine. A blessing is said for each food.
Don't start drinking until the blessing over wine has been said.
There isn't just one blessing. It's not like the prayer we used to say at my Church of England Grammar school, which went, 'For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful.' After that you could start eating. NO! Don't start on the bread until the blessing over bread has been said! Oops.
The charming thing about the Jewish prayers before eating, before each food and win,e and after the meal, is that everything can be sung to a tune, a chant.
At the meal which I attended, the hostess had prepared chopped apple, dates, and figs. With honey for dipping.
Our main course was fish, white fish. Dessert was donuts and more honey.
The next day my family heard the Shofa being blown in a street in Hendon.
The shofah or ram's horn used to blow a sound on Jewish New Year.
I have never heard of that before, outdoors, in public. Usually you would go to synagoague and hear the shofa being blown. I suppose, because large gatherings indoors are banned, because of covid-19, blowing the shofa outdoors seemed like a good idea. That way many people could hear it. And no risk of all that huffing and puffing and blowing being over somebody sitting indoors nearby.
You might have received or seen a new Year card. More likely, nowadays, everything is online.
The next major Jewish festival event will be Yom Kippur, a day of fasting. The devout hope to be written into the book of life, to survive the next year.
Forthcoming Festivals
After that, the jollity of of Sukkot, harvest festival, when fruits and/or greenery are hung on a temporary dwelling outside the house or religious buildings.
I recall going to the Northwood and Pinner synagogue. A large awning was build in a car park against the wall.
When I took a trip to India, I saw the temporary huts in fields at harvest time. The guards were living and sleeping in the hut in the middle of the field to guard the bales and harbest from animals and people. And also to watch the weather, to summon human help if it rained and the harvest had to be moved under cover.
Suddenly the succah made sense. A hut at harvest time, not inside your building, but outside, with reminders of the old days.
Members of the adjacent church were invited, and members of a three faiths council.
What To Buy Or Save
Where would you be able to buy serviettes like this on for the Jewish New Year? On the internet, in a supermarket stocking Jewish goods in an area in London New York, or Israel. From a Jewish shop. From a Jewish delicatessen. Like Xmas cards, you might find some half price, ready for you to stock up for next year, just in case.
Useful Websites
To learn Hebrew
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer. She and her family have lived in the UK in England and Scotland, USA, Spain and Singapore and Switzerland. See my other posts on languages including Hebrew.
Please share links to your favourite posts.