Thailand and the Thai language

Thai Flag

Thailand map

Go north from Singapore and north of Malaysia and you reach Thailand.

 Thailand is enticing. The Thai language is challenging.

Thai Food

Thai food is spicy and tasty. Key ingredients are lemon grass and fish sauce.

Tipping is not done.

Capital city

Bangkok

Wat means temple. A wat is a walled area with more than one building. Buddhas are often covered with gold.

Day and night markets and Robinson department store.

Tourist Regions

Phuket 

Beach resort area

Useful Websites

Travel

Language

Wikivoyage Thai phrasebook

Thai phrasebook – Travel guide at Wikivoyage

Translate Google Thai

Denmark and the Danish Language

Denmark on the European map, is east of Great Britain.

Look at the map and you will see that Denmark is pointing north like a finger surrounded by sea, with Norway and Sweden, the other Scandinavian countries, to the north. (Finland to the east of Sweden bordering Russia has a totally different language.)

How to Recognize The Danish Flag

The Danish flag is red with a white cross offset to the left. Look for it on flagpoles and Danish food in the supermarket of European and other countries.

Where You Can Read and Hear and Speak the Danish Language

How to Map Read

Danish to English 

Berg/bjerg is mountain. 

Hagen is harbour. 

Hus is house. 

Land is land. 

Ny is new.

slot is castle

English to Danish 

castle is slot 

hill is bakke

hilltop is bakketop

house is hus

land is land

mountain is berg/bjerg

new is ny

river is flod

estuary is flodmunding

stream is strøm

top is top

Danish is spoken in Denmark, but also spoken in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. 

What To See In Denmark

The capital city is Copenhagen. Hagen means harbour, haven. The city is on the water.

Hans Christian Andersen is known worldwide for his fairytales. His little mermaid is commemorated with a statue in Copenhagen on the edge of the harbour and is the most visited site in Denmark. 

Drive to Odense and you can visit his birthplace museum.

Danish Food

Danish bacon is famous in the UK.

Danish Drink

Carlsberg is a brand of beer. the name stands for the mountain of Charles. 

The European menu reader covers Danish. The pocket size book includes 14 languages. Danish is similar to Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, German and English.

On the streets you might pass a chemist (Americans say drug store) and emergency vehicles.

Useful Websites

Berlitz European Menu Reader

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

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Handy Travel Phrase books For Europe, Asia, Worldwide

Whenever I plan a trip I look for the phrasebook in Wikivoyage. I print it off and put it in my carry on bag.

Berlitz European menu reader is handy. The languages covered ate Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Swedish. Plus British-American comparisons at the back of the book.

Useful Websites

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

Thai phrasebook – Travel guide at Wikivoyage 

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The National Archives and Swans in London, UK Photo by Trevor Sharot

 

National Archives, Kew. Photo by Trevor Sharot. See the original on his Facebook page.

White Swans and brown cygnets at the National Archives, Kew. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Copyright

Useful Websites

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g11878701-d2300051-Reviews-The_National_Archives-Richmond_Richmond_upon_Thames_Greater_London_England.html

Winter Dates from China in Singapore

Winter Dates in packaging, bought from Fairprice supermarket, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I was looking for fruit in a Fairprice supermarket in Singapore. I wanted cheap fruit. The prices of most fruit in Singapore is twice the price of the UK.

I spied Winter Dates. What were they? Dates?

I bought them.

When I got home I was disappointed to find that they were rock hard. I was also puzzled. What was I supposed to do with them? Wait until they matured and softened? Then eat them raw? Or boil them up?

 I bit into one. It is edible. Like a hard apple. No flavour. Maybe bulk with a flavoursome fruit to make a fruit salad or fruit pie.

One suggestion on Facebook from Jane>

 Try Sephardi charoset?

• I looked ir up.
• Shredded apple, walnuts.

 Seder night food 

for Passover.

• 
  
• 
  
• Another suggestion, try soaking them in wine for a couple of days.

http://chestofbooks.com/gardening-horticulture/fruit/Tropical-And-Subtropical-Fruits/Date-Picking-And-Packing.html  

http://patosdategardens.com/Khalals.shtmlP Please share links to your favourite posts.

If I were you, fellow traveller, comic poem by Angela Lansbury

If I were you

I would speak Chinese

And not waste time

Saying thank you and please.

If I were the king

I'd make everyone speak the King's English

I'd ban Korean, and Greek

Bad Grammar, Creole, Russian, Vietnamese and Singlish. 

On second thoughts

We would learn Esperanto in school

An international language

Would be such a handy tool.

If I were you all the buses

And Sundays newspapers would be free

But f I were you

I would not be me

If I were a bee

I would make flavoured honey

Give beehives to every gardener and farmer

We'd all make lots more money

If I were a bird

I'd sing in tune, and parrot every word

Teacher's lessons repeated, re-heard

If I were not a bird-brained bird

If I were a horse

I would run fast of course

And neigh 'til I was hoarse

If I were an internet, animated, 3D horse

If I were a cat

I'd sleep on the mat

Catch mice as cat food, save money on that

If I were a cat

If I were a cloud

I could not laugh out loud

I'm sure it's not allowed

If you are a digital cloud

If I were a tree

How odd that would be

Much more animated than me

If I were overprinted on a 3D tree

If I were a fish

I'd swim in the pond or sea

Then be preserved in a car key ring

How lucky I am that I'm me.

Two colour suitcase in red and blue block colours. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

If I made travel goods

And make them all block colours

To go with matching clothes

Yes, I really would

If we had to start again

Maybe we'd all be men

All cocks and no hens

Pack unisex clothes, if we had to start again

Lastly, if I were you

That would never do

You know that it is true

For I'm me, and you are you

If you were in this room

And not just on Zoom

You could stand on the balcony

And watch tropical flowers bloom

Travel websites, now we've thought about it

Always tell the truth, I know you'll never doubt it

The museums closes Mondays, but on the web we travel far

Today I travel online, and love things the way they are.

-ends-

As the old Irish jokes goes, when asked the way, a bystander replied, 'If I were you, I wouldn't start from here.'

Malay Pantoum travels to France and then English speaking countries

  In Singapore I went to a toastmasters club where a speaker who is bilingual in England and Malay told us about the Malay form of poetry, the pantoum. Afterwards i looked it up online. In Wikipedia and other places.

 I looked in my own poetry book, Poetry Workshop and discovered I had listed the form in the appendix where I gave the structures of sonnets, haikus, pantoums etc. Later I discovered that I had actually written a pantoum. However, here's my latest version, based on the English oak tree.

A little seed grew a flower

A little acorn grew a tree

Over time an oak tree's bower

Was the grand view our street could see

A little acron grew a tree

Higher and higher over time

A place where squirrels built their nests

And boys with ladders and ropes climb

Higher and higher over time

A place for birds, a lure for cats

And boys with ladders and ropes climb

Rooks, parakeets, owls, maybe bats

A place for birds, a lure for cats

Until one day a giant storm

Rooks, parakeets, owls, maybe bats 

Scattered to earth fearing some harm

Until one day a giant storm

Over time an oak tree's bower

Scattered to earth fearing some harm

A little seed grew a flower,

-ends-

I have a sample pantoum and the rhyming scheme in my book  POETRY WORKSHOP which you can buy from Lulu or Amazon.

I need to reprint the book and add that Victor Hugo who revived the Pantoum was the author of Les Miserables.

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Regers & Hammerstein example from the Flower Drum, published in 1958, still in copyright so I shall repeat only the last 2 verses.

There's especially one I like.
There is something about his face.
It's the father's first son I like.
He's the reason I love the place.

There is something about his face.
I would follow him anywhere.
If he goes to another place,
I am going to like it there."

Charles Baudelaire's
Fleurs du mal / Flowers of Evil

Harmonie du soir

Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige
Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir;
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir;
Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige!

Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir;
Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu'on afflige;
Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige!
Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir.

Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu'on afflige,
Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et noir!
Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir;
Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se fige.

Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et noir,
Du passé lumineux recueille tout vestige!
Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se fige...
Ton souvenir en moi luit comme un ostensoir!

— Charles Baudelaire

See also Charles Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil. One poem has been translated several times by different authors. See how you would translate it.

https://fleursdumal.org/poem/142

Evening Harmony

The season is at hand when swaying on its stem
Every flower exhales perfume like a censer;
Sounds and perfumes turn in the evening air;
Melancholy waltz and languid vertigo!

Every flower exhales perfume like a censer;
The violin quivers like a tormented heart;
Melancholy waltz and languid vertigo!
The sky is sad and beautiful like an immense altar.

The violin quivers like a tormented heart,
A tender heart, that hates the vast, black void!
The sky is sad and beautiful like an immense altar;
The sun has drowned in his blood which congeals...

A tender heart that hates the vast, black void
Gathers up every shred of the luminous past!
The sun has drowned in his blood which congeals...
Your memory in me glitters like a monstrance!

— William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)

Evening Harmony

Now comes the eve, when on its stem vibrates
Each flower, evaporating like a censer;
When sounds and scents in the dark air grow denser;
Drowsed swoon through which a mournful waltz pulsates!

Each flower evaporates as from a censer;
The fiddle like a hurt heart palpitates;
Drowsed swoon through which a mournful waltz pulsates;
The sad, grand sky grows, altar-like, immenser.

The fiddle, like a hurt heart, palpitates,
A heart that hates oblivion, ruthless censor.
The sad, grand sky grows, altar-like, immenser.
The sun in its own blood coagulates...

A heart that hates oblivion, ruthless censor,
The whole of the bright past resuscitates.
The sun in its own blood coagulates...
And, monstrance-like, your memory flames intenser!

— Roy Campbell, Poems of Baudelaire (New York: Pantheon Books, 1952)

Evening Harmony

Now comes the time when quivering on its stem
Each flower exhales like a censer;
Sounds and perfumes turn in the evening air;
Melancholy waltz and languorous vertigo!

Each flower exhales like a censer;
The violin sobs like an afflicted heart;
Melancholy waltz and languorous vertigo!
The sky is as sad and beautiful as a great altar of rest.

The violin sobs like an afflicted heart,
A tender heart, which hates the huge black void!
The sky is as sad and beautiful as a great altar of rest.
The sun drowned in its blood which coagulates.

A tender heart, which hates the huge black void,
Welcomes every vestige of a luminous past!
The sun drowned in its blood which coagulates…
Your memory shines in me like a monstrance!

— Wallace Fowlie, Flowers of Evil (New York: Dover Publications, 1964)

Evening Harmony

The hour approacheth, when, as their stems incline,
The flowers evaporate like an incense urn,
And sounds and scents in the vesper breezes turn;
A melancholy waltz — and a drowsiness divine.

The flowers evaporate like an incense urn,
The viol vibrates like the wailing of souls that repine.
A melancholy waltz — and a drowsiness divine,
The skies like a mosque are beautiful and stern.

The viol vibrates like the wailing of souls that repine;
Sweet souls that shrink from chaos vast and etern,
The skies like a mosque are beautiful and stern,
The sunset drowns within its blood-red brine.

Sweet souls that shrink from chaos vast and etern,
Essay the wreaths of their faded Past to entwine,
The sunset drowns within its blood-red brine,
Thy thought within me glows like an incense urn.

— Cyril Scott, Baudelaire: The Flowers of Evil (London: Elkin Mathews, 1909)

Harmonie du soir

the hours approach when vibrant in the breeze,
a censer swoons to every swaying flower;
blown tunes and scents in turn enchant the bower;
languorous waltz of swirling fancies these!

a censer swoons in every swaying flower;
the quivering violins cry out, decrease;
languorous waltz of swirling fancies these!
mournful and fair the heavenly altars tower.

the quivering violins cry out, decrease;
like hearts of love the Void must overpower!
mournful and fair the heavenly altars tower.
the drowned sun bleeds in fast congealing seas.

a heart of love the Void must overpower
peers for a vanished day's last vestiges!
the drowned sun bleeds in fast congealing seas...
and like a Host thy flaming memories flower!

— Lewis Piaget Shanks, Flowers of Evil (New York: Ives Washburn, 1931)

Evening Harmony

Now is the time when trembling on its stem
Each flower fades away like incense;
Sounds and scents turn in the evening air;
A melancholy waltz, a soft and giddy dizziness!

Each flower fades away like incense;
The violin thrills like a tortured heart;
A melancholy waltz, a soft and giddy dizziness!
The sky is sad and beautiful like some great resting-place.

The violin thrills like a tortured heart,
A tender heart, hating the wide black void.
The sky is sad and beautiful like some great resting-place;
The sun drowns itself in its own clotting blood.

A tender heart, boring the wide black void,
Gathers all trace from the pellucid past.
The sun drowns itself in clotting blood.
Like the Host shines O your memory in me!

— Geoffrey Wagner, Selected Poems of Charles Baudelaire (NY: Grove Press, 1974)

Lost in Translation - Spanish rhyme

I tried to write a rhyme in Spanish. 

Me me

He he

Oui oui

Si si

Me me

She he

Assissi

Si si  

If you want to find words ending with certain letters, in English you use a Rhyming dictionary. However, you can find words with ending letters online easily. Sets are created for users of Scrabble. You can find  three letter words ending in si, four letter words, up to seven letter words.

If you attended the new toastmasters club for languages, you would have learned about Spanish in the first two meetings. I am constantly adding to the slides. Today I added hello and goodbye and welcome and thank you in several languages to show at the start and end of every meeting. 

Useful Websites

https://rennerttranslations.com/blog/hola-or-alo-spanish-variations.html

https://www.ezglot.com/words-ending-with?l=spa&w=si&l2=spa&lang=eng

Lost in translation - American, British English

 

American - British English

backup lights - reversing lights

blinkers/turning lights - indicators

elevator - lift

emergency brake / parking brake - hand brake

faucet - tap

fender - mudguard/wing

gas station - garage

gas tank - petrol tank

hood - bonnet

lug nuts - wheel nuts

pavement - tarmac/road

sedan - saloon

sidewalk - pavement

station wagon - estate car

tail lights - brake lights

truck - lorry

trunk - boot

windshield  - windscreen

British English - American

bonnet - hood

boot - trunk

brake lights - tail lights

estate car - station wagon

garage - gas station

hand brake - parking brake / emergency brake

indicators - turning lights/blinkers

lift - elevator

lorry - truck

mudguard - fender

pavement - sidewalk

petrol tank - gas tank

reversing lights - backup lights

saloon - sedan

tarmac/road - pavement

tap - faucet

wheel nuts - lug nuts

windscreen - windshield

Useful Websites

https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/do-you-know-these-15-british-terms-for-auto-parts/

https://blog.intlauto.com/2019/04/30/us-english-uk-english-car-parts/

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/uk-us-car-part-names/

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

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The Room Upstairs, restaurant near Lavender MRT

 The room upstairs is near Lavender MRT. It is on a long road called St George's Avenue. I tried to follow the street block numbers and went left in the wrong direction towards blocks of flats. The restaurant is in a group of restaurants next to a hotel 81? on the corner of Lavender street. 

The ground floor is easily accessible and the toilets are on the ground floor. The upstairs room is up a spiral staircase. With my long skirt and heavy handbag I didn't not venture up.

We had food for a large group. Toastmasters International.

Useful Websites

https://www.facebook.com/theupperroomsgcafe/

https://www.restaurants10.com/SG/Singapore/104379162449379/The-Upper-Room-Restaurant-%26-Cafe

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Cheesecake Factory Restaurants in the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico

 I love cheesecake but I had never heard of this chain until I read an article in the Daily Mail. 

I looked up their menu. Wow. What a huge choice. I like baked cheesecake, New York style, which you get at Starbucks, not the frozen mousse type. However, I would certainly be wiling to try this place once. Their menu offers a huge choice of cheesecakes, drinks, salads.   

And a huge rainbow cheesecake for birthdays.

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12654383/Woman-Cheesecake-Factory-date-video-royalty-self-centered.html#comments

https://www.facebook.com/thecheesecakefactory/

https://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/

https://locations.thecheesecakefactory.com/

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/nationaldessertmonth

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Seen in Singapore - helping hands for those with dementia

Quick guide to Indonesian words - mostly the same as Malaysian

Flag of Malaysia, which is almost the same as Indonesian.

Starting Indonesian on Duolingo is easy.

Indonesian - English

air - water (pronounced aye er, as it is written in the Singaporean placename and MRT underground railway station, Telok Ayer)

apple/ apples - apel

dan - and (the same letters in a different order)

jeruk - orang/oranges (juicy oranges, letter er, then UK)

kamu - you (I think of 'come here, you')

makan - eat

minum - drink

punya - possess/have

saya - i/My (remember the letter y in both words)

susu - milk

English - Indonesian

and - dan

apple/apples - apel

drink - minum

eat - makan

I - saya

milk - susu

orange/oranges - jeruk (remember JEruk not juruk, je like the GE in orange)

possess/have - punya

water - air

you - kamu 

False Friends

air meaning water looks like air but it isn't air, it's water, unless you think of H2O

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

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Another balcony accident - time to redesign buildings, don't you think?

Yet another balcony 'accident'. Whether the student, fell, was pushed, or deliberately jumped, the death was preventable.

Let's have a gofundme for rewarding a contest to redesign buildings. 

A few ideas come into my mind. A stepped pyramid like new fangled residences built for the Habitat expo in Canada in the Sixties by Safdie. 

I heard that San Francisco windows are sealed shut. Because of earthquakes. To prevent falling glass, rather than jumping. But it prevented suicides.

People want to see out. So enclose balconies with glass. But what about escaping fires? Enclosed fire escapes. Spiral tubes.

Balcony Barriers

How about installing barriers? In Singapore if you live in a high rise block with a balcony and you get a cat you are required to erect a cat-proof barrier. The same should apply worldwide to children, drunks, students, people holding parties.

They now have suspended hammocks under bridges which were previously suicide spots. It can be done. Failing that, bushes and trees instead of solid concrete.

This is just to get you thinking, outside the box, in new ways. Students and architects should be set safer buildings designs as projects. 

After that we can move onto railway crossings with surveillance showing the passengers oncoming trains with stopping times, and the trains obstructions and fencing swimming pools and surveillance on swimming pools. 

Useful Websites

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12637419/texas-university-student-died-floor-dorm-fall.html#comments

https://www.balconydecoration.com/balcony-safety-nets-protective-equipments-for-balconies/

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French Menu words translated A to Z from anglaise to zeste

A anglaise English, au gratin with cheese
B baguette, 

blanc white, bleu blue as in blue cheese, brut dry wine, brie soft white chees

C canard duck, casserole type of large saucepan, mixed meat and vegetables cooked for a long time in a large pot on the stove top, champignon mushroom, Champagne sparkling wine from the Champagne region, coq cock (male chicken), coq au vin chicken in wine, croissant crescent shaped puff pastry, creme brulee burned cream, a thick cream usually yellow with a brown sold sugar top like a toffee apple coating, cru raw, uncooked, Bûche de Noël (yule log
D doux soft
E escargots snails, estaminet small cafe selling glasses of wine
F fruit fruit, fruits de mer seafood
G grappe grape, gratin cheese, 

H haricots long green beans, herbes herbs
I Ile flottante floating islands of meringue in sauce
J jus sauce
K kaki persimmon
L lait milk
M Maroc Morocco, mille feuille literally a thousand leaves, flaky pastry with cream layers and iced top, moutarde mustard
N noir black nouvelle cuisine literally new cuisine, small and sometimes healthy portions, pretty presented, noix nut/walnut
O origine origin ie country of origin
P pain bread, pain perdu bread lost, egg lost by being poured on top of bread before or during cooking or hidden in a hollow, poulet chicken, puree liquidized, piment pimento, poulet chicken

Q quiche savoury tart with egg and milk/cream filling, sometimes with bacon or meats or vegetables as in 

Quiche Lorraine from that region
R rouge red
S salade salad, sec sweet, sel salt, sorbet water ice, souffle whipped up mousse, usually cooked
T tablier apron
U ugni blanc white grape used in Cognac which is a brandy from the region of Cognac
V vanille vanille, veau veal, vin wine, vin de table table wine not an exceptional vintage, vert green plural verts as in haricots verts, vol au vent, pasty case, large or small, with filling
W Waterzooi casserole in Belgium and N France, casserole with chicken or fish and vegetables in an egg yolk and cream sauce
X (none)
Y yaourt yogurt
Z zeste de citron lemon zest

Useful Websites

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2017/07/a-french-menu-translated-from-don.html

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

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

https://www.cellartours.com/blog/france/french-z-food-dictionary

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French Landmarks, French fun learning the language, false friends and braving bed bugs

Wine Museum, France.

Paris

Often voted the world most romantic city and one of the most visited.

Well known landmarks include the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre. 

Places to visit, Disneyland for families. Pere Lachaise cemetery one of the world's most visited cemeteries and the one most visited in Paris. Thousands of graves and famous people have graves, such as French singer Edith Piaf and others who died in France such as composer Chopin and English writer and wit, Oscar Wilde.

Wine

If you are after French wine, Paris has a wine museum. 

The other big and recent wine museum is down south. 

Lost I Translation

If you want the recipe, the word is recette. However, that is not the word for receipt.

recipe is recette

receipt is recu (with a cedilla)

Bed Bug Cautions and Precautions

Any Precautions? check beds for bedbugs and put suitcases on metal leg stands, not on beds.

If you are unlucky, suggested remedies include wash clothes on highest heat, or put in freezer.

To brush up  your French online or in person, visit a French speaking Toastmasters club in Singapore, France, Belgium, Switzerland or Canada. In Singapore the new language learners club is meeting online on Sundays at 9 pm Singapore time. The club meets every Sunday and two Thursdays a month, one Thursday devoted to English language, grammar, spelling and all things educational and entertaining. Each meeting has a language theme with one or two speeches lasting 5 to 7 minutes on the language allocated. However, you can do a speech in any language, providing you provide an English translation. It is always entertaining.

Useful Websites

https://paris-tourism.com/en/museums/wine-museum/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_du_Vin

dictionary.reverso.net/french-english

collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12619161/Travel-avoid-bedbug-infestation-luggage-Paris.html 

PS if you are visiting Singapore or holding an event,

https://allevents.in/singapore/exhibitions

Campfire Safety Tips

 

A huge fire has caused evacuation of a city, Villa Carlos Paz in Argentina. A man apparently was simply trying to heat a cup of coffee when winds caused the campfire to spread.

I went online and immediately found many videos on campfire safety.

These included putting out the fire after you have finished using water. if none available, with soil.

But can't you buy something safe, like a barbecue kit, with instant ways to shut down?

Wildfire, near Yosemite, in unlucky year 2013

Various ways to reduce risk include, lighting a fire in a fire pit, having water or a fire extinguisher nearby, making a fire break such as a ditch or area burned not in a dangerous dry season., building your home in a lake.

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12617347/Wall-fire-Terrifying-footage-shows-flames-surrounding-Argentinian-city-Villa-Carlos-Paz-residents-besieged-acrid-smog-evacuated.html#reader-comments

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Code words for travellers

 

What are useful code words for families. 

Anticipated Dangers

When I was in Hong Kong with my son, we had already arranged a code word for let's get out of here, or away from these people trying to sell us fakes watches and engage us in conversation or lead us down dark alleys or up staircases away from other people.

Family Member Code words

We weren't going to see my husband who was working until after 5 pm. So any comment about meeting Dad for lunch or tea, was a signal to get away. 

Other possible messages could be speaking to your grandparents (who are dead).

Pets

You can use the names of pets, or feeding pets (who are dead).

Vehicles

You can mention cars you no longer own, to indicate we must get away

Sport

Use code words from football teams or tennis games or golf or snooker if you don't play these sports.

Bargains

You can also arrange for codes when bargaining, to indicate you don't want the goods at any price, or think the price is too high, or you should accept.  Do you have any (your local currency) could mean its cheaper back home, or we already have these. 

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12616047/Criminologist-simple-hack-family-safe.html

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