Large cup with two handles in Costa. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Popular Posts
-
If an earthquake strikes when you are living in a Spanish speaking country such as Chile, or visiting on holiday or business, you will e... -
Tweet to @AngelaTheAuthor NB I am not the actress. She does wonderful publicity for our name. We both have a son called Anthony. Linked... -
I was sitting at the kitchen table thinking: how would you create an emergency sewing needle? I had in front of me on the table a sewing ki... -
DUOLINGO Try the forums in Duolingo for the languages you like. When you see discussion on a word, have a look. The discussion often moves... -
Orama is a new Greek restaurant in Hatch End and the name Orama is Greek for vision, as in the word panorama. I was aghast when Van Antoni... -
I was delighted to see that the boarded up building site near Harrow and Wealdstone station, Waitrose and Homebase has opened with a smart ... -
Problem Where can we get a great meal? Answer The owner of Friends in Pinner left at the end of last year. But one of his old che... -
When you are climbing up a mountain or trekking, or even taking a trip into town, the less you carry the lighter you feel. Saucepans The l... -
New Lebanese restaurant in Hatch End (replacing Serrata). Dishes I recognise include hummus, kebab and baklava. What was new to me is the ... -
Problem I can't tell the difference between a rickshaw and trishaw and a tuk tuk. Answer A technically minded friend tells me:...
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Costa's Large Cup For Cappucino or latte
Large cup with two handles in Costa. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Saturday, February 14, 2026
Valentine's Day for Wine Society
Angela Lansbury at the Central London Wine Society meeting.
We told the story of St Valentine, quoted Chaucer and Shakespeare on the subject.
We tasted wines whose labels featured Romeo & Juliet, Champagne Jean Valentin, Sanct Valentin, and Château Valentin.
My latest book, Embarrassing Moments, is on Amazon. Have a look at my books.
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Valentine's Day Feb 14, or July 6 or July 30th
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/53812099@N04/14763863277/
The hand heart was made popular by Korean pop groups, and was a sign of friendship made when the north and south Korean leaders met and were photographed together on a mountaintop. It costs nothing, creates no litter, and is a good international sign because it is universal so you don't need to speak another language.
Singapore Valentines - Be Prepared
SPRINGTIME
Februa is Latin for to cleanse, or to clean. Spring cleaning.
In the old calendar mid February was when some birds started courting matching, nesting and mating and work started in the vineyards.
In ancient times in Israel girls would wear white dresses and dance in the vineyard where boys would be waiting to propose marriage.
But marketing has amazing success. If you can create greetings cards, fill restaurants, sell jewellery and gifts and cookie cutters and cups with messages about Valentine's Day or hearts, you will sell them to children and adults, the young and the old, the single and married, anybody who wants to part with money for a message or a product with red and hearts.
ITALY, ROME & VALENTINE - La Festa di San Valentino
In Italy you wish Somebody Buon San Valentino.
More than one Christian called Valentine, a popular name was martyred, and various churches claim to have bits of the saints bodies.
February14 is the day associated with Valentine's Day by Roman Catholics. the Eastern Orthodox celebrate In July 6th or 30th.
At the Central London Wine Society on Feb 11th Three Valentine's Day wines come to the UK from Europe, notably from France, Italy and Spain. Let's start with Italy.
ITALY
In Italy keys are given, representing the key to my heart, unlocking.
February is is named after the Roman God Februas and was the spring cleaning month.
ITALIAN FOOD
The Italian for biscuit is biscotti.
FRANCE
In France you might celebrate Valentine's Day with dinner, or a dinner on a boat on the Seine in Paris, or a helicopter ride. Your celebratory wine would be Champagne, from the Champagne region.
Macaroons.
SPAIN, Tapas and Turron
Feliz San Valentín - Happy Valentine's Day. Feliz dia de San Valentin.
In Mexico they say, Happy Valentine's and friendship day.
Delicious Drink
The Spanish white wine equivalent of sparkling Champagne but cheaper is Cava, originally from cellars or stores in caves.
Favourite Food
Turron - Sweet
A Spanish gift might be turron, which is nougat, made from almonds, honey and egg white. A modern version is chocolate covered.
Tapas - Savoury
The Spanish food served in bars with wine is tapas. Originally supposedly tiny pieces of bread or sliced meat put on the top of glasses to keep off the flies. Or to keep off sand blown from the beach, says another story. The translation offered is lid or cover. To make an alliterative reminder, I think of the word top.
We ordered tapas in a bar in summer 2025 in Bilbao, the ferry port on the northern coast on the east (Santander is on the west). We thought it was expensive and would be the bite or two size of cocktail party canapes, but it was a large portion, as filling as a hamburger. Maybe pintchos (pintxos, which is plural, from pinchar to stab) not a pinch but sometimes skewered horizontally or toothpicked vertically to hold it all together.
You can also get dessert tapas.
UK
Chaucer, an early influencer, wrote a poem about Valentine's Day to celebrate the anniversary of the engagement of the 15 year old King of England.
In the UK Cadbury's introduced heart shapes boxes of chocolates.
Nowadays the innovation is that the chocolates themselves are heart shaped.
|Valentine's Day is big business in the UK, the USA and Singapore which has four languages mainly English, also Chinese, meaning Mandarin.
IRELAND
|Dublin in Ireland has a church with a relic and those without any love can pray to find love.
WALES
The Welsh celebrate on January 25th, recalling the tragic story of Welsh princess
You can make a heart sign with your thumbs and first fingers.
Happy VALENTINES DAY
Italy
Shakespeare's Ophelia mentions St Valentine's day in the play Hamlet.
AMERICA
American Valentines In Schools For SchoolchildrenWhen I went to live in America our son came home from school with a birthday card for Mummy, and he wanted to make a card for his teacher, which he said all the schoolchildren were doing. I was surprised, because in those days in the UK Valentine's Day cards were only for the unmarried and courting.
Search online and you can find recordings of Valentine's day songs for the age of toddlers upwards. In America children give friendship cards to teachers. Finland also has friendship days.
ASIA
Valentine's Day month. I recall being in Singapore for the month of February and visiting several Toastmasters International Speakers' clubs. At the first Valentines theme club meeting I attended, the table topics master asked, What would you do on Valentine's Day? What is the best restaurant for Valentine's Day? Where would you go, what was the best gift, and so on. She/he - I forget which - was looking for ideas.
In Malaysia Nowadays The Muslim movement has opposed valentines day, because it is western and encourages sex outside marriage, fornication, adultery and immorality. To counter this view, Valentines Day is being promoted as a time for married couples to celebrate with date nights, buying expensive champagne, boxes of chocolates, and flowers. Plus of course clothes with hearts, and large cards.
In Japan women workers give chocolates to their co- workers, and a month later the men reciprocate by giving chocolates to women.
INDIA
The Hindus are against pubic displays of human affection. Instead, they tried to introduce hug a cow day. This strikes me and struck many others as an against the animal rights of the cow to refuse, besides being impractical and sometimes downright dangerous activity. Cows are too large to hug and do not necessarily reciprocate nor cooperate.
Useful Websites
February
Valentine's Day
A neat summary about Valentine's Day
ITALY
To make your own heart shaped biscuits, heart shaped cookie cutters (biscuit cutters we would say in the UK
SPAIN
Spanish turron
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Feb 10th is Teddy Bear Day - With Museums and Statues Worldwide
Teddy Bears And The USA
Teddy bears, named after President Teddy Roosevelt, who, one version of the legendary story goes, was on a bear hunt in 1902 in Mississippi, when he saw a baby bear and declined to shoot. This story has been disputed, but, as the saying goes, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.
In the USA I stayed at the Hotel Colorado, Colardo Springs, in the US state of Colorado, which is Spanish for coloured, where Teddy stayed in 1905 during the incident where he was given a toy bear.
Paddington Bear in London
In London you can see a statue of Paddington Bear on Paddington station and be photographed alongside.
Photo by ScheWo in Wikipedia under Paddington Bear Statue.
In England you can visit the World Of bears shops.
Teddy Bear Museums
Teddy Bear Museum, Dorchester, Dorset, England
Stratford upon Avon, England, UK - moved elsewhere.
Useful Websites on Bears and Teddy Bears
https://www.worldofbears.com/product-category/last-chance/?meta[_price
wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_bear_museum
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=bear%20birthday
https://collectinsure.com/2024/05/30/guide-to-teddy-bear-museums-and-accessories-worldwide/
Teddy Bear, USA
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/encyclopedia/culture-and-society/teddy-bear/
Padding Bear, UK
https://paddington-experience.london-tickets.co.uk/
Pooh Bear, E Sussex, UK
https://www.emp.co.uk/fan-merch/winnie-pooh/
ebay - buy bears
Expect to see teddy bears in toy stores and museums of childhood.
For a bear theme birthday party, DIY, Amazon sells bear balloons, bear paper bags for going home goodies and presents, paper plates and banners with bear themes and cake toppers.
Please follow my blogs and share links to your favourite posts.
Monday, February 9, 2026
Spanish Words For Today
Countries where Spanish is an official language. Map from Wikipedia.
Spanish is a useful language to learn. It is widely spoken as a first language in several South American countries. It is spoken as a second language in much of the USA. In Europe it is spoken in Spain and Spanish speaking islands. Portuguese and Italian are similar to Spanish.
I am brushing up - beginning again - my knowledge of Italian. I was learning Italian on Duolingo a year ago. This year I am learning Spanish. So I am doing Italian for Spanish speakers, which enables me to learn Spanish at the same time as learning Italian. The instructions are in Spanish, mostly only one to three words, often similar to English words. Because they are repeated even the unfamiliar words gradually get drilled into my mind. You could do the same with any two languages from the most common ones learned by speakers of your second language.
I note down new words in my A5 notebook (book size). I create columns quickly by folding each page in half vertically, making two sections, then again to make four creases. To write more neatly without overlapping columns to crush in long words and phrases, I draw a line vertically with a pen or pencil, using a ruler or anything else straight nearby on the desk.
I head the columns Spanish-English. An alternative would be to use the right hand half of the page for English-Spanish. Or to use the right hand page for English-Spanish.
Spanish - English Easy Words
adios - goodbye . The English is from God be with you. Adios comes from to God. a - dios, to the deity
buen - good (like French bon as in bon voyage, good journey)
buenos noches - good evening / good night
continuar - (to) continue
errores - errors
excepto - except
medala - medal
Perfecto/a (adjective matching masculine or feminine noun) - perfect
perfil - profile (both words have the letters p r f i l in that order. The e in the Spanish jumps to the end of the English word.
veloz -/velocity/speed/time
voz - voice
What is the difference between a medal and a medallion? The shorter word is for the smaller object. A medal is attached to a ribbon and worn as an award for an achievement in a military battle or a sports contest. A medallion is larger, a souvenir of an important occasion and displayed on a stand on a shelf, and given or kept in a box lined with colourful contrasting shiny satin, if made of silver or gold bought as an investment.
English - Spanish
(to) continue - continuar
except - excepto
good - buen
profile - perfil
velocity/ speed / time taken - veloz (starts with the same four letters)
voice - voz (starts with the same two letters and ce and z sound similar)
Wikivoyage phrasebook explains pronunciation and origins of words, and similar sets if words
- Spanish - English (The first pronunciation is from Spain, where the language originated, the second is from Latin America.)
- círculo (THEER-koo-loh/SEER-koo-loh) → circle
- circulo (theer-KOO-loh/seer-KOO-loh) → I circulate
- circuló (theer-koo-LOH/seer-koo-LOH) → he/she/it circulated
- estás (ehs-TAHS) → you are
- estas (EHS-tahs) → these
- origen (oh-REE-hehn) → origin
- orígenes (oh-REE-hehn-ehs) → origins
- ciudad (thee-yoo-DAHD/see-yoo-DAHD) → city
- ciudades (thee-you-DAH-dehs/see-yoo-DAH-dehs) → cities
- A Spanish restaurant with a Spanish guitarist in Manila, the Philippines was called Circulo.
- I have listed them in reverse and underlined the syllable you emphasize
- English - Spanish
- circle - circulo
- I circulate - circulo emphasis on the middle syllable, the same as the English
- he/she/it circulates - circuló
- city - ciudad (thee-yoo-DAHD/see-yoo-DAHD)
Accents show words which are pronounced the same but have different meanings: Eight words, sixteen meanings.
- él (he) el (the)
- té (tea) te (you [object])
- tú (you [subject]) tu (your)
- mí (me) mi (my)
- dé (give [present subjunctive]) de (of/from)
- sí (yes) si (if)
- sé (I know) se (one [pronoun])
- más (more/plus) mas (but)
Useful Websites For Learning Languages
Spanish Phrasebook in Wikivoyage and Wikitravel
Italian phrasebook in Wikivoyage and Wikitravel
translate google
https://translate.google.co.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Spanish_words_borrowed_from_Italian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Spanish_origin
Please share links to this blog post.
St Albans Wine Club and Wines From the French Loire Region
Left Trevor Sharot, member of the Wine Writers |Association. Right Thibault Lavergne, of The Wine Story Club based in Little Hadham, Hertfordshire.
During the meal you are entertained by a talk about the wines. The cost of a meal with a chance to taste half a dozen or more old wines which have had time to intensify their flavours, wines at prices which some of the people attending would only pay for wines for special occasions.
My husband is a wine educator and a member of the circle of wine writers. I have only level one of the WSET but he has level four, the diploma, the highest level you can take unless you are in the trade such as a sommelier, wine shop worker. We drive out of London to Welwyn Wine Society, St Albans' Verulam club, and events at the Wine |Society's huge shop with an upstairs restaurant in Stevenage, as well as the Civil Service Wine Club meeting in London and other events such as the London Wine Fair.
On Saturday Feb 2026 we met for the Verulam Wine Club's monthly meeting and looked forward to a seated meal, tasting ten wines, along with cheeses, salads, olices, bread and pate, all for only £18 per person. Plus an entertaining talk about each of the wines.
How do you manage to stay awake and sober enough to drive home? You can appoint one of your group as a designated driver, and he can just sip the wine and spit it out into a spittoon. Usually spittoons are provided, for you to tip out leftover wine after sipping it, and the water used to wash out the glass.
In theory the organizers could ask the speaker to supply a couple of low alcohol or no alcohol wines among the selection but this is rarely done, except at huge wine fairs and conferences where those items are promoted by the manufacturers and distributors and advertising agencies and supermarkets.
Alternatives are to take a taxi home, call a family member to pick you up, or stay at a budget hotel overnight, booking early to allow time to shop around for a good rate.
On February 7th 2026 the guest speaker was UK based Frenchman Thibault Lavergne, of The Wine Story Club based in Little Hadham, Hertfordshire.
I like sparkling and sweet wines. and as usual, we started with a sparkling wine which as usual was my favourite until the last wine, a sweet wine, which took top place in my list.
We were supplied with a sheet about the wines, with space to write comments on the colour, aroma, flavour, and finish (whether it left a lip-smacking after-taste in the mouth).
I also enjoyed all the cheeses including French brie. And chutney dark red like strawberry jam but slightly savoury. The large olives were unusual. I should have asked the club's volunteer organizers where the olives were bought.
The Evening's Entertainment
Each table of the three long tables was given a laminated map of the Loire valley in northern France where all the wines came from.
Chinon is associated with author Rabelais, who lived about a century before Shakespeare and his name in French equivalent of Rabelasian, means epicurian, a lover of wine and food, French food and wine of course.
The local stone is carved out into caves which are cool for storing wine.
You can stay in an underground cave, an A and B.
My wine of the night was Coteaux du Layon.
As usual the prices were only revealed at the end. That way you have an unbiased view of the wines. (we'd previously at another recent event had a comparison of Lidl and Waitrose wines, where about half the room preferred (voted for by a show of hands) the Lidl wine at under ten pounds.) However, tonight we had an opportunity to taste more expensive wine and most of the wines were about £29.
As usual the speaker offered a discount of ten percent off the wines he had displayed to those attending the event.
Budget Events For the Public
If you want to attend a wine club event, or start one, you can link up with events in your area through Meetup and Eventbrite. Social clubs sometimes hold evenings of affordable wines.
If you are organizing a special event such as a birthday, wedding, anniversary, Christmas or summer party, you might be interested in going to a dinner as a guest or member, or starting your own club.
Clubs for financiers and investors, bankers, lawyers, university alumni, and trade associations, and wine educators and students, offer a chance to watch slide shows and enjoy tutored tastings of more expensive wines at more expensive events, which are free to wine suppliers, distributors, sommeliers, and those big buyers from supermarkets and others with big budgets working in the trade.
Raffles For Wine Bottles
At the Verulam Wine club at the door on entry you can buy raffle tickets for one pound. Half a dozen bottles were raffled, some being leftovers from the club[s previous events, Mostly it's a bit of fun and we don't win. But this time we won a bottle, which added to the jollity of the occasion.
Prize Bottles And Gifts
You can also ask the organizer or speaker to arrange for the supply of bottles for the raffle. Or present a bottle as a gift to an organizer, speaker, or somebody celebrating a birthday.
The Wine Story Club. 2 Hadham Hall, Little Hadham SG11 2AU, Hertford.
Wine Tasting Clubs & Wine (Buying) Clubs
Wine Tasting Clubs enable you to meet others to enjoy educational tastings.
Wine Sellers have wine clubs which offer subscriptions services delivering cases of wine each month. Some of them also organize wine tastings in shops.
The club cannot order wine at wholesale prices and sell them on to members at retail prices without getting a trading license. However they could buy a case at wholesale prices to serve at events such as a Christmas party. And they can serve tiny tasting measures without the license needed for selling or serving full size bottles. If you need or want to know, check the latest regulations in your building, area and country.
Event Alcohol Bans And Permission
In addition to legal requirements, some premises such a churches, temples, and schools, may forbid the serving of alcohol on their main premises and hired rooms, annexes and outbuildings. This could prohibit serving wine at a Christmas party, wedding reception, or a visiting speaker offering the audience glasses of wine. Check alcohol permission to be sure the fun and informative event you envisage will be allowed.
Useful Websites On Wine Clubs
The Wine Story Club
Cave Hotels
Verulam Wine Tasting Club
Organizing Wine Tasting Wine & Food Quantity Versus Networking/Dating Meetup
Legal Wine Measures
Wine Measures
British Heart Foundation & Bottle and Glass and Measure Sizes
Wine Selling Clubs
Please follow my blogs (on travel, wine and dine, dress of the day, writing comic poetry, save by bookmarking and share links to your favourite blog posts.
Angela Lansbury is the author of twenty books and ebooks on weddings, toasts, quotations, poetry and writing poetry. The latest book about travel and teaching and public speaking problems is called
Embarrassing Moments.
Sunday, February 8, 2026
Swiss and Iraq fires - lessons learned
To prevent tragedies, you need prevention and cure. Major fires have happened in the USA, Ireland, Iraq, Brazil. What lessons can be learned?
Iraq Wedding Fire
Pyrotechnics at a wedding in Iraq in 2023 killed more than 100. The world should have learned from the videos of that.
Prevention and Cure
The first thing you need and easiest to fix is fire extinguishers.
They should not be locked away, which renders them useless. It should be a criminal offence to use them when there is not a fire.
Following the instructions, we fitted a smoke alarm in the corridor between the kitchen and the bedrooms.
The idea is to alert you to a fire at night. You should not be leaving food cooking unattended in a kitchen. You set an alarm to remind you to check on it and turn it off. You check all switches are off before leaving a room.
What is the ease of setting the alarm? Some alarms have a button you push. If the ceiling is low, you can reach up. You might think of standing on a safe stool, rather than on a chair, with somebody else to steady you, steady the chair, and check you don't fall, or catch you. Another way is to push up with a broom handle. This means keeping the broom nearby.
Some alarms have a cover which can be removed to check batteries, after the base is screwed to the ceiling.
Portable Alarms
An alarm which changes colour for carbon monoxide, and sticks on, can be taken with you and affixed in a rental property. Stick it on the flat surface of a cupboard. Write yourself a note or set an alarm to remind yourself to remove it after your last meal, before leaving the property if you are temporarily overseas.
Got a gap year? Want to increase your skills? Retired? Take a course in plumbing or electricity and qualify. This could be a source of employment and income. Save you time and money.
If you are not qualified to do the work, you can still save time and money by briefing the workers. Enable you to check that workers are doing the right thing. Help you to choose suitable equipment. Youtube has loads of videos on how to fix simple things like smoke alarms.
Below are what I have found. Not items I have tried and recommended. But useful links so you can start your investigation quickly.
PS
Rather than only being alerted to a fire after the event, consider fire prevention.
What to avoid? As we have learned from the tragic fire in Switzerland at New Year 2026, keep flames away from anything flammable and if possible, avoid using candles, incense, indoor and outdoor fireworks, pyrotechnics, furniture without a fire label (and don't remove the labels).
Clean Oven To Prevent Fire
The oven should be cleaned regularly. When my son was a student, a group of boys share a flat. None of them cleaned the oven. Eventually the grease built up and the oven caught fire.
If you have a dishwasher, some of the removable fittings can be washed in the dishwasher. If it does nto clean them completely, after one or two long wash cycles, you may find that the warmth of the dishwasher has loosened the grease well enough to make it faster and easier to clean by hand afterwards.
Useful Websites on Fires
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Monoxide-Detector-Rechargeble-Working/dp/B0DP2DDTPK/ref=s
'Which' UK consumer guides
Wikipedia
Wikihow
Youtube
https://www.britishfireworksassociation.co.uk/
https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/fireworks/
Update
Please share links to your favourite blog posts.
Saturday, February 7, 2026
Beautiful and Controversial Stations in tourist cities, London's Paddington, France, Spain and Finland
Paddington station passenger - this passenger waiting for a train is a statue of engineer Brunel who built the railway, bridges and even the ship to take passengers on from the end of the line to the USA and back. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
On another platform is a cute little statue of Paddington Bear.
Upstairs is the statue of the lovers saying goodbye. Or is it hello?
Baker Street's Sherlock Holmes theme
The statue of Sherlock Holmes is outside the Euston Road entrance. On the platforms are murals of tales from the short stories.
1 Charing Cross Station has several murals. You can see the portrait of Shakespeare. And several more historical characters.
2 Baker Street - for Sherlock Holmes in murals on the platforms. Also see his huge statue outside on the pavement. (Americans say sidewalk.)
Sherlock Holmes statue. Red London bus in the distance. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Euston StationThis historic arch was due for demolition during renovations which caused an outcry. The members of the public who loved history were slightly mollified by having a modern mural which depicted the old arch.
Sculpture of plane overhead in Terminal Two Heathrow, departures for Singapore. Photo by Trevor Sharot. 
On the platform of the Victoria Line at Euston station. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
London, England
London is famous for art on the underground.
The Elizabeth line is most modern.
Charing Cross Station By Trafalgar Square
Historical murals
Bank Station
Hyde Park Corner has sloping walk-in and walk out entrances which are lined with many the historic panels along the walkways.
Hyde Park Corner underground railway station, descending approach walkway. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Once inside, you meet another internal corridor, going left and right, with more murals. The story of the battle of Trafalgar, and Waterloo. Learn about, and the queen who established the park. Queen C.
Above Hyde Park Corner station is Number one, London, Apsley House, home of the Duke of Wellington, who won the battle of Waterloo. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Other stations which have won praise from passengers include Battersea, Canary Wharf, London Bridge, and Nine Elms.
On one of the panels you read reveals that Wellington admitted that Waterloo was a close-run victory.
4 Leytonstone Station - Alfred Hitchcock memorials
A depiction of an Alfred Hitchcock film, in the station. The site of the place where he was born also has a mural.
Out in the suburbs:
5 Northwick Park - for the artwork on both sides of the stairs. As the trains enter and leave towards the centre of London, you see the floodlit Arch of Wembley stadium. Wembley Stadium, where the band Queen performed, as you can see on the biopic.
6 Rayners Lane, art deco exterior to admire as you walk or drive past. Opposite is another fine art deco building which has changed hands several times, becoming a religious centre, then a gym.
Finland
Helsinki station. Art Nouveau. See the picture in Wikipedia.
France
The latest controversial station is the ultra modern one in a paris suburb, the Villejuif-Gustave Roussy. It descends from ground level down nine stories. The see through roof sheds light on the escalators and a Sundial below.
TGV station at Lyon, named after author and hero Antoine de St Exupery
Singapore
Most of Singapore's stations are wonderfully modern. Glass walls encase the platforms. The trains pull alongside the doors which open after the train stops. Nobody can delay the train by dropping anything or anybody on the line.
Regarding timing: Trains on most lines run every five minutes or less. A notable exception, oddly, is the diversion the the airport which delays for about ten minutes between trains those who are rushing to catch planes and standing around dragging luggage.
Singapore's Statues
Botero's horse.
Spain
Madrid
Bilbao city railway station mural
Useful websites on railway stations
French Stations
https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/worlds-most-beautiful-metro-station-paris-bhmwwm332
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Denis%E2%80%93Pleyel_station
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villejuif%E2%80%93Gustave_Roussy_station
Please share links to your favourite posts.
Friday, February 6, 2026
German Language Insight, Useful in Austria, German and Switzerland -Schubert and other names
Flag of Germany
Names starting with Sch
Schubert, the family name of composer Franz Schubert, means shoemaker or cobbler. Schubert was German speaking, as you might guess from the spelling of his name. He was actually Austrian. German is spoken in Germany, Austria, and parts of Switzerland.
Schneberger
I started researched names starting with Sch because I have a blouse with the label Schneberger Gruppe.
Schneberger Gruppe Classic Clothes
It is vintage and I found blouses, jackets, long jackets or coats, dresses and skirt suits, with this label on ebay at prices from affordable seven pounds to twenty pounds and upwards.
Berger - Meaning Mountain
The name berger means person from a berg or mountain. This ending comes from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Schnee - Snow
Schne could be a variation on or shortened form of schnee which means snow. That might help you to remember or recognize the company name and to type it correctly.
Bürger - Citizen
Not to be confused with burger with the unlaut or double dot over the u. That spelling is a word which means a citizen or city dweller. It can also mean freeman, or free man.
Think of two brothers. One lives on a snowy mountain. The other lives in a city. You meet their two grandsons. The family names indicates where their ancestors used to live.
These translations help you to remember the names of new friends or business contacts or shopkeepers or travel guides you meet on your travels, as well and shop names and street names.
German SCH
When typing, also remember that in English we use the letter combinations sh and ch, but in German they use sch.
I looked up names starting with Sch and found several more, some of which were famous people.
Schwarzkopf - black head
Schwarzkopf meaning black head, was a name often given to people with black hair, and was the family name of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who was an opera singer.
Schmidt - Smith
The family name smith is derived from the German word for smith which was given to a blacksmith.
Schneider - sewer
A schneider was a sewer, a seamstress, a tailor.
Learning And Speaking German
I learned German on Duolingo. A quick guide to everyday phrases is in wikivoyage under phrasebook. You can copy it and print it off, or bookmark it on your laptop.
Useful Websites
Please share links to your favourite blog posts.
How to learn both Spanish and Italian on Duolingo
I learned Italian on Duolingo, the online language learning system, which has a large number of languages for those with English as a first language. Then I started learning Spanish.
I looked at my notebook which had pages of Italian and pages of Spanish. I thought, a pity I don't have the Spanish and Italian side by side. I ought to go back to Italian and revive it.
I thought about Spanish speakers learning Italian. They can do it on Duolingo. Then I thought, why don't I learn either Italian for Spanish speakers, or Spanish for Italian speakers.
I decided to learn Italian for Spanish speakers.
I found several useful things.
Words which are identical
Spanish - Italian - English
o - o - or
Words which are the same except for the accent
te te - tea
Spanish té
Italian tè
If you are familiar with any Italian coffee shop chain, such as Caffè Nero, you will be able to see that the accent on the letter e is sloping backwards, the opposite of the French word for café.
Useful Websites
Please share links to your favourite posts.
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Affordable Indian meal at Suruchi Indian restaurant
Welcome sign. Double doors to stop draughts. White tablecloths and napkins.
Naan or peshwari naan or rice included in the set meal.
Chicken dish in sauce.
A foil wrapped chocolate for each diner sweetened the presentation of the bill. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
A friend of mine lives near his favourite, regular Indian restaurant, Suruchi, which he visits most months. He recommends it every year to our wine and dine group. We look for a different BYO restaurant for a group meal every month.
We took the 73 bus from Euston station. The stop was across the road, only a couple of minutes from the restaurant.
On a Tuesday night we had a special deal. Just under twenty pounds for a starter, main course, rice or bread and a side dish.
No Corkage
Bring your own bottle of wine, no corkage. If one of the group forgets to contribute a bottle, a convenience store is nearby offering a bottle of French or New Zealand wine.
No service charge. So you might leave ten per cent or more.
Suruchi Restaurant
Newington Green Road
You can order from Uber Eats if you live within 3 to 5 miles. The limit for delivery services is 10 miles because food takes long to arrive, will arrive cold, charges per mile are too high, and bikers won't go so far. Alternatively you can order an Indian meal from nearer home and go to Suruchi when you have time to travel there.
Suruchi Indian Restaurant Websites
-ends-
Please share links to your favourite posts.
How To Find your way around London - and out of London!
From left to right, tourists walking around London, an open top guided tour bus, the National Express coaches which go inter city. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Walking Around London
A London loop for walkers offers you a short or longer route.
London Loop signpost. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
If you want to stay in the city and want a guide there are several groups offering tours starting from landmarks, usually underground station. You can do tours of historical places, and Jack the Ripper, Shakespeare's London.
Bike Hire
You can hire bikes from the banks of bikes and leave them elsewhere.
Bus to Heathrow
London has buses on a loop going to Heathrow airport. The loop bus goes via Hendon and Harrow.
Night buses run along the most popular routes.
Trains in, round and out of London
Check the times of last trains.
Heathrow airport is on the wonderful new Elizabeth line.
Driving Off Around the UK
Get to know your own car's Satnav. If you don't have one, or can't use, use your phone for directions.
If you are lost, you can use the google maps app on your mobile phone and listen to the voice giving you directions. This works whether you are walking or driving.
You can drive on the M4 to Wales. Be prepared to pay a toll on the Severn Bridge in at least one direction. Check the amount and if you need to pay cash or credit card.
Flights From London's City Airport
London City Airport has flights to Europe and the USA.
To leave London, you can take trains from Paddington west to Wales, and then a ferry over to Ireland.
Hotels near London City Airport
Lots of hotels from Under £100 to over £300. I noted Holiday Inn Express was in the cheaper section.
Driving Out of London
Drive north from London up the M1 to the midlands, Derby, the north, and on to Scotland. (Turning off the motorway on the M6 - check the AA or RAC for routes, or Google Maps or Michelin.)
The AIM goes to Stevenage and Welwyn, the old road predating the MI, which was Motorway one.
Citymapper
This tells you when the next bus is coming.
Also how long an uber (hire car) takes and how much money it costs.
Citymapper is available for London and other cities, such as those in Europe. For example, Dublin, Ireland, which is in the EU (European Union).
An alternative to TFL
Google Maps
You can ask for a cafe near me. A garage/petrol station (called gas station by Americans) near me.
Skyscanner
https://www.skyscanner.net/flights-from/lcy/cheap-flights-from-london-city-airport.
Streetview
When I am driving and worried about getting lost, or whether my destination has a driveway or place to park, I use Streetview. This is good for the local area. We can discuss alternative routes, and remember where to turn off into side streets to avoid traffic jams. It is a visual video of streets which you can rewind, and change direction, even check the car park behind a pub, park, cemetery, wedding venue, conference centre or shopping mall, railway station or airport.
TFL and Tube Trains
London's underground is called the tube, because of the underground tunnels. The circle line is easy to identify, going around in a circle. The Northern line goes north. Of course returning you will be coming south back into London.
You can specify travel times tomorrow or later, get prices of journeys, cheapest option such as walking and bike versus bus, taxi, train, quickest option, and step-free station, or least walking.
Useful Websites For Travel & Route Planning (alphabetically)
AA route planner
https://www.theaa.com/route-planner/route
Citymapper
https://citymapper.com/?lang=en
Google maps
Street View
https://www.instantstreetview.com/
TFL
https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/
Please share links to your favourite posts.
Amy Winehouse Film And The Mildmay Club
Laurence Fryer, Vice President of the Mildmay Club.
Laurence told us all about it.
The ballroom also used for zumba classes, one of the events often open to the public, who are neither members nor guests of members.
Wine on tap in the ballroom of the Mildmay club, 33 to34 Newington Green, N16 9PR, which has 3,600 members.
The Amy Winehouse film scene was in this snooker room
Lots of films have hired this venue.
The building was a radical club a working mens club. Outside London.
Also a smaller pool room.
View
Www.mildmay.club
For more history.
Superdry Coat With Pockets - For Winter Warmth And Travelling
Multi-Pocket Coats
On a bus in London this coat caught my eye. I liked the pocket on the sleeve. The wearer told me she liked the two pockets at above waist level. They keep your hands warm and comfy.Two more pockets below waist level are huge, ipad size, and protectively padded.
Two pockets are on the sleeve outside. Two more pockets inside.
The company has lots of variations, with hoods, in camel colour, black, red and more.
Prices of |Superdry Coats
The new coats in February 2026 cost around £100 and up. But in their winter sale I found a coat reduced from over a hundred pounds to 76. Also ten per cent off your first order on signing up. You might also get free or discounted postage.
|In addition to coats, they sell jeans, jumpers and rucksacks.
Useful website on Superdry coats
Monday, February 2, 2026
Learning Italian when you speak Spanish - and vice versa
I learned Italian last year. This year I am learning Spanish.
Today I decided to speed up both languages by learning Italian for Spanish speakers. That way I learn one language whilst reviving the other. I also am less likely to confuse them because each time I can see the word in both languages.
Spanish - Italian
Spanish - English
correcto - correct
Useful trilingual books
If you go to a bookshop, look for multi-language books.
I like to buy books with large clear print.
Some books print one of the languages in another colour, paler, which is hard to read if you don't have good lighting and study late at night at home.
The more languages you have in a book, sometimes the smaller the print.
Books aimed at children tend to have larger print.
A book with very large print might have fewer words.
Useful Website For Learning Spanish & Italian
Duolingo.com
Sunday, February 1, 2026
Spanish Words You Recognize and remember - for aspiring multilingual travelers
If you speak English, or learned Latin at school, you will find it easy to recognize the roots of many Spanish and Italian words.
Spanish - English
compania - company
computadora - computer
diploma - diploma
las directoras - the directors (female). The masculine plural of the is Los, as in Los Angeles, the US city, whose name means the angels. The angels are masculine. The word for the (called the article) matches the noun which ends in as.)
documentos - documents
dormir - to sleep (same as dormant in English, and dormer in French)
durante - during
hospital - hospital (in Spanish you don't pronounce the h)
increíble - incredible
opera - opera
pintor - painter (not picture. P I N R are common letters in pintor and painter. In the Spanish remember to roll the R.
los pintores - the painters
planear - to plan
planta - plant
presidente/presidenta - president (male/female)
programa - program
viaje - trip/voyage
yendo - going, leaving (You are making an END and gOing Off)
In Spanish the accents tell you which sound to emphasize.
Useful Websites On Learning Spanish
duolingo.com
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trilingual-English-Italian-Illustrated-Vocabulary/
Please share links to your favourite posts.
Friday, January 30, 2026
Wine Labels And Words from Italy, Spain and France and where to learn about wines
Upcoming Sommelier Course
Federica, Vice President of the the UK Sommelier Association who were adding their expertise at the Zonin1821 Portfolio tasting 2026, told us that there will be a sommelier course in April including pairing wine and food.
I have compiled a handy glossary ready for the next time I try new wines from new bottles, new labels, to read on websites and when I go to buy,
Handy Glossary of Wine Words
Translation Of Wine Label Words into English
altemura - high wall, possibly a fortified house, mansion or castle
atelier - studio or workroom of an artist or designer (not attic which in Spanish is atico)
Asti - placename in Italy
bianco - white
blanc - white (French)
brut (French) - dry
brut nature - naturally dry, no sugar added at the end to the dosage in the bottle
Burgundy - place name in France
Castello - castle
Castello di Albola - the maker's name
Champagne - place name in France, and the Champagne method
Chianti (place name in Italy)
Chianti Classico - wine from the Chianti region using San Giovese grape variety
Classico - classic
del - of the
di - of (Italian)
doppia - double (as in coffee)
gris (grey in British English gray in American English a pinkish grey grape, not dark nor greenish white)
Manduria - a place name
Monin - family name from Italy. They still have their family wine production on north Italy, but have grown to a worldwide company, with one of their headquarters in London, managing and promoting labels and wines from Italy, France, Lebanon, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand and other countries.
nero - black (Italian), dark (red wine)
noir - black (French)
Primitivo - the Italian name for the grape known elsewhere as Zinfandel. Lots of it comes from the heel of Italy.
prinicipi - Italian, the i ending is plural
rosado - rosé in Spanish
rosato - rosé in Italian
Santo - saint
Sasseo - Wine label name from the Italian word for stone
Sasseo Primitivo di Manduria - uses the zinfandel grape
Vin - wine
Vino da tavola - Italian for vine of the table, table wine, basic everyday wine, or weekday wine
IGT stands for Indicazione Geografica Protetta, the Italian version of IGP which is French for indication géographique protégée (IGP), indication of quality, meaning wine from protected geography, a level below an appellation (named region), but wine still grown and made in a specific area. Their place. Their grapes. Their style.
portfolio - collection
sommelier - (French) wine waiter, wine steward, butler, wine specialist in a restaurant who advises customers on which wine to order, within their budget, to match their tastes, or to match their food. Originally the person in charge of beats of burden transporting heavy containers of wine.
Spritz
What is a spritz or spritzer? I thought it was a mixture of lemonade and soda and alcohol. Wikipedia enlightened me.
The UK Sommelier Association in central London is active in wine education, involving many events throughout the year. Sommeliers are known as the gatekeepers and advocates, sometimes buyers, sometimes sellers, enthusiasts admiring the old, and excited by the new.
Useful Websites
https://vinopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://winopedia.weebly.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_label
Please follow my blogs, and share links to your favourite posts.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)