Travelling To Work With A Dog - A Dachshund

 I was sitting on the train to South Harrow in London when I suddenly realised there was somebody sitting next to me. A dear little dachshund. Ever so quiet.

Darling dachshund. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Dachshund travelling in a bag on his owner's lap in London. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I got talking to the owner. How do you spell Dachshund? The name ends with h u n d, which is German for dog, like hound in English. 

I asked, 'Why do you carry him in a bag? Is because he is tired?'

'It's convenient. I don't get a dog lead caught up in the train or other people. And he is very small, so people might step on him, accidentally. So I keep him on my lap.'

'Where are you taking him?'

She told me, 'We're going home. I take him to work. Not every day. Sometimes I work from home. So we have a rota at work. Who is going to take their dog to work. The management provides dog baskets. In every room. So I can keep him with me. So he is not alone. And he is a very calming presence.'

I asked her, 'Can you travel with him by plane, to Europe?'

'Yes. If you have a dog passport.'

'Rabies, and jabs?'

'Yes. Identity and medical history.'

'How old is he?'

'Middle aged for a dog.'

'So you have a few more years to enjoy his company.'

Later I looked up pet passports. They will record if the animal is micro-chipped, which is handy, so the animal can be linked up with you if it gets injured on the road, bites somebody, or simply gets lost. The passport will also be a record of rabies prevention, tapeworm treatment, complete history. A pet passport is, quite expensive, around a hundred pounds at the current rate, like a human passport. But which you can use multiple times which is cheaper than the alternative system of getting a vet report from every country for every journey.

I looked up Dachshunds in Wikipedia. The word Dachs is German for badger. Nouns have capital initial letters in German. They were bred that shape for tunneling to catch badgers. The long ears of the dog protect the ear canal from the dirty soil.

The dogs are also known as sausage dogs in the UK and Australia. Apparently dachshunds are not all docile. Some of them bark, bite and are disobedient, especially when in hot pursuit. However, on the train, my dear little dachshund was docile, a pleasure to meet.

Useful Websites

https://www.gov.uk/bring-pet-to-great-britain/pet-passport

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/pet-passports-uk-eu-brexit-b3078891.html

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

-ends-

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Countries I have visited - best places, worst moments, wish lists

 I have visited fifty countries.

 My family have had homes in the UK, the USA, Spain, and Singapore.

We have had au pair girls living with us, who came from France, Germany, Italy and Yugoslavia. 

I speak French fluently. I have restaurant Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German and Dutch. I am struggling to read menus and signs in Greek, Hebrew and Russian (Cyrillic also in Bulgaria) and Chinese symbolic signs (also used in Japan).

ALBANIA

The Best Thing In Albania? 

The colourful capital is Tirana. The colourful buildings in the capital city centre and throughout the country were designed to raise morale at a time of economic crisis.

The Scary Thing In Albania

- Cliffside roads in the remote north. More near Greece, up to wonderful mountaintop cafe viewpoints, and resort south to busy beach resort. 

ANDORRA

Best Thing about Andorra - learning linguistics, languages.

The country's capital is the city of Andorra la Vella. Like the Latin word villa, the word vella originally meant city. 

Wishlist. 

Three countries tour in one day from Barcelona, covering France, Spain and Andorra. 

The Caldea Spa my daughter in law visited while our son was skiing. The Caldea Spa is the biggest in Southern Europe and has multi-level lagoons.

AUSTRALIA 

The best things in Australia

Super cities, Sydney and Perth. 

Pavlova meringue dessert with fresh fruit in the middle. Lamingtons, sponge cubes covered in chocolate and coconut.

The Twelve Apostles, on the great Ocean Road photo opportunity of rocks in the sea.

AUSTRIA

Best things To See And Do in Austria

 Grinzing wine tasting area in Vienna. Learning about Sachertorte cake. I loved Salzberger Nockerl, a large soft floating meringue. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salzburger_Nockerl. Mozart Chocolates sold on the plane and everywhere.

Worst Moments In Austria: The hotel where are room was on the top floor and you needed a coin to operate the lift going upwards. 

The city map which had south at the top which made me as map reader say turn left when signposts told the driver to turn right. 

Wishlist For Austria

Esperanto Museum of the National, library, Vienna, Austria. 

BAHAMAS

The name comes from the Spanish for shallow water.

Wish List for the Bahamas. Hear calypso and watch dancing to soca music at the New Year parade. 

BELGIUM

We went to the Melipark, based on bees, which is now Plopsaland.

https://www.plopsa.com/en/plopsaland-belgium

Best Things In Belgium

Chips (potato chips). Waffles. Chocolate. Beautiful Bruges. Looking at lace, buying lace ear-rings.

Worst problem in Belgium. We were looking for signs to Ghent and only saw signs to Gand. Place names in two languages, French and Dutch languages. You need to know both when driving and looking for signposts. 

Serious and saddest sites, are all the WW2 area of Flanders, such as the Menin Gate. We always seem to stop at In Flanders Field in Ypers. You can find monuments to various nationalities in the places where they fought.

https://destinationwwii.com/wwii-sites-in-belgium/

https://whichmuseum.com/place/belgium-2/t-war

BRAZIL

Wish list. Rio Carnival. 

BULGARIA

Best. Opportunity to learn Cyrillic script, used in Bulgaria and Russia.

CAMBODIA

Best moment - Siem Reap for a tour of: Ankor Wat. Wat means temple, but it is a walled city, takes most of the day to walk along the causeway and around the walls and into the centre and up a central temple. 

Angkor Thom, approaching South Gate, 

Scary moments. Losing our rickshaw at the entrance. One rickshaw when we said goodbye. At the end of the day, a national holiday, there were hundreds, and our vehicle had been told by police to move to the next car park. 

Second scary moment. I lost my rickshaw. Supposed to meet me by the gold Buddha at the entrance. The route through a temple was in one entrance and out the other side. All four entrances had a large gold seated Buddhas. 

CANADA

Best Views - Niagara Falls. 

Quebec City - you can see history, the cliff climbed to conquer the city, by British General James Wolfe. Historic hotel Chateau Frontenac.

Canada Wish List - see the mural revealed by falling tide on the wall of the St John Harbour at the Bay of Fundy.

CHINA 

Best - Shanghai waterfront. Great Wall. 

Wishlist - Terracotta warriors. 

Scary moment - losing my tour group in China where I could not speak a word of Chinese. Getting on a coach tour bus and half a mile down the road discovering they were a German-speaking group.

CORSICA 

Worst disaster - Guitarists played late into the night keeping me awake. The coach to the airport broke down and we were told to cross the road. I was knocked down by a car, had multiple injuries and was not expected to survive.  (1984.) 

Wishlist - Maison Bonaparte.

CROATIA  

Best - Dubrovnik which I visited with my parents from a cruise ship back when it was Yugoslavia.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Best Moments - in Prague, Charles Bridge statues; Franz Kafka Museum. 

CYPRUS Greek and Turkish. 

Best moments - The wine museum. 

Walking across to Northern Cyprus, Greek to Turkish and back to Greek.

Worst - Embarrassment, first asking for Turkish coffee, then Greek coffee, being told it was Cyprus coffee.

DENMARK 

Best - Hans Andersen's Home

Wish list. Legoland in Billund, Danmark.

ENGLAND 

Flag of the United Kingdon

Flag of England.

Best sights, so many: Brighton Pavilion, York Shambles, Cornwall , Lake District - Wordsworth's House, Waddesdon, Bronte House Museum, Yorkshire, Oxford, Cambridge, Hadrian's Wall, Cadbury's Factory. London's Keats House, Dickens House, National Gallery, Tate Modern Gallery, National Portrait gallery, London Zoo, Windsor Safari Park. 

Worst moments, wondering whether you have missed the last train and wondering there the night buses go.

FINLAND 

Best moment. Meeting Santa Claus. 

Worst moment, finding we were naked in saunas, with a large group of people, journalists I was travelling with.

Worst moment. On the same travel press trip, I was offered beef steak or reindeer meat. The latter is rare and very expensive in the UK, so I ordered the former. Later I learned that reindeer meat is cheap in Finland, whilst beef steak is exorbitant.

Wish List

Music museum - Sibelius Museum, Turku, Finland.

FRANCE  

Best Paris

You can visit the chateaux of the Loire Valley. Do a Champagne cellars tour in Rheims.

Worst disaster. My family drove from overnight at our ex au pair girl's home in Rheims, across France to the border. I then realized I had left my passport behind in a passport neck bag on the back or a chair.

GERMANY

Best sites: Romantic road cities such as Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Heidelburg barrel. 

Wish list. Upside down house, Bayern, Germany. Legoland.

GREECE 

Best moments. Restaurant meals in Athen's hillside restaurant district, La Plake. 

Learning the story of Alexander the Great in the tomb at the second city, Thessalonkia. 

Scary moment - Earthquake whilst I was in a hotel on Zakinthos island. The drinks in our glasses shook.

HAWAII

HONG KONG 

Best. Sun Yat-Sen museum. Funicular. Disney. Visiting the famous Peninsula Hotel.

Worst - smog.

HUNGARY

INDIA Scary moment. Losing my taxi at a shopping centre with four entrances. All the taxi drivers had dark skins, dark hair and black moustaches. All the taxis had number plates ending in the same three letters which was code for a taxi from that city.

INDONESIA

IRELAND

ISRAEL 

Best sights: Historic and biblical Jerusalem, Art deco (Bauhaus) beach city of Tel Aviv (founded in 1909), kibbutzim, Ein Gedi waterfall into the water by the cave. 

Worst moments: 

Searched before catching a local bus from the bus station in Jerusalem, riding with teenagers carrying what looked like machine guns. At first scary, later reassuring.

Hitching a lift in a van whose driver fired gun shots into the hills which echoed around alerting everybody for miles that we were there. 

At a university in the 1960s finding they did not take money on Friday night so you had to pre book and pay and get a ticket for the meal. Luckily, a student whose friend did not turn up was able to give me and my friend a spare meal ticket.

In 2026 learning that you might be woken twice or more in the night to sirens warning you to go down to a shelter.

ITALY 

Best Sites

Roman Rome, 

Opera in La Scala Milan, 

Umbria Cliffside Etruscan gateway at the entrance to Perugia. Venice.

Wish List. Trulli.

JAPAN 

Miyajima Torii giant gate on the beach, in the water at high tide in Hiroshima.

Worst moment, being asked to how how to eat a fried egg, with chopsticks.

JORDAN Best sigh - Petra. Scariest moment: getting on and off a camel which knelt down and tried to tip me off.

KOREA (SOUTH KOREA)

LUXEMBOURG

MALAYSIA

Best sites. Hill stations. 

Museum and observation deck in Petronas twin towers centre of Kuala Lumpur.

MALTA

MEXICO

MOROCCO Marrakesh - best moment, pigeon pie, and bread kept under conical rafia hats.

NEPAL Best moments - the domed temples with eyes watching you.

NEW ZEALAND

Best moments. Skiing in New Zealand, at Queenstown, South Island. The maze museum. Lam on every menu. BYO. Vineyard Visits. Op shops (which the Americans call thrift shops and the British call charity shops.)

POLAND 

Best moments: eating Borscht in underground restaurants in rebuilt Warsaw. 

Most chilling moments - Auschwitz  Birkenau, but a little ray of hope in the Schindler's Factory Museum

Wish list - Ludwig Zamenhof museum about the creator of the made up language, Esperanto, in Bialystok. 

Wroclaw dwarfs, tiny pavement statues.

Arthur Rubinstein at his piano, statue in Lodz.

PORTUGAL 

Best site. WOW wine theme park on a city hillside overlooking the river. Restaurant with peacocks parading outside.

Mountainside s-bends along the Douro valley from Oporto to Regua which has a museum with smells of wine and flowers, and onwards to Spain. 

Madeira, saw triangular A frame houses called Casas Tipicas at Santana. Walked along the levadas, cliffside walks originally carrying water to farms, now pleasantly overhung by trees and leading to a waterfall. Madeira wine shop Blany's offering guided tour of their historic building and tastings in the capital, Funchal.

ROMANIA

Best. Second Langauge spoken is Italian. Dracula's castle and tourist area. 

Worst - Dracula's Castle. Beware of bears.

RUSSIA

Wish List

Underground stations.

SAN MARINO

SAINT MAARTEN

Best - two languages, French and Dutch, two experiences. 

Worst - Confusing. You might need two visas or passports.

SCOTLAND 

Best Sites

Edinburgth and Edinburgh Festival. Hilltop Castle. Portrait Gallery. Poets' area of old town and museums.Tartans and bagpipes.

Worst Experience. The first time I had breakfast porridge with salt, as is usual in Scotland, instead of sugar, as in England, and sent it back, resulting in confrontation and embarrassment.

Wish List. Burns House. Shetland Islands.

SINGAPORE 

Singapore Best moments - Giant Jewel waterfall, tallest in the world, in Changi Airport. The airport's free Butterfly Garden (two floors, one way, allow time). 

Any journey on the underground, with glass doors separating you from the rails until the train arrives, protecting people on platforms. Everything running frequently, about five minutes average, so sometimes even less. Free toilets on every station. Demonstrations banned. Litter swept by the elderly attendants given employment in food courts. Durian in season in ice creams and cakes. Hotel and apartment complexes with giant or ornamental swimming pools. Marina Bay Sands with an Observation Deck, and infinity swimming pool at the top, and boats on a created canal in the basement.  Get invited to dinner at the Tanglin Club.

Night Safari. Gardens by the Bay. Botanic Gardens, free, containing the Orchid Garden (paid?) 

Raffles hotel. 

The museums including the history museum, with docents (guides) Philatelic (stamps) museum.

Singapore Worst moments, a live crocodile under a boardwalk.

SLOVENIA

Slovenia wish list - Cliffside castle in a cave. Train ride through caves. Poppyseed pastries.

SOUTH AFRICA 

Johannesburg. Pretoria. Cape Town's Table Mountain, with inquisitive dassis (a bit like squirrels) ogling crumbs when we had cake. Memorable Moments in South Africa. Table Mountain. Nelson Mandela sites. Jewish museum mentions Mandela hidden on a farm bought for that purpose by his Jewish supporters.

Wishlist for South Africa - wine trail.

SPAIN

My parents had a one bedroom home in Marbella for years.

Best Moments:In Spain, weirdly shaped hotel Marquez de Riscal, Rioja region. 

In the Canary Islands in 2026, Tenerife, Hotel La Joia Mirador, Absurdia illusions attraction. Vino Museum and Honey Bee museum. 

Worst Moment in Spain - my bag stolen in Marbella. Previously my mother's bag was stolen.

Spanish wishlist - Barcelona's Gaudi Cathedral and other Gaudi monuments in Barcelona and other cities. Some of them require you to park your car and can't be seen from the road. 

Spanish Scary Moments. Cliffside S bends in Picos de Europa.  

SWITZERLAND 

Best Sights

Alprose Chocolate Factory. 

Covered bridges.

THAILAND 

Best sites - Royal Palace. Floating Market.

TUNISIA

TURKEY 

Best sites:

Istanbul Blue Mosque; and Green Mosque

UAE (United Arab Emirates)

Best site: Dubai, largest city

Huge hotels, opulent and gold. Shopping.

UK

Best: London Tower Bridge, British Museum, Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum. Handel and Hendrix museums, Madam Tussauds, Trafalgar Square, Bethnal Green Museum, Horniman Museum and mini zoo, London Zoo, Dickens House. Out in the suburbs, Ruislip Lido train. Harrow School. Sherlock Holmes Museum. Get invited do dinner at the Cavalry & Guards Club or the Civil Service club, or one of several clubs, some with military or overseas associations.

Day trips to Roald Dahl Museum. Waddesdon Manor, 

Lake District. Cornwall, St Ives.

Wishlist Charles Rennie Mackintosh House, Northampton, England. Optical Illusion museum in London. Any Winehouse statue in Camden. Museum of Illusions. Paradox Museum. Twist Museum. Legoland, Windsor. Last Night of the Proms, promenade concert in the Royal Albert Hall.

USA

Best Sites

New York. Empire State Building. Boat tour. Smithsomian Museums, DC. Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada. Blue Ridge Mountain drive along the East coast. Washington DC. Florida art deco. Disney. House museum of Webster who gave us the dictionary and American spelling. House museum of Nobel prize winning author Pearl Buck. Peabody Ducks. Bryce Canyon. Dallas. San Francisco. Golden Gate Bridge. LA Disney. Hollywood stars walk.

Wish List - Graceland, home of Elvis. Napa Valley Wine train. Hemingway House at Key West, Florida. Houdini Museum at Niagara. Queen Mary on Long Beach, LA.

Worst list - crocodiles in Florida.

VIETNAM 

Halong Bay. best sight

Scary moment - first tuk tuk ride at speed from airport to checking at hotel.Tuk-tuk (motorcycle carriage) transfer to hotel in Siem Reap. 

YUGOSLAVIA Dubrovnik, now CROATIA

WALES Brunel's bridge Fishguard Last Invasion Tapestry, Caerleon Roman Museum. Worst disaster. I was driving to my annual writers summer holiday in Caerleon, Wales. On the M4. Another car drove into the back of my car. I had to transfer by train to my destination.

USA Disneyland LA, Disney World Florida, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon.  New York's Jewish Museum, Sex museum and many more.

WISHLIST

CHINA

Terracotta Warriors are on my wishlist.

UKRAINE

BEST TRANSPORT

Tuk-tuk (motorcycle carriage) transfer to hotel in Sien Reap. 

TRAVEL TIPS

1 Keep a track of your own best and worst holiday experiences.

2 Make an Excel document of trips, hotels, museums, favourite food.

I am compiling this all week. Come back every day for updates on mine.

Pool Fences And Alarms - Install, Campaign, Donate to Fences, Not Funerals

Swim Safely

Australia has laws requiring fences around home swimming pools. America does not. Although there was a giant fence around the pool in an apartment complex when I lived in Rockville, Maryland.

I agree with many others who say that the USA should demand fences around pools. It should be illegal to 1 install a pool without a fence in an inhabited building,

2 to move into a building before the fence has been installed, 

3 to rent out a house or flat with access to an unfenced pool, 

4 and to sell a house with a pool which has no fence.

Useful Warning Websites

 https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15926191/jamal-morton-daughter-rose-drowns-georgia-pool.html?dicbo=v2-MpdD1rb

https://www.swimpools.co.uk/uk-pool-regulations-backyard-homeowner-guide/

https://orlandi.com.au/australian-pool-fencing-laws/

https://www.standards.org.au/blog/standards-spotlight-as-1926-1-2024

https://www.alibaba.com/pla/Industrial+Pool+Safety+Metal+Aluminum+Galvanized+Steel+Fence+Panel+Security+Swimming+Pool+Fence_1601228455447.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WaterWarden-5-Pool-Safety-Fence/

Life Saving

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifesaving_(sport)

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

Canada

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

Updated with website links July 1st 2026. If you have additional relevant information, please send it to comments on the blog or contact me. I am all over the web.

Australian TimTam Chocolate Biscuits Reach England

 

TimTam in Tesco. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Australian TimTam biscuits have reached England.

What are they? Little square sandwiches of two biscuits with a cream chocolate filling, covered in solid chocolate. The smaller size biscuits therefore seem to have a generous amount of chocolate. Very more-ish.

I had them in Singapore at a wine tasting a few years ago. The person introducing them made such a fuss about them that I was expecting something unusual. What was the fuss about? They were just chocolate biscuits.

I had them at a Toastmasters club meeting last week. I had one. Two. I went back for a third. I had to walk away.

This week I saw them in Tesco. Surprise. White chocolate. I love white chocolate.

Today I looked at the photo. I thought, that's what I want. Timtam biscuits.

Regarding the spelling, the packets seem to run the two syllables together, as you would say them. However, websites list the word as two syllables.

The biscuits were invented by a man who saw Penguin biscuits in Britain and thought he could make something even better. He named his biscuit after Tim Tam, a  prize winning race horse in America. If you go to America, you can see Tim Tam listed in the Hall of Fame of racehorses in the National Museum of Racing.

National Museum of Racing. Photo from Wikipedia. 

The National Museum of Racing has an online shop selling books, tee-shirts, caps, a key ring, assorted bottles and glasses, but no TimTams. Maybe somebody should suggest it.

Useful Websites

Tesco online ordering

Tesco Shops locations

ebay Tim Tams

Wiki on Tim Tam history and flavours

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

Tim Tim official website

https://www.arnotts.com/brands/tim-tam

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

https://www.racingmuseum.org/

https://racingmuseum.mybigcommerce.com/shop

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Clocks go back Oct 26 2025. Where? What time?

 

UK Clock Changes

The clocks in London, England, Britain, change on October 26th. in 2025. It ls the last Sunday in October each year, each autumn. (They go forward again in March.) 

Sunday Clock Change, UK

Why a Sunday, not a fixed numbered day? I presume so people don't get to work late on a weekday in Springtime. Those who get the time wrong that day, and arrive late, are only disrupting social events, not work.

The days when the clocks shange are not worldwide. Down under in Australia and New Zealand operate on different days. The USA is different.  Canada is not the same as the USA.

If you are travelling, or holding an online Zoom meeting, you need to alert everybody who is likely to come in contact with you. 

What Time Is The Change?

The clocks don't change at midnight or even one minute past midnight. But two hours after midnight, later, when most people have go home off public transport and are safely in bed. 

Unless you change the clocks when you go to bed, you will find some clocks might be out of sync with the rest of the clocks, and the country, next morning.

Changing Your Clocks

When you get up in the morning, your computer and radio controlled alarm clock are likely to have changed themselves. That is a reminder to check your other time pieces. 

For example, your watch, your clocks on appliances such as ovens and microwaves. Your car or vehicle. 

Check every appointment through the day. You might also advise co-workers, bosses, emplyees, family, especially if they are from overseas.

Who To Warn

Anybody, especially affected children, the elderly, the dozy, foreign visitors. Phone callers. Zoom. blogs. Duolingo. Anything you do which operates on UK time, or which stays on another time when you are on UK time.

If you do business with other countries, note the times they change their clocks, as well as telling them about your country's changeover dates.

When you buy or are given a new diary at the end of December in 2025, or next year, 2026, you might want to write in clock changes.

Day, Night & Sleep

In theory you get an extra hour of sleep in autumn (called Fall in the USA). If you get up at sunrise, you get up an hour earlier, at what is now 6 am. 

2026 UK Time Change

Sunday March 29th 2026. UK. Spring forward.

Sunday 25th October 2026 UK. Fall back.

Useful Websites on Clock Changes

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

https://www.gov.uk/when-do-the-clocks-change

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702292 (Petition closed)

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Updated Wed 22 Oct 2025.

Henley pictures, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK

 

Henley

Leander Club signs in Leander Hotel

Displays of the rowing club at the Leander Hotel, Henley.

Rowing club displays. Leander Hotel. Henley.

Photos from Sharot family. Copyright.

 Henley Royal Regatta in 2026 will be June 3- to July 6th.

Online you can buy caps with big front brims, knitted beanie hats, a woolly hat with a pompom on top, and boaters with brims. If money is no object, a teddy bear costing 250 pounds sterling.

The name Henley means high wood or clearing. It is often referred to just as Henley. But there is another Henley, Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire, as well as places called Henley in Australia and New Zealand.

I was wondering which one is in and which one is on. Then I realised that, like a boat, you are on a river, or river bank. But you are in, or within, and area.

Useful Websites on Henley

https://wikitravel.org/en/Henley-on-Thames#:~:text=Henley%20is%20the%20terminus%20of,times%20taking%20about%2045%20minutes.

Henley Royal Regatta

https://www.hrr.co.uk/

Souvenirs Hats and Bear

https://shop.hrr.co.uk/product/caps-classic/

Henley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley-on-Thames

Updated Oct 24 2025.

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Latin Words On Your Maps and in newspapers - from Argentina and Australia to Peninsula

Flag of Italy

In Italy and all over Europe and the Middle East you will find place names connected with the romans. But the Latin language has inclusenced names in many other places as well, including American and Australia.

Australia = southern, from the Latin terra australis meaning southern land

agriculture - from the Latin word for field, ager

Aquarium = from the Latin word aqua meaning water

 Argentina = the country, from the Latin word, argent, for silver

Horticultural centre = garden centre, from hortus, Latin for garden

island - from the Latin word for island isla

peninsula - almost an island, a finger-shape piece of land sticking out into the sea, from the Latin words paena meaning almost and the Latin word for island

Victoria was the Roman goddess of victory. From Queen Victoria we get numerous placenames, such as Victoria state in Austrlia, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. The Victoria Falls in Africa are in several countries, and will be in travel histories and old guidebooks when renamed on maps in later years.

Useful Websites

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

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Australia and New Zealand - what's the same and what's different?

FLAGS

Flag of Australia User DO'Neil on en.wikipedia

Flag of New Zealand

Let's start with the flags. Currently, in February 2025, both flags have a small Union Jack flag of Britain in the top left corner. Both have the four stars of the Southern Cross on the right.These stars are seen in the sky from both countries. But Australia's  flag's stars are white, with many points whilst New Zealand's have five points with white borders. Australia has an extra large white star on the lower. left. Like Texas, How do you remember which is which? Australia is bigger, more points and more stars.

LAND

Next lets look at the land masses. New Zealand has lots of islands. North Island. South Island. Little islands. The third most populated island, pretty, hilly Waiheke. The Bay of Islands. 

Australia is not considered an island but a continent. It's huge. Off the southern coast is Tasmania.

ANIMALS, BIRDS 

The wildlife, symbols and toys are different.

Australia has kangaroos and koala bears.

Australia has laughing kookaburras.

New Zealand has sheep. (also cows, goats,horses.)

New Zealand has and flightless kiwi birds, with long beaks. Also kias which attack car windscreen wipers at ski resorts.

FOOD

Pavlovas

Both countries feature pavolvas, large donut shape white hard meringues with a solid base in the middle supporting mixed fresh fruit. Both countries were visited by the by the British ballet dancer Pavlova and her troupe.

Australians use passionfruit. New Zealanders use green kiwi fruit.

Lamingtons

Both countries sell Lamingtons. Cubes of pale coloured sponge covered in a thin shell of brown chocolate covered in white shredded coconut.

Lamington in New Zealand. Photo by Angela Lansbury.  Copyright. 

ACCENT

Australians and New Zealanders speak English and can understand British English. 

Australians speak louder and you will recognize Australian if you think of Oss- try-lee -er.  The word today sound like to die. This can be unnerving when you are asked what you are intending to do to die.

New Zealanders speak quietly with their teeth closer together.

You can recognize the New Zealand accent if you think of asking a New Zealander a question and getting the answer yiss and hearing the number seven as siven..

NATIVE PEOPLE

Australia has Aboriginies. 

New Zealand has Maoris.

NATIVE LANGUAGES

Australian words you may recognize include

boomerang

Maori words you may recognize include 

kia ora. - greeting familiar to visitors because it is used as a brand name for a drink

Drink to buy with Maori greeting as brand name.

. JEWELLERY SOUVENIRS

Australia has opal jewellery.Opal is the national gemstone. From Coober Pedy.

New Zealand has paoa shell jewellery.

Useful Websites

Australia

https://www.pmc.gov.au/honours-and-symbols/australian-national-symbols/australian-floral-emblem
New Zealand

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

New Year's eve 2025 - what I've seen live in London, and online from Australia and what I'd like to see worldwide

UK

Local fireworks in London. Vide by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Live in London. Photo/video by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

In London we heard fireworks from about 7 pm which was already midnight in other parts of the world. Then at midnight loud eruptions of waves of noise. I ran out and saw huge bursts of red and green and white lights, one after another. Must have cost a fortune. Amazing. 

I ran back for some warm clothes and went out to the high street. 

A man from Social Dhaba Indian restaurant was crossing the street back to the restaurant. 

He waished me, 'Happy New Year!'

So I reciprocated, 'And happy New Year to you!'

I huge gust of wind carried me a couple of feet. Then the wind died away.

I hurried home, jubilantly.

Australia

Earlier I had been watching online. The first fireworks had appeared from Sydney Harbout bridge in Australia.  Bursts of circular spectacles, plus rows of lights shotting upwards vertically and forwards horizontally. 

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the lights projected from the top of a tower.

Time Clocks Needed

What we need across the top of our screens is a series of clocks, like those in the receptions of hotels, showing where the displays are already online and those starting now.

Dubai

Dubai had varied music, from pop to classical marching songs. The tower was lit by ascending spark, spirals, a diving giant bird, blocks of solid colour, red and other colours. Plus jumping fountains in rows or white, jumping and swaying in formation like trees.

America's celebrations come next, way beyond our bedtime. We will see them tomorrow, January 1st. After 9 am UK time we shall be hoping to watch the UK New Year's Day Parade, later in the Day the American parads. If possible, the New Year's Day concert from Vienna, Austria. It is usually on the radio. But we would like to watch it, pershaps a bit later on the BBC iplayer, so we can see the ballet dancers, the decorated hall and the conductor, and some amusement created between the concutor and orchestra for the last piece or encore. Failing all else, we shall look at some snippets from previous years, such as the dancers in the costumes designed by Vivien Westwood.

Yes, New Year's Day is an artificial creation. I have been reading up about the claendars created by Julian, roman Julian, updated and improved by Gregory (the one we use) and the Jewish and Moslem calendars. The Chinese are preparing for their New Year always in January or February, featuring offering a pair of oranges to family and friends and customers, and reciprocating. 

So much jollity, to overcome the bad things remembered from the year.

Labelling Photos

I have spent the day labelling photos with the birth dates, marriage dates, birthdays, and death dates, of my family.

Diary Records

A friend of mine has all her diaries in order in shoe boxes. Ask her on what date we went on holiday together fifty years ago when we first met, and she went to a box and pulled out a record of places visited and things we said. 

It is good to record and remember the good times, and hope for more good times to come. 

I wish you a safe and succcessful, peaceful and prosperous New Year.

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Lavender farms and festivals and lavender products worldwide for your enjoyment

 I have been a fan of lavender products since my long period of living and travelling overseas, not just as a travel writer taking at least one long and several short trips overseas at my own expense, and on business with my husband, also supplemented by the occasional press trip to overseas destination. The revelation about lavender came at the start of my thirty year sojourn in Singapore where I spent most winters in Singapore, Asia and Australasia while returning to the UK and Europe for the summer and back, via the USA or Australia in one or both directions. Lavender and lemon infused products were cheaper in England than in Singapore, so I stocked up in England with Yardley products from my local chemist (which I learned Americans would call a drug store). The cheapest lavender item was a small roll on around or under five pounds sterling. that was small enough to go in my handbag when my suitcase was already overweight or on the border of overweight for air travel regulations. More expensive items or sets could be a fall-back when I was asked at the last moment what I wanted for birthdays, Christmas presents or wedding anniversary gifts.

Lavender's Reputation For Repelling Mosquitos

Why lavender? Singapore is safe in many ways, except for mosquitos, which were fought with fogging by anti-mosquito spray-mists on Fridays. I discovered that my perfumes designed to attract humans especially men, such as my husband, also attracted insects, such as mosquitos. I learned that lemon and lavender repelled insects, most importantly mosquitos, which carried malaria and dengue fever. But, I presumed, also flies, fleas and wasps.

Singapore - How to Buy a Bargain

The marked price for lavender soap in Singapore seemed very high. I tried to bargain but was told, fixed price. However, after a whisper to my Singaporean Chinese friend, who works in the building, she spoke to the seller, who spoke Mandarin as well as English, and was offered a lower price, supposedly because she worked in the building, was less well paid than a presumed tourist (although I had said I was Permanent Resident, which is a government status for foreigners who live in Singapore long-term) - and maybe either because she spoke Mandarin or because she would be a regular customer.  The moral is, if you have a local friend in Asia, ask them to bargain for you in the local language.

Meanwhile, back in London, I bought lavender made in England, more cheaply. 

I checked online the UK factory farm visits and was amazed how many there were. I had expected to see just one, Norfolk Lavender, or two if you add the one my family went to in 2024.

The largest one in the world is supposed to be the large one in Tasmania, Australia. 

Europe

You find more in Europe.

France

I bought lavender soap cheaply in a wine shop in the south of France. The village of Fitou, Frontenac region. The soap aroma was not strong. English lavender is stronger.

European Festivals

You will find festivals in mid-summer, in June, for example in Bulgaria, which has at least two (see my earlier post).

UK Lavender

I bought a lavender spray from Marks & Spencer in London. The spray bottle says it is for rooms, clothes and body. What more could you want. I just sprayed it all around and the aroma is strong.

UK Lavender Farm Visits

The name I had associated with lavender from my childhood was Norfolk Lavender.

More recently, my family went on a trip to a lavender farm in the UK, near enough for a day trip from London..

My family complained that, 'Not really anything for children to do. They were charging us just to see the farm which just offered views. A lot of money just to take a photo.' 

'The cafe was closed by the time we got back there, so that saved us more money.' 

I was disappointed that they did not tell me they were going and did not bring me back a gift of lavender bags to put in my bedroom drawers in the hope of repelling moths. Still, I can buy easily on line and visit there myself next year. 

Buying & Planting Lavender Plants

I have lavender in my own garden in London, bought from a local garden centre. The garden centres sell two types of lavender, English and French. Try the aromas and see which you like most, or which is strongest aroma, or has the best colour plant.

All of the UK is in planting zones 6-9 which means the temperature and humidity which the outdoor garden plant must cope with. (A greenhouse or indoor part of your home, even an indoor windowsill, will be different.)

Trips To Lavender Farms From London

To Mayfield - about an hour and a half from Harrow going anti clockwise on the M25.

UK Lavender Farm Visits

The farm is closed until June but the gift shop and cafe are open every day of the week, 10 to 4 on Sundays, from 9 to 5 other days. The cafe may close for last orders earlier than the closing time so plan accordingly.

Lavender Anti Moth bags

You can buy lavender anti moth bags on ebay from thetownhousegarden

Sets of 20 from ebay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143436121031?\

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=235826295642&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211&_ssn=thetownhousegarden

Useful Websites

UK

https://www.mayfieldlavender.com/

Bulgaria

https://www.viator.com/en-GB/tours/Nessebar/Aroma-sampling-of-5-Bulgarian-Lavender-varieties-at-DiVes-Winery/d50387-149310P2

Bulgaria Holiday Tours

https://www.visitbulgariaon.com/tour/skip-the-line-tickets-to-karlovo-lavender-festival-on-21-06-2025

Australia

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

https://www.yorkshirelavender.com/

https://londonist.com/london/beyond-london/lavender-farms-fields-near-london

https://www.lavenderworld.co.uk/lavender-plants

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

Products to buy

From Tesco.

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Wedding and bus safety for guests

Some people say it's safer to organize a bus for your wedding guests so they can drink but don't have to drive home. Especially if you hold an event in a wine region.

Tragically, wedding guests were killed in a bus crash in Australia. Hunter Valley, the popular wine region, New South Wales, Australia.

I was pleased to see a campaign for seat belts on buses. Making it compulsory to wear them. 

What if the bus has seat belts but passengers stand up during the journey?

What about a medical episode? maybe vehicles could be designed to only go and stay at speed when the driver has both eyes on the screen for a  certain number of minutes or seconds.

What can passengers do? Do up seat belts.

Stay seated. 

You need a responsible driver.

Useful Websites

https://nypost.com/2023/06/19/bride-and-groom-break-silence-after-10-of-their-guests-die-in-bus-crash-processing-this-tragedy/ 

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Khalil Gibran - places to see in the USA, Armenia, Australia, Paris and Lebanon

He was born in the Lebanon, lived in France and the USA. He wrote in Arabic. His famous works include The Prophet.

He died in the USA. His paintings were donated by family to a museum in the USA.

He was buried in the Lebanon in a monastery bought by his family. 

What you can see where

USA

New York

Washington DC

The Memorial Garden has a bench with a statue of him along the top of a bench where you can sit and be photographed.

Monument on a wall by the embassy in Washington DC. USA

Boston, USA

France

Plaque in Paris, France

14 Avenue du Maine

Paris, France.

Artworks in a museum.

Lebanon

Memorial Garden in Beirut contains a bust.

Burial place in a monastery

Bust in Yerevan, Armenia

Useful Websites

http://www.gibrankhalilgibran.org/Museum/

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

https://www.tripadvisor.com.br/Attraction_Review-g303981-d324369-Reviews-Gibran_Museum-Bcharre_North_Governorate.html

https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/foreigners/display/97941-gibran-khalil-gibran-#:~:text=The%20Portrait%20bust%20commemorates%20Lebanese%20poet%20Gibran%20Khalil,the%20Bankstown%20Library%20and%20Knowledge%20Centre%20in%202014.

https://bostonlitdistrict.org/venue/khalil-gibran-memorial/

ttps://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1341922/statue-tribute-to-khalil-gebran-to-be-installed-in-new-york.html

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kahlil_Gibran#

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Where's Where In Australia and how to remember Australian States

Up on Facebook pops a picture or a wonderful winery with an intriguing maze. The name of the place is Bago Winery, but where is it? In Australia. Where in Australia? New South Wales.

I'm sure all Australians know where that is. I don't, although I have been to Perth on the west coast, and Sydney on the East and Melbourne in the South and Canberra on a day trip, somewhere inland, as well as up the east coast to Brisbane, which is a cross between New York with skyscrapers and Blackpool with tourist attractions, along the beach strip.

Now, back to New South Wales. I google it and up comes a map. The main city is Sydney. That gives me a handy alliteration. Initial letter S. Sydney is in New South Wales.

I take a look at Australia in Wiki but don't get given the States which I would expect to be first. Finally, another search brings up the states. Two are easy to identify and remember. Western Austrlia is in the West. Southern Australia is in the south, in the centre of the South.  

The two others are Queensland and Victoria. Fortunately they are in that order, reading noth to south. Queensland is north of New South Wales. Victoria is south of New South Wales.

Now I can look at a blank map and work out which state is which.

The island is Tasmania. Its capital is Hobart.

Map in Wiki from 

User:Lokal_Profil

v t e Largest populated areas in Australia 2021 data from Australian Bureau of Statistics[307]
Rank	Name	State	Pop.	Rank	Name	State	Pop.
1	Sydney	NSW	5,259,764	11	Geelong	Vic	289,400
2	Melbourne	Vic	4,976,157	12	Hobart	Tas	251,047
3	Brisbane	Qld	2,568,927	13	Townsville	Qld	181,665
4	Perth	WA	2,192,229	14	Cairns	Qld	155,638
5	Adelaide	SA	1,402,393	15	Darwin	NT	148,801
6	Gold Coast–Tweed Heads	Qld/NSW	706,673	16	Toowoomba	Qld	143,994
7	Newcastle–Maitland	NSW	509,894	17	Ballarat	Vic	111,702
8	Canberra–Queanbeyan	ACT/NSW	482,250	18	Bendigo	Vic	102,899
9	Sunshine Coast	Qld	355,631	19	Albury-Wodonga	NSW/Vic	97,676
10	Wollongong	NSW

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are eight capital cities in Australia, each of which functions as the seat of government for the state or territory in which it is located. One of these, Canberra, is also the national capital. Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia specified that the seat of the national government, that is, the national capital, would be in its own territory within New South Wales, at least 100 miles (161 km) from Sydney. The Constitution specified that until this national capital was ready, the Parliament would sit in Melbourne. In 1927, the national capital was finally ready and the national government relocated from its former seat in Melbourne to Canberra within the Australian Capital Territory (or the Federal Capital Territory as it was known at the time).

In each state and internal territory, the capital is also the jurisdiction's most populous city. The Australian external territory of Norfolk Island has its official capital at Kingston, although this acts merely as the administrative centre of government; its de facto capital is Burnt Pine.^[1]

WESTERN AUSTRALIA NORTHERN TERRITORY SOUTH AUSTRALIA QUEENSLAND NEW SOUTH WALES VICTORIA TASMANIA ●Perth ●Adelaide ●Melbourne ★Canberra (ACT) ●Sydney ●Brisbane ●Hobart ●Darwin

State and territory capitals of Australia

State/territory	Capital	City population[2]	State/territory population[3]	Percentage of state/territory population in capital city	Established	Capital since	Image
New South Wales	Sydney	5,029,768	7,759,274	64.82%	1788	1788
Victoria	Melbourne	4,725,316	6,179,249	76.47%	1835	1851
Queensland	Brisbane	2,360,241	4,848,877	48.68%	1825	1860
Western Australia	Perth	2,022,044	2,558,951	79.02%	1829	1829
South Australia	Adelaide	1,324,279	1,713,054	77.31%	1836	1836
Tasmania	Hobart	224,462	517,588	43.37%	1804	1826
Australian Capital Territory	Canberra	403,468	403,468	100.00%	1913	1913
Northern Territory	Darwin	145,916	245,740	59.38%	1869	1911

References[edit]

1. ^ Norfolk Island - Kingston http://www.pitcairners.org/vt_kingston.html Norfolk Island's Home on the Web
2. ^ Statistics, c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of (28 July 2017). "Main Features - Main Features". www.abs.gov.au.
3. ^ Statistics, c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of (28 July 2017). "Details - Main Features". www.abs.gov.au.

So, to sum up

Capital - State

Sydney - New South Wales

Melbourne - Victoria

Brisbane - QLD

Adelaide - SA

Perth - WA

Capital of Australia - Canberra

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_capital_cities#:

For pictures of Bago Winery go to the previous post.

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