Italian Names Translated

Italian - English

Aida - happy

Alba - Dawn

Alberto - Albert

Alfredo - Alfred

Aldo - Donald

Alessandro - Alexander (defender of mankind)

Andrea - Andrew (the Italian is a male name)

Angelo - angel or messenger

Anita - grace

Antonio - Anthony

Arturo - Arthur

Barbieri - barber

Barone - baron

Bianca - white

Bruno - brown (referring to clothes or hair)

Carlo - Charles

Caterina - Catherine meaning pure

Cipriani - from Cyprus

Constantia - constancy

Cosimo from Greek Cosmo meaning order

Cristiano - Christian

Dante - lasting

Dario (from Latin Darius) posessing goodness

Dino - little sword (we used to have Dino's restaurant in Edgware. Several restaurants of this name are found worldwide.

Donna lady (ma donna = my lady)

Edmondo - Edmund (prosperous)

Eduardo - Edward (

Elena - bright light

Enrico - Henry /home ruler

Eugenio - noble

Fabio - bean farmer

Faust - lucky

Filippo - Philip  (loves horses)

Franco/Franceso - French

Gemma - gem, jewel

Giacomo - James

Giorgio - George (farmer)

Giulia - Julia (youthful)

Grazia - Grace

Gregorio - Gregory (watchful)

Juan - John

Juliet Julietta - child of Jove

Leo/Lenya - lion

Leonardo - bold lion (as in painter Leonardo Da Vinci)

Lennon - cape/cloak

Leopold - bold

Liliana - lily

Lorenzo - Lawrence (Laurel tree) 

Lucia/Lucan/Luciano/Ludo - light

Maria/Margherita/Mario - Mary (bitter)

Marcello - hammer

Marco (as in Marco Polo) from the Roman God of war Marcus

Marco - Mark

Maximo - greatest

Mona - lady

Nicola, Nicolò - Nicholas (the accent on the o of the Italian means emphasize that syllable) Victorious

Giorgio - George

Pascal - born on Passover

Paulo - Paul (small)

Primo - first one

Regina - queen

Ricco - Richard, powerful or strong ruler

Roma - from Rome

Romeo - pilgrim to Rome

Rosso/Rossini - red (maybe red haired)

Rosa, Rosetta, Rozalia - rose

Serena - serene

Slvatore - Saviour

San - Saint

Silvio - silver

Stefan0 - Stephen (crowned with laurels)

Teresa - harvester

Tomaso - Thomas (twin)

Valeria/Valentino - brave or strong

Violet - flower

Vincenzo - Vincent

Vito/Vittorio - Victor

I have at least ten dictionaries of baby names. 

People and Places

guida - guide

museo - museum

telefono - telephone

torre - tower

Useful Websites

https://adoption.com/baby-names/origin/italian

https://www.behindthename.com/name

https://www.oocities.org/irishkenj/givename

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Virtual Visitors Tell Tour Guides Where To Walk Around the Faroe Islands

Scotland is cold with short days in winter but lovely in summer. If you have already seen Scotland, in reality or online, consider going further north to the Faroe Islands which are half way between Scotland and Iceland. (Beyond the Scottish Shetland islands which are only ten miles from Scotland.) The most likely way to travel to the Faroes is from Denmark.

A good day to be there is July 29 which is national day when people wear national dress.

The Faeroe Islands, north of Scotland, beyond the Shetland Islands.

If you cannot travel now, or then, how about a virtual tour? The novelty idea of remotely controlling a tour guide many miles away has started in the Faroe Islands, which I would find hard to find on the map, never mind travelling there. I checked their location.

The Faeroes - For Tourists? What For?
The Faroes or Faeroe Islands are a group of 18 islands, seventeen of which are inhabited. The islands belong to Denmark. They are isolated, appropriate word,  in the North Atlantic, all crags and birds.

Flag of the Faeroes

A lot of unpronounceable names of unheard of places.  Yes, I have heard of them. Aren't they the places ships have to avoid in gales, after being blown of course from visiting better known places? I don't mean to sound unkind. I actually think their initiative is great. I would like to see them straight away, online, during in my lock down on a much larger island, Singapore, which I can only visit by peering out of the window at a thunderstorm while part of my family is on the phone to me intermittently from their lock down in London in England. So I have time to travel virtually and visit the far off Faroes, from the comfort of my padded swivelling desk chair.

The Faroe islands are a summertime destination. Rugged and rocky. Steep cliffs inhabited by birds. I love the wonderfully funny face sheep. The name Faeroes means sheep islands and the national symbol is the sheep.

A ewe and her twins on the Faroe islands. The ears of the animals are marked, earmarked, to show the pasture and the owner. Photo by Arne List, from Flickr to Wiki.


Postage stamp. Public domain.

Their Tourist season is summer, July and August. Their virtual travel with a walking human guide initiative is running now, through April 2020.

Tiny population.50,000.  Of humans. I hope the peak of the coronavirus '19 passes them by, by summer, or there won't be many of them left. They have a had a few cases already, but no fortunately no deaths.

Jumping Guides
So what is the bright idea? The idea is that a real life local guide walks around and you can ask the guide to walk in a specific direction, walk, run, even jump. Jumping is a joke idea for amusing online game players, control freaks and kids.

I thought that this would be for one family, like in real life hiring a guide to take you up Everest. But it's more like joining those free city tours where lots of people follow a guide and pay nothing for a free tour - but a tip is expected. A group tour usually cost less than you could end up paying if you join a shared car tour and find you are the only one on it and must pay the single person surcharge.

It appears that on the Faroe trip you can only direct the guide for one minute. So you cannot go on continuously in a specific direction because one minute later after you have said, 'turn left towards the sea,' somebody else will say, 'go right towards the mountains'.

What if you tell the guide to jump off the cliff? Why would you do that? Apparently somebody has already tried that. Fortunately the guide was not a robot and was not standing for, running for or jumping for any dangerous nonsense.

I looked at the comments. When I looked there were only seven comments, not all complimentary. One person said he, or she, preferred to be in a place to feel the breeze and the sun. We would all prefer to travel, if we had unlimited funds, time, and permission to travel. meanwhile, you could sit in your garden or on a balcony in summer or at mid-day to enjoy the illusion of a sunny tour. You could also watch from home drinking iced drinks, hot coffee, local cuisine, or open a window for fresh air, or set a fan to create a breeze, and watch after showering, with wet hair sitting on a towel.  You could also prepare yourself with rose-scented or lemon-scented soap or perfume.

Others complained about the killing of whales. An entire group of whales is killed, which turns the sea red. The islands also have a fog. A good place to write a thriller. I shall make no judgements, just stick to the facts. Let's do a self-guided tour. Start at the capital.

Torshaven
The capital is Torshavn, I presume haven or harbour. The Tors part is from the same God which gave us the word Thursday (Originally Thor's Day.) Thor was the God of thunder and lightning.

As you might expect, the capital has a museum, an art gallery, an historical museum, and an outdoor museum. I love the red buildings. Also a modern Nordic museum.

A Cathedral.

Cathedral in the capital of the Faeros. Photo by Matthew Ross in Wiki.

Music
And a music centre which offers concerts. I went off to You tube to check out music of the Faraoes. I found music with male and female choirs, drumming, ending with sea birds and the sound of the sea. Somebody commented on the YouTube video, very Viking.You can eat fish. Their main industry was originally fishing, now also supplemented by tourism.

I am writing a book about alliteration. I could add Fun in the Faeroes. Family holidays in the Faeroes. Fish in the Faeroes. Fishing for a tourist guide in the Faroes. A whale of a time in the Faeroes. Guide a guide around the Faroes.

Their Facebook page invited me to the most pristine place on the planet. You can view virtual tours which are at 5 pm local time and sometimes also at 2 pm. Your guide could be on foot or in a helicopter. Take a bird's eye view of the 80,000 sheep.

What other landmarks to see? The statue of the seal woman. The statue withstood a storm with white waves washing over her, as you can see on a video on the internet. On Mikladalor, a finger shaped island, east of the island where you find the capital, next island but one.

Statue of the Seal Woman, village of Mikladalur, Kalsoy Island, Faeroe Islands. She is not a mermaid but legend says a human reincarnated as a seal which comes ashore on the 13th day and sheds its skin and wants the skin back in order to return to the sea. The statue was installed in 2014, and designed to withstand waves 13 metres high. (That is about 40 feet high.) In 2015 the statue survived 11.5 metre high waves (nearly 38 feet), as you can see online in a video. The legend of seals and the Seal Woman has appeared on stamps from the Faroes.

The Kalsoy Island  village on island also has a striking red roof church.

Church of Mikladalur village, on Kalsoy island, in the Faeroe Islands, in the Atlantic. The Islands' religion is evangelical Lutheran. Yes, I am warming to this cool idea.

Tórshavn, the ferry port at the eastern harbour, seen from Tinganes. This photo was taken from Tinganes in Tórshavn at Ólavsøka 2010. Ólavsøka is the national holiday of the Faroe Islands. On 28 July there are boat races down at the eastern harbour. This view is towards the ferry port in the eastern harbour. The ferries Smyril, which goes to Suðuroy, and Norrøna which sails to Iceland and Denmark, embarks here. The administration of the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands is here on Tinganes in the old wooden buildings. Most of the buildings on Tinganes and Reyni have a turf roof. The sail ship on this photo is the wooden smack Johanna TG326 from Vágur in Suðuroy. The smack was built in Essex, England, in 1884.

Image Details Location: Thorshavn Date: 2010-07-28 Credit: Eileen Sandá Source: Eileen Sandá

You can buy upmarket woollen clothing. Visit a waterfall. Get married. Go there for Christmas.

Useful Websites
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-8245455/Faroe-Islands-offers-remote-tourism-web-users-control-real-life-tour-guide.html
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands
https://www.facebook.com/VisitFaroeIslands/
https://www.instagram.com/visitfaroeislands/
www.remote-tourism.com
https://www.visitfaroeislands.com/about/stories-legends/kopakonan-the-seal-woman/
https://www.visitfaroeislands.com/about/the-faroe-islands-in-a-seashell/
Faroese music with male and female choirs and drumming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My5GeaQ4RBo
https://www.visitfaroeislands.com/plan-your-stay/transport/getting-to-the-faroe-islands/from-london/
https://www.visitfaroeislands.com/plan-your-stay/transport/getting-to-the-faroe-islands/from-north-america/
www.faroeislandstranslate.com,
https://www.instagram.com/visitfaroeislands/

Author
Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, London.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product-21713991
learncool.sg
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Misadventures With The Wrong Language Group, Wrong Coach, Wrong Taxi

Flag of France from Wikipedia.

Problem
Have you ever lost your tour group or had trouble finding your coach or taxi in a car park during a travel trip?

Story of My Misadventure
I once joined an English speaking group on a guided tour of a stately home in France - and I stopped to take a photo. We had joined the English tour group of the stately home. I did not know the guide or the other people on the guided tour, and neither the guide nor the other guests knew me.

 I was with a group who had an English speaking guide - easy, ok?

I saw a group at the end of the gallery and ran up. From the back of the crowd I worked my way forward. When I could hear, I realised the guide was speaking German!

 Okay, so maybe we had some Germans in our group. Eventually I asked him if he could repeat his story in English. He told me, "You are with the wrong group. This is a German group."

I tried three different group before I found the English group.


If only they had carried flags!

That's one story of my French misadventure. It was not my only misadventure. Call me Miss Adventure.
Flags are very handy.

Learn A Language
On the other hand, if I had learned to speak German fluently, I could have stayed with the German speaking group. But then I would have my husband, got back to the car park at the wrong time and boarded the wrong coach.

You also need flags on coaches. Several time I have been on a tour and the guide has told us to remember our coach number plate. Trying to remember a coach number plate is much harder than recognizing a flag.

Identifying A Taxi In India
As for a taxi, I once remembered the ending of a taxi number plate in India. When I emerged from the museum, which had four exits and four car parks, I discovered that all taxis had number plates ending with the same two digits or letters.

If only I had brought with a little Union Jack and Blutac to stick it on the front windscreen. It is easy enough to take a picture or flag from a magazine or newspaper or free map and keep it in your handbag or travel bag to add to your suitcase or taxi windscreen.

Useful Websites
For a free learn online language website for French, German and English from other languages, try:
duolingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Guide a group with a flag

This group from Vietnam is led by a guide who carries a triangular flag. Another system is to carry an umbrella.

 

Vietnamese tour guide in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The guide stopped the group at one side of the station and told them how to use their tickets to get through the barrier. He then stayed behind the barrier as you see here to help them all through.

I asked him where the group was from. He said Vietnam. I assumed the flag was from Vietnam. I was wrong. 

Why the flag? From the outsider's point of view, the advantage is to alert others to the fact that there is a group. 

Don't tell them to move on. Waste of your time. They are all standing listening to their guide. They follow his orders.  They probably don't speak English. 

The real purpose is to help the members of the group. Find the guide amongst the group. To find the group if you are a member and lag behind.

Tips for guides and group leaders

1 Carry a flag of your country or language or company.

2 If your employer does not provide and pay for the flag, use an umbrella. You could use an umbrella with a Union Jack motif bought from souvenir stalls in London, England.

3 If you think that is too expensive, likely to be muddled with others, or you don't have an umbrella of the right language, or you are leading a group and speaking two or more languages, use any other distinctive umbrella.

4 You could ask a local hotel if they would donate an umbrella or let you borrow one - which advertises their hotel.

5 If your tour guide does not have a flag or umbrella, offer to lend them one.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com (for learning languages)

tripadvisor.com

visitsingapore.com

vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english

wikitravel.org

wikivoyage.org

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Meghan's Wonderful Wedding Dress - You Can Get One Like It - But Which Fabrics?

Problem
I received an exciting email from Intu, the shopping mall in Watford , North west London, England.(Intu have more malls all over the country). Meghan's wedding dress inspired dresses with boat necks at unbelievable prices (low! affordable! -  to high) but missing an essential fact - what's the fabric?

I then go onto ASOS, and I see more of the fabulous designs. Again, not enough information. I see one or two captions mention lace, but most give no indication of the material.

Answers
What I like about Amazon and ebay is usually see what you are getting. Ebay even has reference guides to: types of fabric; silver; and so on.

I have worked out the meaning of sand-washed silk and other types of silk. One word, or rather phrase of description which confused me this week was Ice Silk. As far as I can see it's almost a brand name, a synthetic, not silk from a silk worm. I was on the point of sending off a complaint to ebay when I thought about it and had second thoughts.

If they banned thre phrase Ice Silk, maybe they would have to stop advertisers using the term Thai Silk. I love Thai silk. I often search for Thai silk. Thai Silk, which is not silk, is a term I understand.

Thai Silk
After a long time thinking Thai silk was always real silk, then I found out it's usually a patterned synthetic fabric with a lovely gloss or sheen, and looks expensive.  I am happy to buy it again and again.

Ice Silk
However, the term Ice Silk is new to me. I feel it should be Ice Silky or Thai Silky.

Faux Leather
The same caution grips me when I read 'faux leather'. I don't feel outraged. I feel confused, afraid that I am being cheated, foolish, stupid, gullible. If nothing else, it wastes my time giving me pages of synthetics when I am trying to buy the real thing. Therefore, I run out of time and patience and go away buying nothing.

It took me a while, and a couple of wasted purchases, to find out that noil silk is not soft and smooth but bubbly.

Fresh
I am also bothered by a brand of juice called Fresh, because now when I look at menus I can never tell whether the Fresh juice really is the brand or made freshly squeezed on the premises.

I recall the phrase 'buyer beware'. I'm sure the sellers are making a fortune and have many happy customers. I am not yet one of them.  What do you think?

At least, with a name like faux leather, or Thai silk or ice silk, you can google away until you find out what the fabric really is. Because I speak French fluently, I know that faux means false. But when there's no description, how do you know what you are getting?

I can see for myself if it looks boat-neck, or pleated, or lace. But will it turn out to be backless? Is it lined? Elasticated? Could I wear it more than three hours? (Before it fell apart!)

If you are buying goods for a wedding or honeymoon in the summer heat, you may be concerned about the fabric. Is it lightweight, cotton, washable, crease-free, stain repellent, soft, scratchy, machine washable, dry clean only, hand wash only - what?

Replica of Kate's wedding dress, from Chinese source. Wikipedia.

Useful Websites
https://intu.co.uk/inspire-me/meghan-markle-wedding-dress-dupe?utm_medium=Newsletter
http://www.asos.com/search/wedding%20dress?q=wedding+dress

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

Free Entertainment - bird watching - how RSPB collate and compute your annual bird watch results

Problem
You watch the birds all year. You'd like to know how this year compares to last and whether your results are typical.

Answer
RSPB does a nationa wife bird watch every year. They email or post a guide to the birds and if you get the email you can print off the bird identifier and note the results - even if you can't do it on the day, just for your own records.

I misssed the day this year because I was away. I thought of doing it the next day and sending in the results late. But I didn't. Then I got an email a week or two later saying that if you hadn't sent in your results there was still time. So next year if I can't do it on the right day, I might consider doing it the next day, either for myelf or them.

Now they have issued an account of what they do with your results.

Bird watching
https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/behind-the-scenes#utm_source=March&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=notesonnature

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

ITALIAN WORDS which you need at a chocolate exhibition

La Dolce Vita Italian Caffe in Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Problem
What does the Italian sign say? I look around in a caffe (notice double f in Italian, single f in French).
On the internet I read about the chocolate exhibition in Perugia every year in October and read the signs in the photos. I look back at photos I took in Perugia. What do those signs in the caffe and chocolate shop say?

Answers

Italian - English
(Spaces inserted when spell checker insists on changing)
biglietto - ticket
carta - card or map
c i o c o l a t o - chocolate
contatti - contacts (the letter i at the end of the word is plural)
dolce - sweet
esposizione - exhibition
guida - guide
informazioni - information
la - the
meglio - better
ottobre - october
partire - leave
prodotti - products
pronto /pronti - ready
rubriche - headline
sconti - discounts
selezione - selection
ti - you
tutta - all
vita - life

English - Italian
all  - tutta
better - meglio
Chocolate - c i o c o l a t o
contacts - contatti
discounts - s c o n t i (I had to insert spaces. Spell checker replaced the Italian with scent.)
exhibition - esposizione
guide - guida
information - informazioni
leave - p a r t i r e
life - vita
Map - Carta geografica
October - Ottobre
ready - pronto
selection - selezione
ticket - biglietto
you - ti

If you want an easy to remember phrase to say to an Italian, just smile, hold up your chocolate or point to it and say, "La Dolce Vita!"

For a description of chocolate events at Perugia, UK and elsewhere, see previous posts. Chocolate events are held in: Rome and Sicily.

Useful Websites
www.duolingo.com
www.umbria.it
www.visititaly.it
http://www.eurochocolate.com/news
https://www.alitalia.com/en_gb
www.ryanair.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, language teacher.

New Plans For Crossrail Trains and Stations In London; please copy Singapore and Hong Kong

Free event takes place in London on Friday September 23rd, at the Building Store in London showing plans for Crossrail. The new Elizabeth Line will open not next year but the end of the year after, December 2018. But here's a chance to see preview, and possibly influence the decisions. The line is set to link up London and transform stations from Haringey over in the east to Hillingdon in the West on the Heathrow side of London.

Major historic stations in central London will also be enjoying a re-fit. Streets now shrouded in scaffolding will emerge in their new glory, sparkling new and clean.

I am happy about the development, and hopeful that the new stations will provide state of the art artworks, entertainment, traditional history and modern design, and safety measures.


New pictures out of Crossrail plans. They are having a meeting in London to display the plans. Meanwhile, a few photos are online.

I looked at the escalators and felt nervous. We have had escalator accidents on London underground, in undergrounds and shopping malls in Singapore and China.

What are the causes? Children, drunks, daredevils, suicides, accidents. People caught in steps, falling, leaning, jumping, riding over rails, sliding down the handrails and edges. Teens and students sit on barriers chatting and eating ice cream or taking photos with legs having over concourses above stairwells and atriums.

Exits
I am also concerned about quick exit in the case of emergency, and signs to exits.

Singapore Safety Measures
Singapore has constant videos in four languages with subtitles on avoiding troubles. I watched videos about gaps, leaning on doors, getting bags caught caught in train doors.

Signs everywhere tell you how to alert staff, how to escape. (I did see emergency escape pictures on trains in Wales.

Singapore also has signs showing where to find alternative transport in an emergency.

Also signs to lifts for those with baby buggies, sticks, wheelchairs, suitcases on wheels.

Advantages Of New Stations and Routes
What is planned for Crossrail? You can visit their Facebook page.

In addition to the advantages for commuters, after the lull during building works shopkeepers will have more customers. People buying and selling property can expect that the new stations and train services will make property more saleable, quick sales, less stress, properties only empty briefly between sales and rentals, and prices for home owners and investors might rise.
In Singapore the development of the new train lines has been a delight. Good signs tell people to give up seats to the pregnant, and elderly.

The art on Hong Kong stations is wonderful.

I look for modern stations, shops and eating places on the move, free clean toilets. See my previous posts on stations in Hong Kong and Singapore and London.

Best station sights and sites?
London
Paddington
- see statues of Brunel;
and loving couple, not kissing goodbye but hello - the statue is called The Meeting;
Baker Street
- Murals of Sherlock Holmes inside Baker Street station and a statue of Sherlock Holmes outside.

Hong Kong:
The apple on the concourse at a station.
Videos on the airport express - like riding in a plane. All you need to add is a running commentary on the sights through the windows.

Singapore Stations (MRT)
Tanjong Pagar
- Modelled after Finland's Helsinki Central Railway station. Four statues outside. Inside, arched ceiling and six tall oblong coloured panels showing ships and houses and landscapes and the four characters and industries - like a cathedral but modern.

Little India
- Drawings of elephants on corridor walls.

Botanical Gardens
- Panels around entrance about the trees and plants in Singapore.

see www.remembersingapore.org (Tanjong Pagar station)

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/news-and-information-about-crossrail-events

See my posts on London stations, Welsh stations, stations in Hong Kong, and stations in Singapore.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

French words of the day - guests are 'invited'

An easy way to update or keep practising your French is to go to a French speaking branch of Toastmasters International speakers' clubs. We have one in London, there must be several in Canada, and I went to a meeting of Francophone in Singapore.

On most trips to Singapore I have missed the Francophone meeting because they meet only once a month. However, on my last trip to Singapore I was in luck. Their current venue was the Alliance Francaise, a large building on the corner of Sarkies Road, near Newton Circus with the Newton MRT  (underground railway) only yards away. That venue is also near the Sheraton Towers Hotel where the first and biggest English speaking Toastmasters group meets the first three Monday of every month.

The Alliance Francaise ground floor has a reception desk. Alongside are various leaflets and magazines in French or about French events such as the Circle Du Soleil, or French circus.

Upstairs is a cafe, the Olio bites. The decor is a warm red. They sell sandwiches and cheesecake.

I arrived early which gave me a chance to look at the Toastmasters international manual in French, which I borrowed from one of the members who was setting up the room.

Even though I speak French fluently with a good accent, I was amazed how many words were either technical, or current jargon. A practical guide is Un guide pratique. Just looking at the cover of the manual, I am learning new phrases and can keep re-reading and saying the phrases until they are fixed in my mind.

The manual translates Where Leaders Are Made as Où se forment les leaders.

The first word I learned was that guests are called invité. Invited. I was a guest. But not invited! I had invited myself.

You can buy the manual through the Toastmasters International website if you are already a member of if you are setting up a Toastmasters group. (If you are not and have never been a member of Toastmasters International, you need to find a local member to help you set up a group. Area Governors are keen to start new groups and can obtain about 20 starter packs including the manual so that you can hand them out at a meeting if people are ready to sign up instantly for example if you call together a group of people, such as at your workplace.

You don't have to worry about the cost of buying all the starter packs and manuals. Toastmasters International supply a kit for starting a new club if you have a member or Area Governor.

It's most interesting to hear the French language meeting. One of the table topics was about how you would react a b c or d choices, to .... The vital missing word was the French slang or argot for 'tipsy', or merry, or drunk.

Glossary
guest - invite
guide - guide
leaders - leaders
practical - pratique
the (plural) - les
where - où



Angela Lansbury, tutor or English, public speaking, and French. Author, blogger, traveller, photographer.

England's biggest Vineyard, Denbies, what you see on the indoor tour

Denbies tour starts with a film. 

Then you walk along the production wine seeing where the grapes arrived and the barrels.

I liked seeing this old wooden rack and hearing how the bottles used to be turned by hand to shake  the sediment which gradually sank to the top of the upside down bottle.

The guide explained everything so clearly.

Here are some barrels carved decoratively using the old English oak trees which blew down in the storm. English oak is great for building boats and carving. But not much good for storing wines and imparting great flavours, which is why the guides on wine tours make such a fuss about the oak they use (except those wineries which use stainless steel barrels - and say it ames no difference).  Some winemakers want to add a heavy smoky oaky flavour. But light perfumed wines might be better unclouded by the addition of stronger smoky flavours.

Finally, the tasting and testing of the resulting wines. We get to taste three. Three is quite enough. If you are driving you will have to locate a spittoon and spit. If not you can indulge, as I did. I recall the joke, "One more drink and I'll be under the host."

Photos by Trevor Sharot. Copyright Trevor Sharot.

Here I am in the middle, looking distinctly merry.  And very red - I mean my dress.

But the other two ladies look equally happy. Our guide is on the right. (The visitor on the left has a distinctive lopsided hairstyle which I want to copy, if I can summon up the courage.)

I should not have been overwhelmed by alcohol. The wines are relatively low alcohol. 

I loved the wines. The first wine was white called Flint Valley. White with a distinctive aroma. 

The next one was Surrey Gold. Another distinctively perfumed wine. Go back for a sip of the previous wine. Everybody's perception changes. Depending on whether you like very dry or dry wine. Some now think they prefer the previous wine, which they had not enjoyed so much first time round. Others find that the first wine which seemed rather sharp, is now extremely pleasant, just right.

Finally onto the rose wine. Rose Hill rose wine. What a delightful name.

A little dry for me, but I always like rose wine on principle.  Year ago I worked in advertising and wrote copy for Hague Whisky. Their slogan was Don't be vague, ask for Hague. They did research and discovered that after the first glass, drinkers neither knew nor cared what brand or strength was in the second glass. That applied to me when I reached my third small glass of wine.

I think the rose is from the black grape, dornfelder, which you can see pictured in my earlier post. We stopped for another look at the vines on our way home.

Now we can look for the wines in our local supermarkets. Sometimes you will see an own brand wine, with the name Denbies on it. The retail price for the bottles of these wines is £8.99. 

If you want to take the Denbies wine tour, or find out more, go to their website.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186389-d2446652-Reviews-Denbies_Wine_Estate-Dorking_Surrey_England.

Denbies Wine Estate, 
London Road, 
Dorking 
Surrey RH5 6AA 

http://www.denbies.co.uk/visit-us/

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