Time Zone Mistake Stories: California; Portugal, Singapore, Kennedy assassination

 After Ronnie died, I phoned his friend in California. Photo of 'violinist Arthur' by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problems
You know what time zone you are on. But when you are catching a plane, or phoing a friend, do you always check the time? We have had several embarrassing moments in my family.

1 Phoning Bad News To California.
2 Phoing the UK from the USA - Kennedy


1 London Calling California

I was going through my late uncle's phone book when I found the address and number of a lady in California. Eureka! Her first name was the one signed on the Christmas letter I had been puzzled over when it arrived at his empty house after he died. I picked up the phone and called straight away.

She was a long time answering. But, finally, after I had already given up hope and was wodnering what to do next, a sleepy voice answered. I thought: she must be having a daytime nap.

I said, in a distressed tone: "Is that Alice?*"

"Yes."

"S-sorry to disturb you, you don't know me, but I'm Angela, in London, and I'm afraid I have - bad news. My uncle Ronnie has d-died."

After a moment's hesitation, she answered, "I'm very story to hear that. I understand how upset you are. Please forgive me, but I can't place how I know your uncle Ronnie - I'm not very awake - it's the middle of the night here in California."

"Oh no!" I answered. "I was so pleased to find your phone number in his address book, I didn't think about the time zones? Shall I ring back later?"

"No. Carry on talking," she said. "I'm wide awake now! I want to know how you got my number? I don't know anybody in London called Ronnie!"

"You must know him because you wrote a long letter to him at Christmas. I couldn't reply because I didn't know your surname or phone number or address. You may have known him by his stage name. He played the violin - and his stage name was Arthur Gerrard."

"Oh, Arthur! Poor Arthur. I'm so sorry. Thank you for telling me."

"Now that you're awake, would you mind telling me how you met him and what you rmember about him?"

Poor lady, I had woken her with bad news in the middle of the night and then kept her talking another hour!

I think of her every time I look at the pictures of Ronnie on my wall. I think of her when I look at the book I wrote about Ronnie.

2 Washing ton DC calling London
When I and my husband and son lived in Rockville, Maryland, just north of Washington DC in the USA, we used to phone home to my parents in London. Timing was critical. The east coast of the USA, depending on the time of year, is much earlier. The first couple of times we came home from an evening out in the USA and phoned my parents in London before we went to bed. It was nigh time in the UK. Whilst they were hapy to hear from us, they got a fright, thinking a disaster had happened, and won't awak enough to listen to our jolly news.

Kennedy Assassination
 I should have rmembered, because when Kennedy died in the afternoon in Dallas, Texas, the TV stations in London were carryignn the news in the evening. I was coming back from my school's evening class when the bus conductress told us the news. She said, "The Merican President has been shot. It must have been the Russians that did it. It's going to be world war three." I was very scared. We had just had a jolly session at my evening calss, on Phikosophy (which i went on to read at University College, London). We had been debating whether it is ever justified to assassinate a leader, if a regime change could bring about good. When I got home, the usual TV programmes had been cancelled. Just a blank screen with a geomateric pattern and music. At intervals, an announcer explained the reason. So I can always remember that the USA is behind the UK, mid-afternoon in the evening in the UK. So don't phone the wrong time!


Answers
1 Check the day and time when phoining from one side of America or Australia to another. Check the of departure and the day of arrival. Check the time zones

(*Name changed.)
For the story on Portugal see previous post.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

July 4 in the USA: what did you and I miss? A quiz for you on the USA.

Map of the USA from Wikipedia.

Problem
I wasn't in the USA on July 4 this year, 2017. The British papers which I read on line, the BBC News and the Daily Mail, did not report much. I found a few people and places in London, such as pubs and American theme restaurants which were offering American food and drink.


In Hatch End we have Baskin Robbins. Their website says:
Headquartered in Massachusetts, USA, Baskin-Robbins is part of Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN) along with sister brand Dunkin' Donuts. 

We are forever indebted to the Americans. I remember going to the USA in 1967 and being astonished to see shops selling several varieties of ice cream. Back in London, England, post-war, an ordinary shop or restaurant only had vanilla ice cream. The top places offered you three sorts, vanilla,  chocolate and, if you were lucky, strawberry.

B, back to July 4th, 2017. It was too late to go there because I was out all day in London at Imbibe at Olympia. I had hardly had time to notice it was the 4th of July, and looking at families with children whose faces are painted feels like I'm introducing on somebody else's family party.

One reason for the shortage of news from the USA on July 4th could be that London, England is five hours ahead of New York. So it's still 1pm, lunch time in New York when Londoners get home from work at 6 pm.  New York is still early evening, 7 pm, if we go to bed in London at midnight, if we stay up that late. The West coast, San Francisco is even further away, timewise.

July 4 Picnic
When I lived in the USA, in Rockville, Maryland, in the late 1980s, on July 4th we went for a picnic on a hillside in the south near the military cemetery overlooking Washington DC.  The fireworks were not until late in the evening, a long wait, and they were far away. Now I understand why we saw so little festivity.

We didn't realise that family picnics are just that, like Christmas Day, a day off work when families can get together. We expected parades or events all day everywhere. Nothing much happened in our park. Just a lot of families having picnics. We would have seen more at home all day enjoying our swimming pool in the morning then watching morning parades from the west coast on TV in the east coast in the afternoon.

Never mind. No point thinking about the past. Learn from that. Plan to be where you can see something happening next time.

Another member of my family had a picnic in Central Park on the 200th anniversary in 1976.

July 4 Plans
Nowadays everything is on line for you to enjoy, even if you are in another city or another continent. So what can you see of the 4th of July celebrations that you missed this year?  What could you look out for or join next year?

Answers
1 Don't rely on other people. For your selfie photos stock up on American flags and face paint and keep everything together in a bag with stars and stripes on it, as you would for Christmas. Note where in your attic or basement the American theme items are kept.
2 Check your dirty ahead and see which clubs are meeting that week so you can suggest an American theme. Bake red white and blue cakes or biscuits or put flags on the food. Ask all your friend to bring red white and blue. Find a flag for your emails, websites, newsletters and blogs.

Quiz on America
Plan a quiz for children or adults on:
1 American states.
2 American state capitals.
3 American Presidents.
4 Who was your favourite American President and why?
5 Which President did the most for America?
6 Which First Lady most inspired you?
7 Make a quiz on American quotations.

My Quiz
1 Which year was the Declaration of Independence? 1666, 1776, 1886, 1996?
2 America declared independence from: Canada, France, Great Britain, Mexico, Russia, South America, all of the above?
3 Who was the first American President? Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy, Washington?
4 Who are the four Presidents on Mount Rushmore? Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, ....?
5 The National anthem is: America the beautiful. The Star Spangled Banner.
6 The motto is: All for one and one for all. In God We Trust.
7 Where is Mount Rushmore? Washington state? Colorado? North Dakota? South Dakota?
8 Which of these states are on the west coast? California. Washington. Oregon. California. New Mexico? Alaska?
9 Which of these states are on the East coast? New York. Virginia. West Virginia. Florida. Texas. South Carolina, North Carolina. Maryland. R h o d e Island. Massachusetts. New Hampshire. Vermont. ...?
10 Which of these states border Mexico? New Mexico. Texas. California? ...?
11 Which states border Canada? New York State. Michigan. Washington State. North Dakota?
12 Name an American film star who became a President.
13 How many American states are there? And how many stars on the American flag?
14 Name an American female film star with the initials M M.
15 Name an American singer with the initials E P.
16 Buffalo wings are made of what? Chicken. Buffalo.
17 Which American President said: the business of America is business.
18 Which President said: Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
19 Name three to ten ten tourist sights in the USA in NY, Washington DC, Dakota. Add one American connected site in London, England.
20 Name the previous and current presidents of the USA.

Answers
1 1776
2 Great Britain. Being independent, all of the above also applies, but specifically America wanted independence from Britain. (And from the taxes. Remember the Boston Tea Party?)
3 The first President was Washington. Maybe that's why the capital is called Washington DC. Maybe that's why there is a Washington state, but no state named after others.
4 George Washington. Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Jefferson. Theodore Roosevelt.
5 The Star Spangled Banner.
6 In God We Trust. All for one and one for all is from the novel The Three Musketeers.
7 South Dakota.
8 See map above. I can tell you. But you will remember better if you look at the map and memorise it.
9 See map above.
10 See map above.
11 New York state - of course, Niagara Falls is both sides.
12 President Reagan
13 How many states in the USA, 50, (although some say, 52, but only if you count 'territories' etc, Puerto Rico, and Washington DC. The stars on the American flag are therefore 50. (13 stripes - recalling the early days of the USA.)
14 Marilyn Monroe.
15 Elvis Presley.
16 Chicken. The dish of chicken wings was invented in Buffalo. I discovered this when I lived in the USA. At the Grand canyon we saw lots of Buffalo. Buffalo wings was on the menu. I was disappointed when I got chicken and not Buffalo. I complained that the server had brought the wrong dish. She thought I was crazy. I discovered my error a year later when I met a lady from Buffalo and asked her if her state had any national dish. Thinking about it, I still blush and wince and cover my mouth and shake my head and tut and run my hands through my hair.
17 President Calvin Coolidge.
18 President J F Kennedy.
19 Statue of Liberty. Mount Rushmore. Lincoln Memorial. Washington Memorial. Benjamin Franklin House museum in London, England.
20 Barack Obama. Donald Trump.

Use as many questions as you like, one, five, ten, or fifteen. Add your own questions. Award prizes or certificates or titles such as Top of the Class and Last But Not Least or Last But Not Lost. (I just made up 'last but not lost'. If you use it, please attribute it to me.)

You can use the quiz to entertain the family when travelling by car or train or plane, having a party or picnic or when hiking. You could make prizes for the winners, which a small certificate. Or list everybody's score and time answering.

On July 4, 2017, I did a competition at Imbibe exhibition at Olympia, London, on the WSET stand. (WSET stands for Wine and Spirits Education Trust.) I was immensely pleased to have my name up on the wall.  Even if everybody's name is on the wall, and you are last, your name is still on the wall.

Photo of Angela Lansbury Proudly Pointing to Her Name on the Top of the Class board at WSET stand at Imbibe, London, July 4, 2017, England. 

Tips For What To See In The USA or UK on July 4

Morning - see parades in person or on TV news. Parades:

Evening - see fireworks. Fireworks: San Francisco. New York.

All Day: Lights on Miami Tower in Florida.

MORE INFORMATION FROM

http://www.baskinrobbins.co.uk

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

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

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

US visitor and visa information:

https://uk.usembassy.gov/visiting-united-states/

https://www.visitbritain.com/gb/en

http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org

https://americanmuseum.org (near Bath, England, UK)

WSET

http://www.westlondonwineschool.com/catlist.

Imbibe.com

FLIGHTS

www.virginatlantic.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Author of Quick Quotations (Lulu.com)
Author of Who Said What When (Lulu.com)
My two previous posts are on the IMBIBE exhibition and one post mentions Prince Charles and Camilla. If you work for a tourist board please keep me updated with new attractions, museums, hotels, restaurants, films and books. I have several other posts on Benjamin Franklin, quotations, the USA, and London, England and tourism worldwide, everything from monuments to tips on packing your suitcase. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Art on the Underground Railway Stations of Hong Kong

The giant apple on the concourse of Kennedy Town MTR station in Hong Kong was a photo opportunity too good to miss.

Why is the area called Kennedy? Was the apple related to the Big Apple (advertising and marketing nickname for New York) or the Apple computers, phones and watches?

Days later, after leaving Hong Kong, going through my photos, I looked up the origin and meaning of the statue.

The split apple represents the past and future of the area. Inside the apple are the seeds. hand prints of local people passing by are on the outside. The material is stainless steel. It is named Blooming Bud.

You can read about the artworks on all the stations in Hong Kong.

More details from:
http://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/community/art_archi_ket_blooming.html