The Tanglin Club's Terrace Restaurant Invaded by black pigeons: are pigeons problems or picturesque?

 

The Terrace restaurant, Tanglin Club, Singapore 

I have mixed feelings about birds in restaurants. Are they an annoyance?  They are a distraction from conversation.

A black pigeon was having a walkabout, looking for crumbs under tables. Does it have any advantages? You might argue that it saves effort sweeping up and keeps the place tidy and insect free.

Catch

Could you catch and despatch? A large creature like a monkey would be caught by specialists. Monkeys cause dreadful destruction in homes, to curtains and upholstered furniture. 

Do Not Feed

You are asked not to feed monkeys and pigeons because that attracts them.  

Human Woodland Burials

Some people prefer to harmonize with nature. They opt for woodland burials. 

Parsees' Towers Of Silence

The Indian Parsees (the word means from Persia) in Bombay hang their dead from trees to feed the birds. Guides take you to pass the gate at street level, then view the tree tops from afar. A skyscraper built in Bombay overlooked the Towers Of Silence.

Sun Dried

I always imagined that dead bodies would be just hung up, like ghosts. No. The dead bodies are first dried by the sun. So the birds are eating crisps, rather than most meat. If there is not enough sunshine, the bodies are dried mechanically.

Vultures Versus Crows

According to a newspaper report which I read, the vultures in Bombay vanished, killed off by eating carcases of cows which had died from drugs. Crows (and kites) are also carrion eaters, but what the vultures accomplished in days was taking weeks for the crows.

Pigeon Prevention

How about, better still, prevent pigeons from flying in?

Some Hindus opt to be vegetarian on feast days, in honour of particular Gods, sometimes as often as once a week, like Catholics used to abstain from meat on Fridays. I recall having fish or quiche (a savoury egg tart of flan made with eggs and milk but no bacon) for lunch at a Girl's Grammar school in London, on Fridays, in the early (Nineteen) Sixties, It was a council-run Church of England (C of E) state  school, but accommodated Catholic customs. 

Pigeon Pie

What about Pigeon Pie? It is the national dish of Morocco. I discovered that on honeymoon in Morocco. Pigeon mixed with scrambled egg in a flaky pastry pie. Delicious. 

Nowadays, we have an increasing number of vegans and vegetarians worldwide. What about pigeons? Should they be left alone, to thrive?

UK Pigeons

In the UK, especially London, there is a constant battle by the local authorities against pigeons. And again people attracting or defending them. Under bridges the ground is covered with unsightly and slippery gunge. buildings are festooned with horizontal draped netting and spikes.

 You could argue that the birds were here first. Does that apply to inside buildings?

I reckoned I was first in my new kitchen. Cockroaches from adjacent flats or pipework invaded later. I love to hear birds singing on the balcony. When they fly around the room, they are not so much fun. Droppings everywhere because you have scared them. Knocking over crockery and vases. Dirty little feet. Claws on curtains too high to reach, too expensive to keep cleaning.

Netting

In the Tanglin Club's Terrace restaurant, we discussed the possibility of vertical netting. But that would spoil the view. 

Glass?  If the glass was tinted, that would further obstruct the view. If untinted, the birds would fly into it and be injured or killed. Not fair on the birds or the cleaners. Net curtains? They are fashionable in the UK, but not in Asia. Net curtains would capture insects? Just a minute. I have a net curtain on a small window in Singapore. It does not capture anything except dust. So it needs washing.  What about metal lattice arches and drapes?

On balance, we decided that we liked the Terrace the way it was, open to view the scenery. A roof to protect against the sun, with electric fans providing some cooling.

Verdict - Against

On holiday I usually object to birds. Especially if they want to land on the table, walk around abandoned plates, threaten to peck your food, grab your cap, or leave unsightly pigeon droppings on the ground. I remember being annoyed by birds when I was on summer holiday in June 2022 at a coffee shop in Cyprus.

Verdict - For

However, apart from a few crumbs and birds, the Terrace was spotless. The black birds were an entertainment.

Useful Websites

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/nparksbuzz/issue-45-vol-2-2020/lifestyle/recreation-and-activities/what's-that-black-bird

https://www.npr.org/2012/09/05/160401322/vanishing-vultures-a-grave-matter-for-indias-parsis

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/dining/terrace-bistro-bar.html

See my other posts on the Tanglin Club tea lounge.

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Ukrainian Perogi (like ravioli) to eat during Purim, the Feast of Esther, Wednesday 16th March 2022

 Flag of Ukraine

I was just reading about Ukraine, where my paternal ancestors came from. Their national dish, perogi,  is what the Italians call ravioli. 

DIY perogi/ravioli

 You make the pasta envelope with a knife cutting squares which are folded into triangles. Or use a glass to cut circles. Fold them in half over the filling to make triangles. Press the edges together to prevent the filling falling out into the liquid when cooking. You can boil up your dumplings and then fry them.

The dish is popular all over Europe, including Russia, Poland, and Ukraine, as well as among Ashkenazi (Hebrew for German) Jews. Jews in London opened restaurants where you could eat chicken soup containing dumplings. You were offered the choice of kreplach (pasta pockets filled with minced meat) or kneidlach (solid dumplings or balls) - or both. I could not remember which dumplings were solid and which ones were filled, so I ordered both!

Kreplach

Both words, confusingly, start with the letter K. Both end with lach. How can I remember? I have just devised a memory aid. P for pocket. Pasta pocket. D for dumpling. Kneaded dumpling. So, kreplach are pockets, perogi. P.P.P. (Kneidlach are solid, kneaded dumplings. D. D. D.) 

Why Were Jews In the UK?

A wave of Jews came over to the UK from Germany just before WW2. Many of them went into publishing. 

A previous wave came over from Poland. The Russians had pushed out the Jews who went west. Some of them reached the USA. Others got the England's East coast ports of London and Hull. Or they had bought tickets to the USA but were cheated by the ticket sellers and ended up in England. I learned this from a local guide when I visited Hull when I was an active travel writer based in London, England.

The refugees were too tired or poor to travel further. They were welcomed by their compatriots and settled in the UK. Some moved on to the USA and South Africa. Others stayed and made the best of it. When they made money or went into trade and travelled, they moved from the poor East End of London near the port to the fresh air and green parks and big stores of the more expensive West End.

In WW2 the vast losses of Jews were in the concentration camps of Poland. The train lines took them from all over Europe to Poland. But, in any case, Poland is a large country and had pockets of Jews all over. 

When I visited Australia I discovered that borsht, purple beetroot soup, which I associated with Jewish restaurants and delis in London, came from Russia as well as Poland. The Polish version is thick and creamy, with maybe potatoes and cream. The Russian version is a clear soup. I like the Polish version which is familiar to me from the UK.

Dumplings - Perogi

Back to the filled 'dumplings'. To me, the word dumplings implies solid balls. (In the delicatessen-restaurants, such as B & K in Edgware and Hatch End, chicken soup, the solid balls, often made of matzah meal of unleavened bread crackers) are called kneidlach.)  By contrast, the perogi are pockets, are filled balls. Which in B & K would be called kreplach.

Now we come to the Purim connection. At the end of the Wikipedia article on the Ukrainian perogi, I discovered that for Purim, a favoured food is kreplach because of the symbolism of the hidden filling.

Well, now you and I know all about Ukrainian perogi, Purim, and food in the delicatessens and restaurants in London.

DIY Perogi/dumplings/ravioli/kreplach

The semi-circular crimped edges on the larger perogi can be made by pressing with a fingertip. On the tinier ones you can use the ends of a fork (the spokes are called tines). 

Puirim Dates

In 2022, the feast or Purim starts the evening of Wednesday March 16 and continues through the day of Thursday March 17th.  The dates vary each year. The Jewish calendar, like the Moslem and Chinese calendars, is used to calculate the festival dates according to lunar months.

Visit Kiev and Perogi and Kreplach In London, England

Meanwhile you can look at Ukraine and Kiev online. I hope that you and I can one day visit Kiev (the Ukrainians want us to spell it their way, Kyiv). 

Meanwhile, you can enjoy ravioli and think of perogi, and eat kreplach in B & K in Edgware and Stanmore in England and from supermarkets. Whilst Jews and their friends and neighbours in London are enjoying festive foods, such as the kreplach, and triangular pastries with poppy seeds, called Haman's ears, over in the Netherlands you can see a painting of Mordecai.

See The Painting of Mordecai In Amsterdam

If you are in the Netherlands at the Rembrandt museum you can see Rembrandt's painting, of the triumph of Mordecai on horseback. Mordecai was the uncle of Esther, I remembered, but Wiki says her cousin. She was the favourite (secretly Jewish) concubine of the king. (Which king? Ahasueros. When? Five hundred years BC. Where? In Persia, now Iran. So, which king? Maybe Xerxes.)

Mordecai's and Esther's (Purim) Story

Mordecai had warned her that Haman, the king's main adviser, had planned to kill all the Jews in the country, because Mordecai had refused to bow down to Haman as a King. (Frankly, a bad move on the part of Mordecai.) Mordecai, apparently, only bowed down to God, not to a man who was declaring he was God. 

Don't worry about it. The story might simply be a legend. It is in the Apocrypha, the semi-holy books which are not part of the main bible, or to Christians the Old Testament. But the legend, or historical story, is so popular that various groups print it as an extra to the old books of the bible, printed in English nowadays, originally approved by the Council of Trent in about the year 300 after Jesus. 

Back to the story. The heroine, tearful Esther, after starving herself for three days, went unbidden to the king. A dangerous thing to do. Wives had to wait to be called. But the king, sitting chatting to his minister Haman, was pleased by the diversion. Instead of killing her for her effrontery, he beckoned her to sit beside him.  

Haman was sent away, out of the room, or, at least out of earshot. Esther's chance to speak! Esther whispered to the king, that somebody was planning to kill her beloved people!

The king, who wisely, or unwisely, consulted advisers before making a decision. On matters of life and death. He called Haman and asked, 'What should be done with a wicked man?' And, 'What should be done with a man to be honoured!' 

Haman, thinking that he would be the honoured man, said that the wicked man should be killed. But the honoured man should be paraded through the streets on horseback. 

It was done. (Karma.)

So Esther, risking her own life, had saved her people. And her uncle, Mordecai, was honoured. 

Purim

Enjoy the telling of the story, the symbolic food. The classic painting of Rembrandt depicting the Triumph of Mordecai.

Useful Websites

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

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

https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/welsh-cakes-recipe

The Author - Angela Lansbury

Where are the Zoroastrians? (Freddie Mercury was one.)

Where were the Zoroastrians - and where are they now?

The Zoroastrians are 'hiding in plain sight'. Freddie Mercury was one.

They left Persia (now called Iran) after being persecuted under the regime of their time and seeking better living conditions and economy for India where they were known as Parsi, meaning Persian.

Freddie was from a Zoroastrian family. Their religion's only known burial place is an area of Brookwood cemetery in the UK. Freddie could be buried there or in the garden of his home which he left to his ex-wife.

Statue in Montreux, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

BACK GARDEN BURIALS
You can do back garden burials in the UK. I researched this when my parents died. The burial place has to be at least about 80 feet from the back of your house - and any nearby houses, and avoiding water supplies.  So no good if you have a short garden. Also no good if you have a long enough garden but the houses backing onto yours are near your back boundary. If you are interested, check up on the latest regulations in your country.

What can you see?
1 Plaque in London, England
2 Statue in London, England, above the Dominion Theatre
3 Statue in Montreux, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Useful Websites
https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/who-are-zoroastrians
visitengland.
visitbritain
visitlondon
wikivoyage
wikipedia
wikitravel
tripadvisor
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iran
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Iran.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

The Tomb of Esther and Mordecai - in Persia

Tomb of Esther and Mordecai. From Wikipedia.

That's amazing. The tomb of Esther and Mordecai. In Persia. It's a goosebump thought. Dating back to BCE.

Even if Esther never existed. Even if she did but that is the tomb of somebody else. That is a must see sight.

A quick reminder. The story of Purim. In Persia.

If you cannot yet visit, let your fingers do the walking, to quote the advertisement for phone directory, and check it out on the internet.

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

Americans and British travellers can find up to date advice from their own governments on travel to countries all over the world.
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iran
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Iran.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Freddie Mercury, Statue, Burial Place? Brookwood Cemetery, Kensal Green and Zoroastrian Sites to Visit

I first came across the Zoraoastrian sites when I was in Bombay (now called Mumbai) in India. A guided tour took me past the Towers of Silence where Parsees are not buried but suspended on trees to feed the birds and return to nature.

My interest was revived recently when  I saw a film about Freddie Mercury on Singapore Airlines on a flight to Heathrow in London. Freddie was a baggage handler at Heathrow, before he became famous as the singer frontman  of the band Queen.

I read that he was buried by his ex-wife in a secret place, known only to her. When I started researching Freddie's religion, Zoroastrianism, I learned that it was monotheistic.

Curious to know where to go to see and learn more, I tried a google search of Wikivoyage combined with Zoroaster. Up pops the Towers of Silence site in Mumbai. Persia has several notable sites.

Finally, the UK provides a burial section for the Zoroastrians, and several other minority religions, in the vast Brookwood Cemetery, relatively unknown nowadays, although in Victorian times it was the largest cemetery in the world with a regular train service carrying coffins and mourners. I had read about this cemetery when researching for my blog on visiting cemeteries in England, Scotland and worldwide.

When I first read about Freddie being cremated and his ashes scattered, I thought, maybe the sea, or Switzerland which has his statue by Lake Leman in Montreux.

However, now that I have read that the Zorastrians have one cemetery in the UK, that seems to be the logical place.

He is said to be commemorated under an assumed name. So even if I and the rumour are right, there's nothing to see, no stone, and the ashes either buried or cast to the winds (generally forbidden in cities in case your ashes blow over somebody else's white t-shirt or just cause dust.)

However, you might wish to see the place where Zoroastrians are buried. Maybe some of his family and friends are buried here. Apparently his grandmother is buried here.

However, he was cremated at Kensal Green cemetery.

You might wish to include in a Freddie Mercury Sites tour:
His plaque in London.
Kensal Green Cemetery.
Brookwood Cemetery.
Montreux in Switzerland.

https://musicfeeds.com.au/news/freddie-mercurys-final-resting-place-discovered/
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iran

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my previous posts on cemeteries, and Freddie Mercury. Please share links to your favourite posts.