Tequila and Tonic Talk For Travellers

 Tequila is made from the blue agave plant which grows around the Mexican city of Tequila. Like Champagne and many other names of drink and food there are restrictions on who or where or what ingredients can be used to produce and put on the label of products using what is sold under that name, although different copanies can also trademark brand anames for their company's production, or quality using different amounts of the local plant or product. 

The Blue Agave Plant

Tequila has to be made from the blue agave plant.

Blue Agave plant.

It reminds me of the aloe vera I used to grow on the balcony of the last place I lived in Singapore. Long leaves with a sharp point. Fleshy inside. The agave fans out like a fan shaped palm. It grows in Mexico and the Caribbean.

It would be the drink to try in Mexico. But you don't have to travel all that way to try it.

BCB London

 I tried it at the BCB bar and beverage trade show in July at Tobacco Docks in Eaast London.  The next event in the UK is next July. Others are held in Berlin and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

You can buy it online at amazon.co.uk and numeraout other online suppliers and physical supermarkets in the UK and worldwide.

I reseaarched online to see how you drink it. Like many other spirits, it is strong, high alcohol content.  So you don't drink it neat but add something else. A popular spirit drink is  gin and tonic. You can do the same mix with tequila, the nicely alliterative and memorable tequla and tonic.

I than researched tonic, good or bad. Tonic was originally drunk for a good, medicinal reason, against malaria, (prevention or cure?) . However, like any drug, you must know the dosage and not overdo it. For me tequila would be drunk only as part of a cocktail and only once a week, on one day, or evening, such as Saturday, or sometimes Sunday. 

Obviously, if you are running a bar, restaurant, or events, you are serving it to others on a daily basis. The recipe which popped up online when I serached was easy to remember, 2 oz of tequila, 6 of tonic. Garnich with a slice of orange. For fun, on festive occasions, I like a cocktail to have a teeny paper parasol.

For Non Drinkers

To me one of the advantages of the orange slice or umbrella is that a non-drinkers drink resemblers the alcoholic drink. Crating a shared experience. 

I have a grand-daughter aged four who wants to drink what we are drinking. So we give her a glass of water or juice with a little decorative paper umbrella and she is very happy. Giggles all around.

You don't have to travel to Mexico to drink Tequila. You can buy it in the UK from Amazon.co.uk or from off licenses. 

What is an off license?

I remember as a teenager being puzzled when my father spoke about buying drinks from an off license.

An off license has a license to sell sealed bottles and cans of drinks off the premises, essentially a shop, not a place where staff have to be trained how to serve alcohol. You might describe it as a bottle shop.

Spelling  license and licence

In British English the verb is spelled with an s, the same as the Americans, but the noun in spelled licence, using the C twice. Linguistis would notice that tonic ends with an ick sounnd, rhyming with brick. Adding the letter e after c makes the soft s sound.

Tonic

The tonic added to tequila has the benefit of making the sstrong drink drainkable, and a longer drink. Why bother with the proportions? Surely more tonic is better? No. Why? Because too much tonic dilutes not just the alcohol but also the flavour. A customer or guest might think they had been cheated, or that the server was ignorant, or running out of alcohol. 

Tonic can contain sweetener which could be bad for your health (e.g. diabetes) or affect your weight loss diet. 

So, the more you know, the more you can get the drink just right for the drinker. And plenty to discuss over your drinks and food.

Whilst listening to the original recording of the song Tequila by band, The Champs. And numerous other songs about Tequila.

If you do get to Tequila in Mexico, you can learn about the drink from The National Museum of Tequila, and from distilleries.

A hotel has the historic wheel used to grind up the plants, which is now done mechanically.

Tequila Factory. Picture from Wikipedia.

There's lots more to learn about tequila. Many brands to try. Different version of tequila, . Assorted cocktails. 

Blue agave field. Photo from Wikipedia.

Tequla pinapples in oven. Photo from wikipedia.

Useful Websites

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323692

https://www.quora.com/Should-a-foreigner-coming-to-Brazil-first-visit-S%C3%A3o-Paulo-or-Rio-de-Janeiro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tequila_(The_Champs_song)#

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

Cyprus, on a cheap Ryan Air flight from Stansted, super seats

Sunny Cyprus, is a popular holiday destination, an island on the Eastern end of the Mediterranean sea (the word Mediterranean means middle of the territory or land). 

From Stansted you can fly from the UK to Cyprus (and many other European cities) on 'budget' Ryan Air. Booking early means you can get those cheap flights. People who booked a day or two before the flight had to pay a premium.

Stansted was very busy in May 2022, with the world opening up to travellers, business, family reunions and holidays after Covid-19. Welcome signs greeted everybody on arrival. We had booked meet and greet valet services (which still require a bit of a trundle to their reception with your hand luggage on wheels).

Ukrainians Welcomed

 Inside the airport were welcome signs under the blue and yellow horizontal oblongs of the Ukraine flag. The kiosk for them offered help with accommodation, transport and more. I was glad for them.

Well-organized England. It made me feel glad to be British, because we were organized. But also, a relief to be on a holiday, a holiday maker, not a refugee. 

Fine Food

We had cautiously arrived early. Our early arrival left time for a delicious chicken sandwich from Marks & Spencer. 

On board we had pre-booked a hot meal which was surprisingly good. The Thai green curry did not look like the picture which showed the ingredients but was very tasty. I had a glass of Prosecco.

We had no films to watch. The seats did not recline. That is Ryan Air. Nothing like the luxury of Singapore Airlines which charges everybody a lot more.

Money Saving

We also saved money by not booking the priority booking - which was very popular, the larger hand luggage with overhead locker space, and choosing who to sit next to and where on the plane.

Wonders of the Window Seat

I got moved around and ended up in a window seat, although I find the aisles less claustrophobic. I thought, it's a cheap flight. Just go with the flow. I was rewarded with great window photos of the clouds and wings of the plane showing the airline name.

Our flight was slightly delayed, so we arrived at 1.30 pm UK time instead of 1 pm, which was 3 pm Cyprus time.

We took a taxi from the Paphos airport, although we had an Avis hire car the next day. Taking a taxi was costly, but saved us having to drive in the dark and find our small hotel. 

Stansted Spelling

Yes, the spelling of the airport is Stansted. Sted. Not Stead. If you don't have a flight ticket to check, you can easily check by typing it into Google, Chrome, and seeing what comes up.

In Cyprus, at Pahpos, the first night hotel was a delight. See my next post.

How To Make Your Posts and Pictures Popular. Why Should You Read And Update Your Old Posts?

I looked at the numbers of readers of my posts and which posts they were reading. I found that an old post on Esperanto was still relevant and attracting lots of readers.


Esperanto flag. Photo from Wikipedia.

 I keyed into blogger.com (the page for creating posts, blogspot is for reading posts) the search word on Esperanto. My search brought up all my posts on the subject. I thought, let's have a look at the popular post.

I took a set of steps to improve my old posts:

1 Correct Spelling And Typing Errors
When I read my old posts I spotted one or two typing errors.  (I am getting typing errors as I type this post. I just corrected 'of' to 'or' in that sentence I just typed. Then I started the next sentence without a capital letter. The word 'sentence' keeps coming out as sentance. You have to keep correcting as you type if you type fast as I do.)

2 Correct Grammar
So, step one was correcting the spelling and punctuation.

As I read through, I found that I had sentences using the word they, which could refer to either the speakers of a language or the words they spoke. Oops - I had to change 'they' to 'speakers' or 'words ' for clarity.

Wikipedia
The Wikipedia entry was not clear. I changed it, although I left in the acknowledgement, and pointed out that I had changed the text for clarity. So my post was not just repeating but improving on the original.

I love Wikipedia. It gives me copyright free photos.

Grammarly
The next check was for correct and understandable grammar. I use Grammarly. Some writers type  their posts elsewhere, in Word, do a Grammarly spelling and grammar check, then load up the corrected version to the blog.

3 Add Transitions
Finally, in my post's text at the end I had jumped suddenly from learning the language to places to visit. it was like reading two unconnected posts. I needed to add a transition or bridging sentence.

Time Spent Updating
I had now spent 15 minutes, 30 minutes, changing an old post, rather than writing a new one for today.

4 Ideas For New Posts
However, I had a new subject for a post. The language Ido, I had mentioned but not in detail. A little known artificial language. A totally minority subject. 

5 Note Relevant And Popular Subjects
I then considered my method in updating. What is gratifying is that when I look back at old posts, I find the content still relevant. Been there, done that. I know it all, but new readers are finding it interesting.

6 Add New Skills In Creating Posts
Why rewrite, or write another post? Because my grasp of what to do to make a post interesting is improving.

So after writing the text of this post, I add photos, references to other websites, and references to my other websites.

7 Add Keywords For Text
In blogger, they are called labels. As I edit and save I add keywords.

8 Add Keywords For Photos
Click on your photos. Up pops options including the boring word properties. This is really very exciting. It is labels or keywords to help photo searches find the photo in your post. So adding the word bagel to my picture of bagels will send readers interested in bagels to my post on buying bagels from Brick Lane in East London, England.

9 Link Your Posts
Link your earlier posts to later posts.

10 Focus On The Reader
I know to focus not on myself but on what the readers want. So I shall end this post with a focus on you. I hope this helps you as a writer of your own posts and reader of my posts.

11 Focus On Readers You Want
I can see that I have lots of readers in the USA, Russia and Italy. I can go through all my posts ensuring that I mention these three area of the world, to keep my readers interested in other posts and becoming regular readers.

On the other hand, supposing I have only a few readers in Singapore. I could add a post on Singapore. Or link each post on Singapore to another. Or refer to Singapore in posts on other subjects. Add labels or tags to Singapore. Add flags of Singapore.

Here are some links to subjects I have mentioned in this post and often in my posts.

Some of My Popular Posts And Esperanto Posts
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/how-to-learn-esperanto-easy.html

Useful Websites
Duolingo.com


About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages.

Memory Aids For Learning Languages Including Hebrew

The free language learning website Memrise uses mnemonics to help you learn vocabulary. I looked up mnemonics in Wikipedia and was especially interested in their sections on languages and spelling.























Esperanto flag.

Esperanto
Regarding languages, Esperanto is a language which follows rules with no exceptions, and looks a bit like Spanish.

A rival but less popular language takes words which are common to many languages.

One way of making memory aids (called mnemonics) is to create a memorable dramatic visual sentence linking the word in Eglish (or your native language) with the word you wish to learn in the news language.

Israel flag.


Hebrew Examples:
..................
Oh hell, What is in
 my tent.

Ohel is Hebrew for tent.

What a beautiful building. I would like to buy it.
Hebrew for building is beit.

If you use Memrise which is free you can save your own memory aids and see suggestions from other learners.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mnemonics#Languages
English spelling aids, general and specific words
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mnemonics


About the author
Angela Lansbury is the author of Quick Quotations.

Prepare for Meeting People with Magic Memory Aids - alliteration of place and people names, repeated letter

Prepare for meeting people by creating an alliteration for their names. This will help you remember their name. Dazzling Dan. You can create a memory aid for the whole name, easier if it is a short name.

PEOPLE NAMES AND ALLITERATION

BEN
Brilliant
Efficient
Nice

My friend Lynda, spelled with a Y.
Yes - Lynda is spelled with a Y.

Carole, spelled with an E.
Carole, yEs, CarolE, spEllEd with an E.

Carol, nO e.

Jon without an H - simple, straightforward, time-saving Jon.

John with an H. He is my Happy JoHn.

These alliterations help you remember both the name and its spelling. Say it three times, look at it, type it out three times.

Send them a message on Facebook, Twitter, email, messenger, each time noting the name and its spelling.  re-read three messages from them, noting the spelling. Tell your family, friends and co-workers how the name is spelled. By this time you should have imprinted it on your memory. Next time they write to you, notice the spelling and reinforce the memory.

When visiting places connected with famous people you also need correct spellings. For example Freddie Mercury. Freddie - I know his first (fIrst, Ist, name ends with IE; but mercurY ends with Y - I wonder why.

CITY NAMES AND MAGIC LETTER MEMORY AIDS
I have just named this system Magic Letter Memory Aids. If you use this title please quote Angela Lansbury's Magic Letter Memory Aids. If I find that it is popular I shall add more city memory aids.
You can do the same trick with people names and place names letters to help remember place names of cities you are visiting or plan to visit.

Hanoi - Magic Memory aid
For example
HaNoi in the North of VietNam.

HA ha - HA-Noi in the North. NOrth.
Where? Oi - HanOI is in the nOrth. Last letter Is I.

Saigon / Ho Chi Minh city - Memory Aid
Saigon in the South (of Vietnam) was renamed Ho Chi Minh city. (The c in city resembles the sound of the s in Saigon and the South.   How do you remember Ho Chi Minh - ho ho ho, I'll check in a MINute, Ho ho ho. HO, ho, ho, not CHInese but VietnaMese in the south of Vietnam. Ho Chi Min - MINd you treat Him with respect - remember the H; He is the national Hero.

See Ho Chi Minh sites in the north, in Hanoi, and in the South, in Ho Chi Minh city.
Ho Chi Minh was the northern revolutionary leader. The family name is Ho, a common name in the country. Chi means will, Chi - remember chI - in English is will wI - ll. Minh is translated into English as light, which also has a silent h. A minute of light or in a minute we will have light.

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Vietnam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_City

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/02/where-are-zoroastrians.htmlosts on Vietnam. See my  Please share links to your favourite posts.

Revelation! Why English spelling does not match the sounds you hear and should say

If you want to write a language the way you hear it, try learning Malay-Indonesian or Esperanto. Apparently Russian is pretty consisten as well.

A lot of jokes are made about English spelling, in fact whole humorous poems are written about English spelling, challenging anybody who does not speak English.

When I used to consider this question of irregular English spelling, and how it fails to match what is said, especially after I was asked by pupils, I used to condiser the cause was the variety of languages which ae the source.

Now I have a different theory to include in my repertoire of reasons. The Wikipedia explanation goes on for ages and is very complicated. To sum it up in no more than a sentence or two: In the Middle ages pronounciation changed, possibly after French influence declined. Wards caused anti-French feeling and words were given Anglicised pronounciation. Howere, the old spelling was retained. Look at it another way, pronunciation changed but spelling did not change.

Now you know. if you are trying to understand others, or to teach English in an overseas country, here are your points of reference.

Simple Wiki is too simple. Just a couple of setnences. It gives the authors who are the source of this theory, and the time period when the change allegedly occurred, but does not give any examples.

More Information From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, teacher and trainer, specilist in the English language, aspiring polyglot (speaker of many languages).

How To Design Travel Or Memoir Book Covers, CreateTitles & Write Foreword On The Phone

Problem
I am always travelling and don't have time to meet everybody. My friend calls me for advice on publishing her book on club history - the year when she was president. I previously helped her design the cover and layout for her book of self -published poems. She wanted me to write a Foreword. However, I didn't have time to meet.

Answer
MEETING TIME
Luckily, she didn't have time to meet, either. So I suggested: "I could give you advice by Skype or phone at a later date."

MEETING ON THE PHONE
She replied, "Why not now? It'll only take ten minutes!"

In reality that meant about half an hour on the phone. That was a lot better than meeting 'just for half an hour', which last time took five hours!

WRITING A FOREWORD
So I started giving her advice on the phone. Last time I wrote a foreword, I thought it would be difficult. In reality, it's easy. You just write like you talk. Give your comments. Say them aloud. Type it out. Read it back and correct it.

TYPING UP NOTES
I thought: It's no good my taking notes. I'll lose the notes, forget. I'll be busy packing for a trip. Or unpacking from a trip. By the time I find the notes, I won't be able to read my writing and won't remember enough to reconstruct the sentences. It'll never get done. I'll type it up now, in an email, and send it to her straight away.

TYPING AS YOU TALK
I said, "I want to type it now as we speak, and send it to you. I'll type it out, correct it - and send it to you - later.""

"No," she protested. "I'll type it as you speak."

That was a great offer, saved me all the time and anxiety. I could think and speak without having to type.

So I conceded, "All right, I'll tell you what I think. You say if it's all right."

She read me the contents list of the book. I made comments such as: You cover a lot of ground. That would be useful to everybody.

She typed it up in the third person:
"Angela said: 'This book covers a lot of ground. That would be useful to everybody.  ...' "

SPELLING CHECK
One of the things I was concerned about was that the words I said would appear correctly spelled. I was glad to receive an email from her almost immediately, thanking me and adding the write-up of my words for me to check.

Learned and Learnt
I notice Grammarly has underlined spelled in red. I looked up 'learnt' and 'learned' and learned that you could spell it both ways. Learned ending in ed is increasingly common.

The only thing wrong with the spelling ending in ed, is that people in Asia read what they see and pronounce the word learn - Ed.

However, I was happy with the foreword. So far, so good.

COVER DESIGN
Next, we discussed the cover. She wanted one of her two books to have a plain cover with just the title.

I was not happy with that. Covers sell. Pictures sell.

PRINT SIZE
However, I was able to give her a suggestion about the print size. I had discovered that when you look for a book on line, it often appears with other books which have similar titles. Your book is shown postage stamp size alongside others. If your book has a tiny font, when reduced from A5 to postage size, the title is too small to read. Even if you can just about make it out, it doesn't have the impact of a short title.

SHORT TITLES HAVE IMPACT. 
SHORT TITLES HAVE IMPACT.
SHORT TITLES HAVE IMPACT.
Short titles have impact.
Short titles have impact.
Short titles have impact.
How to create short titles.
How to create short titles.
How to create short titles.
How to create short titles.
HOW TO CHOOSE FONTS.
HOW TO CHOOSE FONTS.
Why you should avoid long titles which can be hard to read and take longer to type.

TEN TIMES 

I WAS NEARLY MURDERED IN MEXICO!

WHAT ABOUT THE WORDING OF THE TITLE?
People in marketing and copyright advise you to use tricks to improve the title:

USE NUMBERS
1 For example: The seven habits of highly effective poeple. Or should it be: Seven Habits ... Save three letters by dropping the? Seven Greek Islands. The Top Ten Beaches.

ASK OR ANSWER QUESTIONS
2 How to .... (How to write books which sell.) How to find a houseboat.

EMOTIONS
3 They laughed when I sat down to play. The Hammock House Which Makes Me Happy.

SURPRISES, NEGATIVES & HUMOUR
4 How not to write a novel. Ten holidays from hell to avoid - for people in wheelchairs.

RESEARCH
I suggested: Do a search of your subject and title. See how length of a title appears when the book is small.

SHORTEN TITLES
Let's suppose your title is three words: Learn with love. You could have it as one line.  Increase the size until it runs onto two lines.

I was thinking about this as I recently put together a slide show in Keynote (Apple system) and Powerpoint (using both to be shown on any computer in a presentation). The text box was very narrow. I kept losing one word to the line below or losing the entire second line until I expanded the text box. As a result of that experience, I was reminded to advise:

To shorten the title often makes the title more succinct. For example, Learn with love could be changed to Love To Learn. That save two characters. Or shorten to Love Learning. That's alliterative.

FIRST WORD AND WORD SEARCH
But which word do you want to come first, love or learning? Try search love learning and learn to love and find how often you get books on learning and how often you get books on loving. You might need to put the word Learning first.

ALPHABETICAL ORDER
You might find that you want a title starting with a letter earlier in the alphabet to ensure that if books are listed alphabetically, yours appears first. Look at the best selling books and see what kind of title is most effective.

AVOID CONFUSION
You might want to avoid having the same title as a best selling book. When people search for your book they cannot find it They end up buying somebody else's book instead.

Even if my ideas did not apply to her book and title, she had made two gains:
1 She knew how to research rival books to spot what was successful and which she liked when she saw a cover in print.
2 She had a chance to talk through her ideas and get feedback and re-think her own decisions.

SUCCESSFUL PHONE CONFERENCING
We did so much - just on the phone.  So don't worry about not being able to meet when travelling. You don't need to worry about expensive phone calls or awkward to arrange conference calls with delayed sound. You can accomplish a lot just by dictating down the phone to each other.

Finish the job in five minutes. Type as you go and send the email for correction. If you could record on a smart phone using Siri, or voice recognition, it might be even better.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author of about 20 books. How many? I have so many on the go, I lose track.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Update

Who Said What When

Accurate English and Correct Spelling

Grammar

I find Grammarly very helpful. It often adds a comma after a words such as however when I have used ti to start a sentence.  If you are writing a speech, or reading aloud to check the sense, the commas indicate pauses.

Spelling

I love looking at word lists and spelling errors. The funniest I've found today was deity wrongly spelled diety. I am diety but not a deity.


Common Spelling Mistakes
wrong - right (depeding on context)

compliment (praise and flattery) - for complement (part of the matching whole or set)
complimentary (free) - complementery (part of the set, matching, going with it, completing)
dairy - diary
stationary (cars) - for stationery (letters)

Useful Websites

grammarly.com

https://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Common-Spelling-Mistakes-when-Writing-a-wikiHow-Article

https://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Spelling-Rules

https://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Common-Misspellings

https://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Spelling-Tips-and-Tricks

NB Many websites use American English and some of the words they list as wrong spelling would be correct if you were writing British English for a British speaking audience.

Author

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

How To Sign Certificates For Contests Neatly

Problem
You are attending a contest and somebody has to sign a certificate. Who should sign? Who has the best handwriting?

Answers
Eight ways to write names neatly on certificates:

1 Print names of contestants / participants on certificates in advance.

2 Chief judge brings two rulers for base line and top line of writing to ensure writing is level and even. 

3 Or mark two horizontal lines in pencil and rub out afterwards, gently, holding corners of paper with white paper to avoid fingermarks, using very soft rubber - putty rubbers about £1 from art shops / Wilko.

4 Ask all judges to submit a sample of John Smith while you are out of the room and ask judges to vote which writing is neatest and get that person to sign.

5 Bring scrap paper and Italic pen and ask the person signing to practice writing neatly, three times, copying a printed version of the names with correct spelling.

6 Insist that anybody signing a certificate writes their own name neatly and with every letter clear, not just a squiggle.

7 If you are chief judge/president, practise writing all the names in advance and your own.

8 Create a letterbox template large enough for the longest name so that the signature kept within it looks neat.

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

How To Read Your Own Handwriting From Your Last Trip - and reach today's destination

Problem
Nothing more annoying than coming home from holiday with indecipherable notes. What was the name of the restaurant? How do you spell it? What did I say about it at the time?

Answers
Take self-captioning photos as soon as you reach a destination:
The welcome signpost of the city.
The hotel name on the door.
The menu in the restaurant.
Your new friend's business card.
Their name surreptitiously written on the corner of the paper table napkin.
If you can't spell their name, ask them to write it and keep the paper.
Label photos with names at the time or the same evening.

On the plane or the way home, go through hand-written notes and write any unclear words and proper names in capitals above the lower case handwriting.

As soon as possible, type up your handwritten notes.

Reading Handwriting
Join up the writing. Dot the 'i's and cross the 't's.

Keep a record of your own handwriting common confusions. For example, here are mine in alphabetical order:
First is what the letter looks like, then what I actually meant to write

h=k
i=t
l (looped) = u
l (short) = r
l = uncrossed t
m=n or ni or in with the dot missing
n=o
n=m
r=t
u=o
v=i
w=rs (yourself looks like yoivself)
backslash is r
forward slash is r or t

Able label used to have a guide to how you should write letters when ordering address labels. A common mistake was ambiguous letters and number, failure to distinguish 6 from L and so on.

1 I cross a seven, European style, to distinguish it from one.

2 I trained as a sub-editor, and in proof-reading, so I am used to underlining capital letters.

3 I write the surname in capitals. This is helpful in Asia where the surname comes first. I also write the surname in capitals. LEE Kuan Yew tells me that his surname is Lee. Lee is not his first name.

I often accidentally write phone numbers with the zero with a gap in the top so it could be a six. To avoid confusion, I go back over a number and check with the original and then make the number clearer.

4 I make a point of joining up a zero at the top.

5 I join up the six with a small circle at the bottom and a large semi-circle on top.

6 You could alternatively write a dot under a six and a line above a zero.

7 Nowadays I often find email addresses won't operate because you have typed in an elongated zero 0 instead of a wider capital O or vice versa. If website addresses don't link up, check your typing.

8 Writing slowly helps. I often write fast when I am not in a hurry and when it is more important to get the number right.

9 If you are rushing to get off the train and say goodbye, say the number out loud, keep repeating it to yourself, then check your writing after you have waved goodbye.

10 Copy handwritten notes on names, addresses and phone number into your phone immediately. Don't rely on hand-written notes in your pocket, often lost amidst other bits of paper. List the day's contacts from the agenda in your mobile phone.

I do this, mainly so that if I get lost en route, I have the name of the club president to phone and check directions.

Ring Tom
I once spent hours wondering who I meant by an instruction ring tom. Who was Tom? I did not know any Tom. Maybe it was Tim? I solved the mystery when I wrote the same thing again later in the day. Ring tom was an abbreviation for ring Ring tomorrow.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In.

About Angela Lansbury, travel writer

About

About and Contact Details
Who am I?

I am Angela Lansbury - yes, that's my real name. If it sounds familiar to you, that because there's at least one other. Somebody once asked me, Are you THE Angela Lansbury. I replied, as far as I and my family are concerned, yes, I am THE Angela Lansbury. There is another one.

At that time two Angela Lansbury ladies existed, me and the actress. We have more than just the name in common. We both had fathers from the East End of London, but spoke perfect, clear English,  and we both had a son called Anthony. And we both wrote.

I discovered there was a third writer called Angela Lansbury. She wrote fiction and I wrote practical books. My dream was to write fiction, to be a classic author, like Charlotte Bronte.

My latest look at LInkedIn revealed that the numbers of people called Angela Lansbury had risen to thirteen. I wrote earlier about the pleasure and problems and confusion when more than one person has the same name. Equity won't allow it. They don't want payments going to the wrong person. Singapore insisted that you give your NRIC number, and ID number, like a passport number, as proof of identity. In England doctors and banks and insurance companies tend to use your birthday as a second way of ascertaining who is who.

Books
I am a travel writer. I write articles about travel. I have written about twenty books. The first book I wrote was Enquire within Upon Travel and Holidays.

Ten of my books were published by mainstream publishers. I have self published another ten and I always have there or four books not he go.

You can read about me and my books on www.Amazon.com and www.Lulu.com

Contacts
If you want to meet me, I belong to two Toastmasters Speakers Groups in London, (usually your first two or three meetings are free). In Singapore I belong to another club and go to a club every night, speaking, or evaluating speeches or judging competitions.

Messages
If you want to send a message, I am on Facebook and LinkedIn. I am more likely to reply if you can write a sensible, grammatically correct sentence and spell correctly, which is quite likely if you have read this far. If your fist language is not English, I suggest you get the free ad Grammarly which checks both grammar and spelling. That ap includes punctuation.
www.linkedin.com
www.facebook.com
www.grammarly.com

Like most people I prefer praise to blame, though I am always interested in extra information and the polite correction of an occasional error which we hope gets spotted by one person before all the others have seen it.

If there's a place you would like to know about I can research it. If there's a book you would like me to write, please tell me. It's always encouraging to know a book has at least one potential reader.

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

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TEACHING OVERSEAS, qualifications, grammar, spelling, time management

If you are a native English speaker you can get work by teaching English. I am going to tell you how solve problems which plagued me for years.

PROBLEMS
1 QUALIFICATIONS
How to get qualified - to learn to teach fast

2 GRAMMAR & SPELLING

3 SETTING TIMES
One hour tutorials and two or three hour workshops can spill over time. What could you do?

4 KEEPING IN TOUCH
How do you evade people who are a nuisance or dangerous?
How do you keep in touch with people who you like and/or could be useful later?

ANSWERS
1 QUALIFICATIONS
INSTANT ENGLISH
You can do a course full-time over a year or longer, in the evenings, at weekends, or as a crash course in about a month.

To get paid work in a school you might need a TEFL course or similar qualification.
You can learn a foreign language for free by having an hour with somebody who wants to learn English

2 GRAMMAR & SPELLING
Use Grammarly.

3 SETTING TIMES
If you travel times are too long for you, get pupils to come to you or your area, or meet in a central place.
At first I would teach for an hour, then spend another ten minutes setting homework. If you teach for an hour you could set a silent buzzer to warn you when 50 minutes is up and then start setting homework.
If pupils outstay their welcome or constantly arrive late, make it clear at the outset that another pupil will arrive on the hour after their hour. Or tell them that you have to leave for another appointment and get a family member or neighbour or colleague to arrive and call you away.

4 KEEPING IN TOUCH
To guard privacy, make your contact through an intermediary, such as a college or employer.
This is also a way to keep in touch. You could tell somebody that when you move house they can keep in touch through your employer.

Conversely, if you think you might change jobs, or countries, you can give the pupil or friend a home phone number.

Story
I tried to trace an old friend (both of us moved countries) through his current employer (an American Company with an office in Asia). The employer took my details but said my friend was away on leave and they could not release his details to me until he came back and agreed that he was willing to do so. Of course, when he came back he was delighted to be in touch. But they had done the right thing.

Once you start taking the steps, you are on the road to success.

Tips
Take a look at these. I use Grammarly and it is very handy at picking up typos.
http://grammarly.com
http://tefl.org.uk
http://www.teachinghouse.com
https://www.tefl.net/elt/articles/training-articles/avoid-tefl-course/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages.

I Forgot Packing List

Problem
You always forget something, even when you make a packing list.

Answer
Keep a list of things you forgot previously - and where you left them and why.

Stories
My I Forgot Packing List

My passport
1 At home - I was so busy making sandwiches for the trip down to Dover I forgot my own passport.

2 Visiting our au pair girl in France, I left behind in my hotel bedroom my passport hung on the back of a chair.

3 visiting the USA, I left behind my passport in the box art security.

My Underwear
On a trip across Russia to Japan, I had only one set of underwear which I was wearing for a four week trip.

Sunglasses
On a trip to a ski resort I forgot sunglasses. Sunglasses are not just for summer. Snow is blinding white. I found it a nuisance to have clip over sunglasses on sighted glasses, and the same applies to goggles. Now I order photochromic lenses, so I can never go on a trip without sunglasses.

(Not photo chronic, photo chromic. I must remember to check the blog post after it appears.)

Now I have travelled all over the world. I should be the perfect packer. I should never forget anything, right?

Nope.

2016 - I forgot lip salve.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author and speaker. Please check my other posts and other blogs. Like and share. Also on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. Youtube videos. Books on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

Spellings: Edgware, Hampstead, S t a n s t e d. Memory aids.

Spellings are vital. Use the wrong spelling and you can end up in the wrong country, at the wrong airport, or divert a coach from England to Wales.

Abbreviations are handy and harmless, right? Wrong. An American who asks for the bus to Oxford instead of Oxford Street will be sent off to the city of Oxford, not merely the road which once headed out of the smaller city of London towards Oxford in the north west.

In London the transport for London site or google maps will give you directions, but wisely check which of the numerous options you wish to use. Do you want the mainline overground station, the underground station, or some other point?

Your Satnav in your car or hire car often offers several options. So getting the spelling right is the first step to finding the right destination.

Edge is spelled with an e at the end. But in English place names we often, over many years, drop the punctuations marks such as apostrophes, as well as the superfluous letters.

So the Edgware road and the Edgware station and the Edgware Road have no E in the middle. This makes life difficult when you are hunting for a restaurant which wants to put an e in the middle.

(It also enables you to spot that Wedgwood  with an e in the middle is from a fake factory which has not used a spell checker, or checked the first half of the word.)

But how do you remember which is Hampstead and the spelling of S t a n s t e d.

Being from London, having lived in Hampstead, my instinct is to spell S t a n s t e d with a second a. Now that I know the correct spelling, how do I - and you - remember it?

Old Hampstead sticks to an old spelling. New airport has a new-fangled spelling.

Here's another mnemonic (memory aid). 'Do you want a bed in S t a n s t e d, Ted?' 'No thanks, I'll drive back to London to Hampstead instead.'

Typing my name and signature I notice another anomaly. I'm an English teacher. I teach English but I also come from England.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, English teacher.
Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In. (I have a speech on this subject which I have given to groups.)

La Dolce Vita and Panettone

This is their symbol.  La dolce vita is Italian for the sweet life. It is the name of the shop, and of a film. On the left, circling the edge of what is or reminds you of a plate, is the word gelato, for cold ice cream, and on the right the word caffe, the Italian word for coffee, different from the French, the Italians doubling the letter f.

In the nostalgic and evocative picture you can see the ruins of the ancient, multi-storey Colosseum in Rome, two cups, coffee beans during out of a bag, a wooden box with a drawer and a hand-operated grinder with a copper coloured bowl.

To make it simple, think: ten, twenty or thirty pounds for Panettone small, medium or large.

Remembering the spelling of Panettone

When I was typing the word Panettone to find information or suppliers, I had trouble remembering which letter was doubled. First I thought of the French for bread which is pain. I made the mistake of doubling the n. Pan or pain or has a single n. Eventually I made up a mnemonic (memory aid). 

I think of a panet, or basket, for Tony.  Panet-tone - Panettone. Then I thought of the arched panettone, rising to the double letter in the middle. Finally I thought of the letters either side of the double TT.  a-n-e and o-n-e.

There are cafes all over London and England called La Dolce Vita. For example, Ruislip, Knightsbridge.

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

My powerpoint/keynote Speeches

I have speeches on these subjects:
Good Grammar
Inspiring Lives
Harrow Celebrities
Polish Heroes
Speech Disasters
Spelling Is Simple
Perfect Pronunciation