Travelling To Work With A Dog - A Dachshund

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

Darling dachshund. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

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

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

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

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

'Where are you taking him?'

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

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

'Yes. If you have a dog passport.'

'Rabies, and jabs?'

'Yes. Identity and medical history.'

'How old is he?'

'Middle aged for a dog.'

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

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

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

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

Useful Websites

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

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

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

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Sit beside the statue of somebody famous

 You can sit beside

Einstein - Washington DC, USA

Einstein - Vail, USA

AUTHORS

UK

Agatha Christie - Torquay, England, UK

USA

Mark Twain - California, USA

Useful Websites

https://www.publicartinpublicplaces.info/PUBLIC-ART-BY-CITY/Cities-A-to-K

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Sherlock Holmes and Waterfalls In Switzerland

 When I read about a waterfall in Switzerland I wondered if that was the one associated with the Sherlock Holmes story. If you live in or visit London you are reminded of Sherlock Holmes when you pass through Baker Street station which has murals and stories about Sherlock Holmes on the walls of the platform.

Sherlock Holmes mural on the platform at Baker Street Station, London, England, UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Major Attraction Waterfall

Sherlock Holmes Waterfall - Reichenbach Falls

Sherlock Holmes Museum, Meiringen

The museum is in the church, originally built as the English church, reconstructed a few times. It now houses a reproduction of fictional Sherlock Holmes study. The museum was opened in 1990 by author Conan Doyle's daughter.

The Swiss Sherlock Holmes museum in Meiringen opens in the afternoon, 1-5 pm in summer, until the last day of October.  

Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, England

I know the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London near Baker Street underground station. A statue of Sherlock Holmes is on the pavement (sidewalk) outside one of the two station exits. 

Useful Websites about Sherlock Holmes and Swiss Waterfalls.

My trip to St Moritz goes by car through the Channel Tunnel across wine regions of France. Why? Because my husband is a wine writer and educator. 

We plan to go through the Champagne region, sparkling white is my thing. Onwards to Dijon. Also, through picturesque Alsace. Returning by a different route, we do the Burgundy red wine region of France.

Wish list World Heritage Sites

Lavaux is a region of terraced vineyards in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, stretching for around 30 km (19 mi) along the northern shore of Lake Geneva. Since July 2007, it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the formal name Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces.^[1]

Not on  this itinerary, being south west, but saved for later are the world heritage site vineyards at Layaux.

copyright free maps are on OpenStreetMap

Useful Websites on German Speaking Switzerland and Sherlock Holmes Switzerland and London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Sherlock_Holmes,_London

https://www.risskov.com/themes/historical-hotels

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

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Meiringen

https://www.notabletravels.com/the-sherlock-holmes-museum-meiringen-switzerland/#:~:text=Meiringen's%20Sherlock%20Holmes%20Museum%2C%20with,anniversary%20of%20Holmes'%20presumed%20death.

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

 I have visited fifty countries.

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

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

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

ALBANIA

The Best Thing In Albania? 

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

The Scary Thing In Albania

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

ANDORRA

Best Thing about Andorra - learning linguistics, languages.

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

Wishlist. 

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

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

AUSTRALIA 

The best things in Australia

Super cities, Sydney and Perth. 

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

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

AUSTRIA

Best things To See And Do in Austria

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

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

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

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

Wishlist For Austria

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

BAHAMAS

The name comes from the Spanish for shallow water.

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

BELGIUM

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

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

Best Things In Belgium

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

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

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

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

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

BRAZIL

Wish list. Rio Carnival. 

BULGARIA

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

CAMBODIA

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

Angkor Thom, approaching South Gate, 

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

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

CANADA

Best Views - Niagara Falls. 

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

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

CHINA 

Best - Shanghai waterfront. Great Wall. 

Wishlist - Terracotta warriors. 

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

CORSICA 

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

Wishlist - Maison Bonaparte.

CROATIA  

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

CZECH REPUBLIC

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

CYPRUS Greek and Turkish. 

Best moments - The wine museum. 

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

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

DENMARK 

Best - Hans Andersen's Home

Wish list. Legoland in Billund, Danmark.

ENGLAND 

Flag of the United Kingdon

Flag of England.

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

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

FINLAND 

Best moment. Meeting Santa Claus. 

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

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

Wish List

Music museum - Sibelius Museum, Turku, Finland.

FRANCE  

Best Paris

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

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

GERMANY

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

Heidelburg barrel. 

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

GREECE 

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

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

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

HAWAII

HONG KONG 

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

Worst - smog.

HUNGARY

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

INDONESIA

IRELAND

ISRAEL 

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

Worst moments: 

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

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

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

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

ITALY 

Best Sites

Roman Rome, 

Opera in La Scala Milan, 

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

Wish List. Trulli.

JAPAN 

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

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

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

KOREA (SOUTH KOREA)

LUXEMBOURG

MALAYSIA

Best sites. Hill stations. 

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

MALTA

MEXICO

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

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

NEW ZEALAND

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

POLAND 

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

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

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

Wroclaw dwarfs, tiny pavement statues.

Arthur Rubinstein at his piano, statue in Lodz.

PORTUGAL 

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

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

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

ROMANIA

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

Worst - Dracula's Castle. Beware of bears.

RUSSIA

Wish List

Underground stations.

SAN MARINO

SAINT MAARTEN

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

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

SCOTLAND 

Best Sites

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

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

Wish List. Burns House. Shetland Islands.

SINGAPORE 

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

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

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

Raffles hotel. 

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

Singapore Worst moments, a live crocodile under a boardwalk.

SLOVENIA

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

SOUTH AFRICA 

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

Wishlist for South Africa - wine trail.

SPAIN

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

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

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

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

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

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

SWITZERLAND 

Best Sights

Alprose Chocolate Factory. 

Covered bridges.

THAILAND 

Best sites - Royal Palace. Floating Market.

TUNISIA

TURKEY 

Best sites:

Istanbul Blue Mosque; and Green Mosque

UAE (United Arab Emirates)

Best site: Dubai, largest city

Huge hotels, opulent and gold. Shopping.

UK

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

Day trips to Roald Dahl Museum. Waddesdon Manor, 

Lake District. Cornwall, St Ives.

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

USA

Best Sites

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

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

Worst list - crocodiles in Florida.

VIETNAM 

Halong Bay. best sight

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

YUGOSLAVIA Dubrovnik, now CROATIA

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

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

WISHLIST

CHINA

Terracotta Warriors are on my wishlist.

UKRAINE

BEST TRANSPORT

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

TRAVEL TIPS

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

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

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

Fish Wallpaper at the Fishmongers' Hall

 I went to a wine tasting event organised by Goedhuis-Waddesdon at the Fishmongers' Hall.

I thought the fish theme wallpaper in the Ladies Powder Room was delightful. Only when I got home did I realise that fish was an appropriate motif for the building. 

Fish wallpaper at the Fishmongers' Hall in London. Photograph by Angela Lansbury.

The Fishmongers' Association offers guided tours of the building. Treasures and tradition.

https://fishmongers.org.uk/contact/

Kintsugi at Fishmongers' Hall

 The Fishmongers' Hall offers guided tours.

https://fishmongers.org.uk/contact/

Post box toppers in London

 

Post box topper in Long Elms, Harrow, north west London

 Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Post Box topper in Rowlands Avenue, Hatch End, north west London

You can buy post box toppers on Amazon, Ebay and Etsy. Craft groups attached to organizations such as Women's Institutes do them jointly producing a new one every season or every month. This is done in the UK and other countries. See my previous posts on this subject for more details and links.

Absurdia, Tenerife and Paradox Museum, London

Absurdia amusements, Tenerife. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Painted Backdrop Illusion. Stand in front of one of the backdrops. Pose as scared, angry, friendly, whatever takes your fancy. It looks as though you are interacting with the giant painted or sculpted animals or people.

'I love Tenerife' sign at Absurdia, Tenerife, with Angela and Trevor. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Camouflage Coat. Absurdia, Tenerife. Optical illusion - Angela camouflaged when wearing the spotted jacket against the spotted wall and floor. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Useful Websites 

https://paradox-museum.london-tickets.co.uk/

Immersive Illusions Worldwide

1 Tenerife, Spain

Absurdia, Tenerife, Canary Islands

https://absurdiatenerife.es/

https://www.facebook.com/AbsurdiaTenerife/

2 London, England, UK

https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/london-mu

https://absurdiatenerife.es/

https://www.facebook.com/AbsurdiaTenerife/

https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/london-museum-of-illusions-entry-ticket-t1314890/?ranking_uuid=d988b805-4221-4348-98f3-f90146989084&q=Museums+and+exhibitions%2C+London

3 Melbourne, Australia

https://www.tiqets.com/en/artvo-tickets

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Fathers' Day? June 21st 2026

Pixabay images for Father's Day

Is it father's day, the day of one father? In English we use the apostrophe to signal to the reader in a quick way.

The letter s is a handy dual purpose, fuel purpose letter.

Possession - swift signal letter S

The boy's hat

 One boy.

Father's day. One father.

A father, small initial letter, a type of object or person.

But. 'Please, Father!' Addressing your father or a priest, the capital letter in English is reserved for a proper name, a specific person.

In German, all nouns have capital letters. Does the German system have any advantages? Yes, it helps me, as a learner of German. I can sort out the nouns in a sentence to speed translation.

 In some languages you repeat an entire word to show more than one. Jalan jalan in Malay-Indonesian, roads, journeys. You might thînk the benefit of this system is added clarity.

I love learning languages. You discover new ways of thinking and communicating.

Another discovery for travellers is that different

countries celebrate on different days.

USA 3rd Sunday in June.

21st June 2026 in the UK.

You can make your own cards, using old photos of a father with his offspring, or his hobbies and achievements. 

Or download a card to print, or send an animated card. Several sites include Moonpig.

Free images are on Pixabay. I found it easy to click on a red button to save an individual image to Pinterest. Saving an image for use here was harder.

Useful Websites

Father's Day 2026 in the United Kingdom

Pillar box topper, yarn bombing and spinning a yarn

 

Pillar box topper. Long Elmes, Harrow. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Seasonal events celebrated through the year include 

Valentine's Day (hearts), 

Easter (rabbits), 

Armistice Day (toy soldiers and members of the armed forces and crosses), 

Halloween (spiders and pumpkins) and 

Christmas (Santas).

For more see my previous posts, and the Facebook group page.

In the UK we refer to post boxes. Pillar boxes are the free standing cylindrical ones.

USA

In the USA the term used is mail box. You can buy or make covers for home mail boxes.

Yarn bombing of trees and city architecture has been popular in the USA, in Houston and other cities.

UK

You could join a Women's Institute group to make these seasonal items. Buy a pattern online. 

Home Decor

Or make a tiny one for outside a dolls' house. You could use a Champagne bottle cork, painted with red paint. 

Or a tiny one of painted pastry for the top of a birthday cake,. Or a Christmas cake or other seasonal cake.

From a photo taken from a bus of a pillar box topper in Long Elmes, I went on a journey around the internet, seeing yarn decorating trees and covering entire buildings, in Spain and other countries around the world. Yes, covering entire buildings.

I am not 'spinning a yarn'. The phrase spinning a yarn is thought to come from spinning ropes at sea, and telling tales, long stories, often far-fetched, fictional, to while away the time.

Useful Websites on Pillar Box Toppers.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/876920579707070/

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

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

https://weavesandknits.com/a-gallery-of-famous-examples-of-yarn-bombing-from-around-the-world/

https://grammarist.com/idiom/spin-a-yarn/

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Moving Away From Mould and Moving Mould Away

 Mould, as it is spelled in the UK, mold in the USA.

I shall look at the three ways to find causes of mold. then the three way of preventing it. 

CAUSES OF MOLD

Put simply, mold comes from water, either from outside, or inside.

Mold From Outside

 If from outside, down from gutters and flat rooftops, sideways from  rain or plants, or upwards from wet or flooded ground. This is known as rising damp.

Rising Damp - prevention Damp Course

To prevent water from rising, about a food above ground in the wall is a horizontal dark line of what looks like slate or tar, called the damp proof course, shortened to the damp course.

 

Damp course in wall. Phot from Wikipedia.

That is an issue to be fixed by the owner of the property. That is you the house owner. Or the letting person, the landlord or the council, or the management team.

Mould from below the floor, in a concrete floor, can be treated by a waterproof  layer. 

Outside Moisture Prevention - Cavity Walls

Mould from the outside is usually prevented by cavity walls. Two layers of brickwork with an air gap between. Look at your window. If the sill is wide and your window from is set back from the wall that width shows you that you you have two layers of bricks with a gap, a cavity wall.

Measure with a damp meter, obtainable from builder's merchants or online. 

If you have a line of damp from above, a leaking gutter. If water all over, mor likely condensation. If above a radiator, from clothes drying on the radiator, or a leaking radiator. See the Wikipedia article. Some damp remedy companies say they can analyse your damp cause for free if you send them a photo. Nothing clever or magic about it, although you can get training and certification. You can check the cause and possible remedies for yourself.

Moisture to mould from inside from humans breathing

water vapor from cooking and showing, or water from washing and drying clothes indoors.

The tenant or landlord can provide a dehumidifier. If the landlord provides a dehumidifier and the tenant does not use it because they can't be bothered to empty it or don't want the noise, then the tenant should pay for any remedy for the moisture caused.

A good management company doing a three monthly check will check for mould, explain the cause of mould to the tenant, provide a dehumidifier and make it clear who is responsible for the problem.

A letting agent may also offer a management service. The agent's questionnaire for applicants may ask how many people will live in the property. The contract may specify that the landlord or letting agent must be informed if anybody not on the contract takes up residence. The landlord is legally obliged to check that extra people have the right to reside in the UK. If not the landlord can be fined a substantial amount.

In the 1960s to 1980s if a widow, a single elderly person. lives in a two bedroom flat and occupies the large bedroom, and entertains visitors on the patio, she does not create much moisture. Two or three decades later, a couple with four children, and the wife's visiting parents, all taking baths, washing bedding and clothes, making coffee, cooking in large saucepans, will create more humidity. If they move out the fifties style furniture, sofas and chairs with wooden legs, raised off the floor, and replace Louis IV style sideboards on wooden feet, and beds with space underneath, the new furniture does not have space for moisture to escape.

Pets Adding Moisture

Add four cats or two dogs, bowls of water for animals, washing the kitchen floor, dogs shaking off rain, and you have more moisture.

Some reasons for mold.

1 People don't realise what causes mold. If you have water, you will get mold. Black, prink whatever. It is pleasanter to remove water than to remove mold.

Mold problems have increased. We have double glazing instead of draughty windows. Heating. People from hot countries keep the heating on and turn their homes into a greenhouse. 

Overcrowding

Overcrowding means more moisture. A widow or couple produce less moisture than a family of two parents, four children, two grandparents, and three visitors, or a family meal or party every weekend, with friends staying over, and visitors from overseas. 

Pets

Also, I allowed tenants to have one cat. The female cat attracted a male from outside. The female had two kittens. With a month I had four cats, annoying their neighbours who were afraid of cats, and had vulnerable babies in prams or cost on the patio. Plus four more  living beings breathing.

Raincoats, rainhats, waterproof boots, umbrellas. all bring in rain, and cats and dogs with wet fur. Parties result in drinks spilled on the floor, cans of drink opened lying around. punch bowls, kettles blowing steam for coffee, coffee cups and glasses of water uncovered for hours. Fish tanks. Dog bowls with water. Leaking taps. Leaking pipes. Wet floors from overflowing baths and showers. Water under bath mats in the shower making mould. Shower curtains turning mouldy.

Dangers To Health From Mould

Asthma. Lung problems.

Why bother opening a window? People from hot countries like to live in warmth and wear light clothes. 

They sit on the floor with cushions against walls. Duvets and cushions and furniture and piles of clothes against walls prevent air from circulating. You need a gap so that the moisture can evaporate, and drying moisture. 

Better Sources of Heat

A widow was advised by a friend, to save money, don't heat the whole building, the whole room, just heat the person. Remedies are warm clothes, movable fan heaters, electric blankets on beds, electric blankets designed for use on sofas.

Remedies. 

Identify moisture by observation. How many people breathing in a room with closed windows. Open the window, or trickle vent. Fix or report leaking taps and pipes. Wipe up spills. Don't leave items in water overnight, such as dishes, clothes. Dry clothes outdoors rather than indoors. If not allowed, create a visual barrier. Dry clothes in the room or area nearest a window or where the repainting would be least. Run the extractor in the bathroom or kitchen. Cover cooking. Keep the lid down on toilets. Remove mould from under the toilet seat rim.

Use covered bedside water jugs, and jugs on dining tables. 

Check the water in walls using a water meter, which I have seen sold intermittently in LIDL and other shops for under twenty pounds.

I have experienced three types of mould. What causes mould? Water. Dripping from outside. Condensation inside.

Causes of Condensation  from Inside

What causes condensation inside. You do. Every person, adults and child, and animal, breathes out moisture all day and all night. If you have a dehumidifier you will be shocked at the amount of water it collects. A dehumidifier can be small for a small room, or larger and more expensive for a larger room.

A cheaper alternative us t open windows. In German and Europe it is usual to open windows to let the house breather or burg for half an hour every morning.

If you see condensation on your windows, it means open the windows of your bedroom. If you see condensation on your kitchen window, it means cover the saucepan with a lid and open the window. If you see mist on the mirror in the bathroom, it means open the window before during or after having a shower or bath or all three.

I first experienced mould when living in rented property in Singapore. Mould from overhead. Then in the home I owned in London, England. Mould from outside and inside. Then in my late parents' flat rented out in England.  Mould from below, under the damp course.

Let's start in Singapore. You can usually see where mould is coming from. Overhead we had mould in Singapore from the leaking roof of a top floor flat. And from rain outside.

The landlady called in decorators to paint the wall. The mould came back. Eventually she had to spend more money on the insertion of a damp proof netting to protect the wall from driving rain. The building repaired the windows, to make them seal better. That prevented water dropping down from heights above where we could reach.

UK Walls

Back in England we had mould in our outside wall in our bungalow. We moved a bookcase and there was black mould. 

This is one of the causes you can prevent. Keep furniture away from walls, to allow air to circulate. 

Ask AI

If you ask AI, you will get a succinct summary or causes and ways of preventing mould.

What can you do? Firs find out the causes of possible condensation. Go round every room in your home, and the outside. In the house check if we clothes are left outside the door, or dried over radiators. Check the bedrooms. Are the beds and wardrobes and units against the wall? 

Maybe there is mold which you cannot see. All the more reason for opening the windows, even when you don't see condensation. In any case, by the time you see condensation, damage has already been done. 

Invisible mold could be affecting your health.

Useful Websites

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/damp-and-mould-understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-for-rented-housing-providers/understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-of-damp-and-mould-in-the-home--2

Mother's Day Card From M&S

 

Three dimensional card from Marks & Spencer.

Mother's Day card from Marks & Spencer.

The awning lifts so you can write a message in the text box.

If you missed Mother's Day in the UK, it is celebrated on other days worldwide.

Useful Websites

marksandspencer.com

"Las Mañanitas"  is a Mexican Mother's Day song, sung in Spanish speaking countries, to wake mother on mother's day, by playing a recording or singing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQpOuhl4abQ

Roses for mother sad song, hit song from the 1970s, about a trucker who goes to send his mother birthday roses, pays for roses for a little boy, whose mother turns out to be in a cemetery, so the trucker doesn't send the roses but delivers them to his own mother in person.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roses_for_Mama_(song)

Roses for mama song by Red Sovine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI0WwV0uoDU

Another similar version by McCall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq0XhuFOOXU

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Rainfall and Flat Rooftops - A Global Disaster

 I can see the problem in the picture of a local council building in Harrow, NW London. The local councils in London allow sub standard flat roof homes - when the annual rainfall is getting worse.

Flat Rooftops And Rainfall

The flat rooves leak and make mouldy housing. The sick people are draining the NHS. 

Landlords and householders are bankrupt fixing leaking rooftops. So rents rise.

Official websites say that a properly designed flat roof should not leak - if it has a slope.  A slight slope. But nonetheless a slope. 

The advertisements for remedies will tell you the problems.

I have experienced leaking flat roofs in Singapore and the UK. It's not just a recent problem. It has been known for years. You can see that houses in medieval and Victorian times - the ones which lasted, have gabled rooftops.

A slight slope is not good enough. We have a conservatory with a supposedly see-through ceiling with a slight slope. Leaves and moss gather on it. They don't roll off.

Useful Websites

Rain in the UK

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2026/why-has-it-been-so-wet-this-winter

Flat Roof Defects

https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Flat_roof_defects

Flat Rood drainage

https://www.buildingregs4plans.co.uk/guidance_flat_roof_drainage.php

More rain in Australia

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15586039/sydney-melbourne-weather.html

Moving Home - Protecting Furniture, Building & Movers

 

Singapore Moving Home & Furniture - Building Protection 

 In Singapore when you moved in or out of a block of flats - and most of Singapore consists of high rise blocks, precautions were taken to prevent damage to the building. Several times a year you got into the lift and it looked like a padded cell.

Public Floors' Protection

Incoming and outgoing tenants had to inform the management, book the dates and times, and pay for the installation of protection. Runners were laid on the floor from the parking area to the building, over to the lift, inside the lift, down the corridor to the unit doorway. 

Lift Protection

Inside the lift, all four walls and the ceiling were protected  with padding, attached to hooks inside the lift which you would not normally notice. (An alternative in areas without hooks is a heavy duty removable tape.) Windows with see-through covering allowed you to use the lift buttons and emergency buttons.

Doorways were also protected.

In my opinion removal companies should have three things

1 A trained supervisor in charge of the moving staff.

2 Insurance against damage.

3 Equipment to protect doorways, walls, and floors . Tools for removing and re-fixing doors to allow access for large items. 

4 Advance survey of photos or videos of the building, parking access, and sizes of large items to be brought in or taken out.

5 Notification of building porter or manager to get parking space cordoned off for large vehicles.

Holland and The Netherlands - Upper Floor Access

In Holland large items like pianos are hoisted to upper floors outside the building and through a large window at the top.

Search the web and you will find videos of companies in the USA showing you what to do and what you can buy from them. From the UK you can find websites of items to buy.

My Experiences

Moving an American style large double door fridge freezer in and out can be a problem.

 One set of movers went off in a huff.

1 They could not park near enough as visitors had occupied all the spaces near the entrance.

2 They were daunted by the nine steps into the building. Which we had notified the sellers of the fridge, but the moving contractor's staff maintained that they had not been informed.

3 They said there was a danger of damage to the kitchen door and door jamb. 

Surely that is their job, to be prepared to allow time to install protection of the doorway, to carry it with them, to have tools to remove the fridge door to make it smaller and lighter. To have tools to remove the kitchen door to make more space.

What might the landlord or householder need or do?

1 Buy and put down waterproof floor runners.

2 Install or ask the porter or caretaker of the building to put up temporary No parking portable bollards.

3 Have protection for the walls and doorways. Buy it. If all else fails, keep a supply of 

a) bubble wrap, 

b) wine bottle covers, 

c) thick bath towels - old ones

d) cardboard boxes such as Amazon delivery boxes and furniture moving boxes

 Websites on Door Jamb Protection For Moving
UK Products To Protect Homes When Moving

https://www.trioplus.co.uk/protect-doors-frames/ram-board-door-jamb/

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Kilburn Station's beautiful bridge

 

Kilburn station railway bridge over the road. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The letters spell out Metropolitan Railway. The date is 1914. 

More information from

Websites on Kilburn Station

London Transport

Wikipedia

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Mailbox topper in Hatch End, London, England, UK

 

Mail Box Topper in Hatch End. So cute with the dear little hedgehog perched on top. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The traditional red pillar box, shaped like a pillar. Americans would say mail box. I always think of boxes being square, but I suppose you get round ones, like hat boxes and cheese boxes.

The red colour makes it British. Also the toppers.

Once you have seen one, you want to see more.

Websites on post box toppers

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

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

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Lebanese restaurant Teta's kitchen and bar - Happiness in Hampstead

Espresso coffee at Teta's kitchen, in Hampstead, London.

Espresso coffee. They also offer Lebanese coffee, thick like Greek, Cypriot, and Turkish coffee. The name teta means grandmother in Arabic, and they offer rich, filling food, like grandma used to make, if not your grandmother, their grandmother.

Hampstead Locations

Most people in London know Hampstead is famous for poets like Keats, whose house is a museum. Hampstead is a trendy place and doubtless many inspired and aspiring modern poets, and writers live there now.

I have relatives who live in this secluded corner, a cluster of restaurants, in a spiderweb of narrow alleys. We dined just down the hill from bustling, crowded Hampstead, where we had taken a detour to buy books for their children (who had told us the titles) from three bookstores in literary Hampstead. 

After wrapping our presents in the car, we parked almost outside the Tetra restaurant, just as the Sunday parking restrictions were eased

Time for a tea time or coffee and cake break.

Since my husband and I were early and first, we indulged in espresso and a small pastry from the display. Only one pastry between the two of us, so as not to ruin our appetites. Instead of coffee I opted for something rarer,  lemonade. I loved the home made lemonade, with fresh lemon, and aromatic.

Lovely lemonade.

Then the rest of the family of ten arrived and we ordered a buffet of starters.

Potato at Tetra. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Novelty Starters

Potato croquettes had a minced meat fillîng inside a layer of potato with a crunchy outside case.

Familiar Favourites For Starters

Starters also încluded hummus and pitta bread.

Samosas.

Tubes of what looked like spring rolls but filled with soft tasty feta or cream cheese. Another alternative for anyone who is vegetarian.

Main Courses

Our main courses which arrived on a platter of salad were chicken and beef. The beef was in small curly pieces, soft and tasty. We also had long grain rice.. 

Toilet Downstairs

The toilet cubicle is downstairs. I discovered I could negotiate it easily if I went slowly with one hand on the solid rail and the other on my walking stick.

While waiting for the toilet cubicle to be vacated, I glanced through the open window of the basement kitchen. A member of the staff, chopping vegetables, was wearing hygienic waterproof gloves for food preparation. I thought this was a good sign.

Desserts

As the pastries were small, one of the men orderef\d a large serving of 20 pieces, enough for two per person, mixed - ône of everything, with dates, or pistacio or walnut, and ́mini baklava.

Acidentally Translated Into Hebrew

יש לי קרובי משפחה שגרים בפינה מבודדת זו, קבוצת מסעדות, בתוך רשת עכביש של סמטאות צרות. סעדנו ממש במורד הגבעה מהמפסטד התוססת והצפופה, שם עיקפנו כדי לקנות ספרים (הילדים סיפרו לנו את הכותרים) משלוש חנויות ספרים בהמפסטד הספרותית. כפי שרוב האנשים כאן יודעים, המפסטד מפורסמת במשוררים כמו קיטס, שביתו הוא מוזיאון.

כנראה כמה משוררים מודרניים שואפים, וסופרים בכל בניי

I accidentally clicked on the world symbol on my mobile phone which converted my text to Hebrew which I installed alongside Greek and Russian as I am learning multiple alphabets on Duolingo. In case there are any Hebrew readers I have left this bit here.

Help is on the way - I copied my text into a Microsoft word document and then into Google Translate..

אחרי שעטפנו את המתנות שלנו במכונית, חנינו כמעט מחוץ למסעדה, בדיוק כשהקלות החניה של יום ראשון הוקל

כיוון שבעלי ואני היינו מוקדם והגענו ראשונים, התפנקנו באספרסו ובמאפה קטן מהתצוגה. מאפה אחד בין שנינו, כדי לא להרוס את התיאבון שלנ

Back to English.

Teta's (Restaurant) Kitchen & Bar. To sum up. Hightly recommended for tasty food and large portions. The owner or manager is always walking up and down watching so it's easy to get attention to order more food, more drink, or ask for anything you need.

Useful Information About Teta's Restaurant

72 Belsize Park, London NW3 5B

https://tetaslebanese.co.uk/

Updated November 2nd 2025.