Photo Opportunity - Stand or Sit Beside A Statue Or Hold Up A Big Building

 Famous buildings and statues for selfies are all around all over the world. You can photograph yourself apparently holding up the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy.

This is from Facebook. Luxury travel.

I have also seen a picture which creates the illusion of somebody climbing up outside of the tower, which looks tiny, without any ropes.

 The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, can be shown with you learning against it with an outstretched arm, holding it by the top, leaping over it on a bicycle. 

 or the Statue of Liberty in New York in the USA. 

Or sit or stand beside the statue or mural of a famous real person or fictional character. The giant statue of Einstein in the USA. 

Or sit beside that statue of somebody famous on a bench. Spike Milligan in London. Agatha Christie on the south coast of England.

Or kneel at their feet.  Or imitate a pose, such as Rodin's thinker in France. 

Or join a group, such as Alice in Wonderland's tea party.

ENGLAND

1 UK London, Paddington Station - Tea Table

The Wild Table Of  Love. 

At the table of mythical animals are two seats where you can sit with a child or spouse of friend. Often you have to queue on busy times and sunny holidays.

I thought this was Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter's tea party when I saw the big ears of a hare or rabbit. Apparently many other people also mistake this for the Alice scene.

It looked like the picture from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. 

Paddington station is one of the three most visited stations in London, England. It was Brunel's landmark, his station for trains going our from west London, west to Wales, along Brunel's railway and bridge, across the ocean on his steamship to America. 

Paddington stations's other photo opportunities are standing by the little statue of Paddington bear, and beside the statue of serious, seated Brunel. 

Or upstairs under the huge statue of the lovers meeting.  

Which are the other two busy London stations? Liverpool station on the east side of London is for going East. and from the east connecting to Heathrow in the west of London, visitor numbers boosted by the Elizabeth line. Liverpool station has the statue of the Kindertransport, refugee Jewish children arriving just in time before WW2 as the Nazi party advanced through countries of Europe and rounded up their parents.

Baker Street station has a giant statue of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes outside on the Euston Road. Inside the station on the platforms is an opportunity to sit on a bench under any one of several murals of scenes from his books. Or stand beside the mosaic tiles of Sherlock in his deerstalker hat with his pipe, clutching your hat, or a pipe.

Angela Lansbury on the white swan seat outside the Sofitel Hotel in London, near Piccadilly. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

2 London, Finchley

Comedian Spike Milligan.

Why is Spike Milligan honoured and why here? He was president of the local history and heritage society, so when he died, they fund raised a memorial to him. 

3 Torquay, 

Author Agatha Christie

The author's bench with her reading a book is in Torquay, the lovely seaside town in the south of England.

Another seaside memorial to Agatha in another place she visited is in the Canary Island of Tenerife.

Agatha Christie steps on Tenerife, in the Spanish Canary Islands. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

There were so many steps leading up the hillside to the bust of Agatha that I never made it to the top, as my husband was waiting in a car with no parking space, for me to return after my envisioned quick photo. I considered being photographed sitting on the steps. 

Statues you can sit right beside—often called "bench statues" because they feature historical figures or characters integrated seamlessly into public seating—are popular interactive art installations.

If you are thinking of famous examples, particularly around London and the UK, these stand out:

Allies, in London's Mayfair, shows Winston Churchill  and American President Franklin D Roosevelt together sitting on a bench in New Bond Street. Bronze statue. Room for you to be photographed between them.



You can also see F D Roosevelt in his wheelchair is in Washington DC, USA.

• "Allies" (Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt) on New Bond Street: Created by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, this bronze sculpture depicts the British Prime Minister and US President casually chatting while sitting together on a park bench. The artwork leaves an open gap right in the middle between them, explicitly inviting members of the public to take a seat, chat, or pose for a photo.

• Other Bench Sculptures: Cities worldwide feature similar interactive pieces (such as statues of authors, 

• Singers, composers, musicians, with guitars or instruments, or at pianos.

• In London, Amy Winehouse standing statue in Camden.  

• Fictional characters on park benches) designed to break down the barrier between traditional high art and the public.

Spike Milligan statue, Finchley, London.

More on Alice in Wonderland

I described the Alice tea party sculpture at Paddington on zoom this when I was online to a Chinese friend I know from Singapore. He is now in South Korea. Although Alice in Wonderland is well known and hugely popular in Japan, and taught in some Asian primary schools, my Chinese friend had missed out. Alice in Wonderland meant nothing to him. I had trouble describing the Cheshire cat which left only its smile, which my Chinese friend said was not possible, and the Queen of hearts - he understood heart when I drew one, and playing croquet, a mystery. I picked out a souvenir seafood hammer in wood, not a hammer but for hitting a ball. When I gave the speech again in the evening, my Toastmasters International speech evaluators aid I should show photos of myself along side the statues.

If you are looking for statues related to Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland, there are several notable locations across the UK linked to the author and the real-life inspiration for Alice:

• Guildford, Surrey: Guildford has deep connections to Lewis Carroll, who owned a family home there and spent his later years writing.

  • Millmead (by the river): Features a bronze statue of Alice and her sister watching the White Rabbit pop out of the ground.

  • Castle Grounds: Features an Alice Through the Looking-Glass statue.

• Llandudno, Wales: Alice Pleasance Liddell (the real-life inspiration for Alice) spent her childhood summer holidays here. The town features an official Alice in Wonderland Trail filled with wood and stone sculptures of characters like the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, and the Cheshire Cat.

• Warrington, Cheshire: Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) grew up nearby in Daresbury. Golden Square in Warrington features a prominent window-themed monument containing bronze figures of Alice, the Mad Hatter, and other characters.

• London (Paddington Station): While not explicitly an Alice statue, the popular Wild Table of Love sculpture outside Paddington Station (featured in your current blog post draft) is frequently mistaken for the Mad Hatter's tea party due to the whimsical animal figures.

London is full of statues and busts. 

When you have finished, think about the tourists who took the train west from Paddington station to the ship for America. Over in Central park in New York you can see a statue of Alice, and two mushroom shaped stools where you and a child or an adult friend can pose for a photo.

Painter, Lowry.

Singapore sculpture seat

Singapore Street Sculpture. Bench. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Useful Websites About Spike Milligan

Places to See

1 Spike Statue on the bench near the Stables Cafe, Stephens House & Gardens, 17 East End Road, Finchley, London N3 3QE. Tel 020 8346  7812.

2 Plaque showing Spike and others on the outside wall of the Grafton Arms, Westminster, where Spike was barman and met up with comedy writing and performing buddies. Memorabilia of the foursome (Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Michael Bentine and Peter Sellars) are on the pub walls.

3 Spike's grave, Parish Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Winchelsea, East Sussex, England TN26 4EB. The church is off the High |Street.

USA Statues and Sculptures

Albert Einstein Memorial (Washington, D.C., USA): Created by sculptor Robert Berks and located at the National Academy of Sciences, this massive, 12-foot bronze statue depicts Einstein seated on a three-step granite bench with a paper displaying his equations ($E = mc^2$, the photoelectric effect, and general relativity).

University of South Alabama (Mobile, Alabama, USA): Features the "Einstein Bench," a bronze sculpture depicting Einstein sitting on an outdoor campus bench.

Argentina - Anne Frank

Sculpture in Cordoba, Argentina, of Anne Frank sitting on the pavement writing on a suitcase.

Child friendly bench. Kiev, Ukraine.

Websites Addresses

Holding up the Eiffel Tower.

https://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-people-holding-the-eiffel-tower-2014-3

1

https://www.stephenshouseandgardens.com/

https://finchleycentraltowncentre.co.uk/stephens-house-gardens/

2 

https://londonspubswherehistoryreallyhappened.wordpress.com/category/history-of-the-grafton-arms/

https://www.greeneking.co.uk/pubs/greater-london/grafton-arms

3

https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/5234/find-us/

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g658258-d19795744-Reviews-Spike_Milligan_s_Gravestone-Winchelsea_Rye_East_Sussex_England.html

Useful Websites About Spike Milligan

Books about or by Spike Milligan

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=spike+millgan

Websites on statues by Angela Lansbury

See my long post about statues worldwide on lucky Sept 13th

Statues of Famous People in the UK, USA, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, HK, Australia, S Africa and more.

See next post for Mr Bean statue, Black Sabbath and Shakespeare.

Moving Overseas, or holidaying, as escapism - thinking positively

 Why travel? Because, as Winston Churchill said, 'A change is as good as a rest'.

Does travelling even on the internet, make you smile? Please smile!

Travellers As Survivors

If you have travelled a lot, you are a survivor. You have endured the minor problems, lost luggage, delays in travel, delayed entire holidays. Some setbacks require patiently waiting with a book. Others require resolutely asking various staff members, asking your one contact repeatedly at intervals, checking various forms of transport, until you find a fast, affordable solution.

In Japan I was at Hiroshima and the ticket seller said there were no seats on the overnight train back to Tokyo. My boyfriend, Jo, was in town for just one day. I asked about the local youth hostel. The youth hostel and taxi to and from were beyond my budget. I sat, sadly,  thinking. 

Eventually the ticket seller beckoned me back. He said: " I have one ticket. But only for sleeping. A couchette. More expensive."

"How much?"

 It was twice the price of a seat! Was I willing to pay for that? 

"Yes!" I said. 'Thank you. Arigato!" The cost was less than the cost of the hostel and two taxis. I would see my boyfriend! Solution!

Survival by luck

You may have survived  even a few ships and planes which went down when you were not on them. I was on a ship which later sank. I was on a helicopter over the Grand Canyon. One flight crashed later.

Temporary Tempests

I have survived, an earthquake in Greece. 

What about fires and floods? I have survived assorted small but scary floods. Even at home in Harrow, NW London, water like a river past my home, with the Hatch End high street high with water damaging the shops and their goods.

Surviving Bereavement

 I have survived the loss several relatives who died, such as my parents, and two uncles.  The solution is to avoid thinking of their death day, and to concentrate on a smiling photo and a time when they were laughing with you. Instead of remembering sad things about my father, I recall him saying, "I survived two world wars. I had a good life, and lots of holidays!"

Surviving Stressful Events

I have survived losing several speech contests, when unable to travel, online on Zoom, from one continent to another. Is it an exaggeration to say survived? 

I was President of a club when a member stayed up all night practising her speech, when interviewed, waiting for the results, she wailed that she had not spoken well, and threatened to commit suicide. Before hearing the results. 

A disaster for the person who came first. For all her club members. 

I enquired of the ambulance service what was needed for them to do a welfare check. The basic necessity was the address. To my surprise, they had no access to an address database. The caller had to give an address.

I did not know it. Another club member told me it was on the club website. As President, and under a duty of care, I had to look up her address. The ambulance said the police had to be called, (presumably not for malicious reporting, but in case a hysterical and suicidal person attacked them. They wanted written evidence that the person was threatening to commit suicide, and by what means. (By pills, knife, or gun, or anything causing mess, all required different searching or precautions.) After written evidence was provided by somebody else, the ambulance and police had to be called.

On another occasion, I heard that a new member had committed suicide. He had given a heart-rending, sad, introductory speech about the disasters he had fled from to reach a country of safety. He was voted the best speaker of the evening. Nobody told him to re-do the speech, later, better still the same evening, to leave the speaker and audience feeling more upbeat. Would that have made a difference?  I can't help wondering. If it happens again, 

Regarding my speeches where I knew or thought did not do well, or thought I did well, but judges thought otherwise, I was disappointed not to win. However, with happy hope more vivid than fear or failure, and wanting to be able to coach others and describe the experience, I went back, and won trophies, later years. I have several trophies which say Champion, and first runner, up. 

I have certificates of participation. I don't have any certificates which say, you lost. Toastmasters teaches you to be upbeat, verbally and in writing. When you are second in a speech contest, the system calls you first runner up. When you are third, it calls you second runner up. 

Suicide - and Prevention?

I enjoyed seeing San Francisco's grand Golden Gate Bridge. I was shocked to learn that people go there to commit suicide. Several things have been done to stop this. Signs with the number of the Samaritans. Free phones. Free phone calls on those phones. Barriers. Nets below. More good news, stopping suicides in one area does not divert or postpone the suicide, but stops it completely. Figures from three countries, California in the USA, Switzerland and New Zealand, show that stopping suicides in one place reduced the suicide rate for the entire year across the area.

I have good news for you. Suicide can be prevented. And you can play your part. By doing your part to keep up the positive thoughts, the energy, everywhere you go.

Please smile. 

You can greet everybody with a cheerful Good morning. If it's raining, don't say, bloody raining again, say, 'It's good for the plants.'

Suicide

 Earlier this year I read good news about suicide. How can there be good news about suicide? Isn't the news about suicide bad news? Yes. Even one suicide of a person you don't know, a famous person, seems like bad news. 

Bad News - WHO

Earlier this year I went onto the website of the World Health Organization, and read that during Covid, depression and suicide rates increased worldwide. Also, since the end of Covid, suicide rates have not get any better.

Anne Frank

I sighed! I tutted. I thought about Anne Frank, in hiding in Holland in WW2, who wrote positive thoughts which are still quoted today. She was forced to stay home longer than most of us. She did not have the internet and Zoom. But she wrote: 

Despite everything, I think that people are really good at heart. 

How wonderful it is that we do not have to wait a minute to start improving things. 

My translations may not be the ones you read, but she wrote in Dutch.

Even when contemplating the possibility of death, she was positive. She wrote,

 I want to go on living even after my death. 

She did. She achieved immortality through her diary.

She died.

But another Jewish person, Viktor Frankl, actually survived WW2 camps, and a death march, and lost his wife, and like Anne Frank's father, remarried. Viktor wrote another best selling book, His had a positive message in the title, translated as Man's Search For Meaning. That is alliterative, but rather abstract. I prefer to translate it as People's search for a purpose. 

 I turned to the Wikipedia page about one of my favourite positive thinkers, Viktor Frankl.

Viktor Frankl

I was astonished, and heartened to read that while he was still a young student at the university of Vienna in Austria, he was asked to help prevent student suicides. 

A little investigation showed that the most stressful time was around the exams. In Toastmasters, the stressful time is around contests. People are scared to sign up, or pull out at the last minute.

Viktor Frankl set up a very simple system, a buddy system. A bit like mentors. A bit like life coaches. Focussing on the year's course, the exams, and life in general.

Did he reduce suicides. I was shocked. Not by a lot. Not by little.  But completely. No suicides. None. Nada!

Dale Carnegie recommends being interested in other people and helping them. Frankl's says that what you need is a purpose or mission, a personal goal, or one for your group, or the world.

On New Year's Eve, before Covid, I was depressed because in a previous year somebody knew had committed suicide on New Year's Eve.

But I phoned out son to wish him Happy New Year on New Year's Eve. He was no alone. He had just proposed marriage.

During Covid, my purpose was to slim down to increase my chances of survival. I  have a purpose. Be a survivor.weighed myself every day. I had a purpose.

Now I have a grandchild and my purpose is to survive until her 20th birthday when I hope she will get married.

I am a survivor. Are you a survivor? My small purpose is to learn the language of the next country I shall visit, or the group taking the visit. I am going to Albania with a group containing several who speak German. Do you have a purpose? To be a traveller to many countries? A polyglot? Or simply  A SURVIVOR.

PLEASE SHARE LINKS TO YOUR FAVOURITE POSTS.

Statues of Mrs Beeton, Heath Robinson and others wanted in Harrow

Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square is one of London's well known landmarks.Oscar Wilde reclines nearby. Freud's bust is in Swiss Cottage. Mandela is in Westminster. Florence Nightingale stands holding her lamp outside a London hospital on Waterloo Place. Handel had a statue erected in Vauxhall Gardens, central London during his lifetime. A statue of singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse is in Stables Market, Camden Town. What have we got in Harrow? Yesterday I discovered to my delight that a page on Harrow had been set up on Facebook. I posted on it that I wanted statues placed around Harrow:

1 Mrs Beeton, cookery and recipe pioneer, should stand in Hatch End, where she lived and died. A plaque to her is on the wall where her house was in The Broadway, still a broad or wide street.

2 Heath Robinson, the cartoonist, should have a statue in the Pinner Park or better still in the High Street, to draw attention to the museum devoted to him which has opened in Pinner this year.

3 W S Gilbert, who wrote the words, "I've got a little list ..." in his operetta, Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, was also a magistrate. His house where he lived in Victorian times is now a hotel but he should have a statue, somewhere prominent and central, perhaps Harrow.

4 Roger Bannister who won the race and established the record for the four minute mile, has a playing field named after him. He is still alive, in his eighties. If a statue of him takes as long as the Heath Robinson Museum to be established (twenty years of campaigning), he would be well over a hundred if he were still alive by the time his statue is up. It should show him running, Many pictures of him running must exist.

5 Crosse and Blackwell
They are both buried in All Saints church, Harrow Weald, with big mausoleums in the grounds near the entrance to the church. Blackwell's house has been demolished but his front garden is now a park on the Uxbridge Road (see one of my previous posts for pictures) and he gave land for St Anselm's church in Hatch End.

6 Screaming Lord Sutch
Great character. Has to have a statue in central Harrow.

7 Leefe Robinson
WWI hero. Buried in All Saint's church cemetery extension, across the Uxbridge Road opposite the church. The pub next door to the church was named Leefe Robinson and locals campaigned for new pub owners to preserve the name (and press cuttings about him inside the building, left of the doorway).

8 Winston Churchill
Writer of so many famous speeches. He inspired everybody to fight on in WWII. "Never, ever, ever give up." His statue is already outside Parliament in central London. Let's have another in Harrow.


In London in addition to our classic busts of people such as Kennedy, and a statue of Charlie Chaplin standing, we have modern statues such as:
a) The Australian mapmaker, Captain Matthew, and his cat on Euston station.
b) Artist Coneo who painted trains and stations with his palette on Waterloo station.
c) Sherlock Holmes standing wearing his distinctive deerstalker outside Baker Street.
d) Brunel in his high hat, his top hat, on Paddington station.

I would like to see statues all along St Anne's, or St George's shopping areas in Harrow, like they are all along Pietrowsky Street in Lodz, where you see a statue of Arthur Rubinstein, pianist, who was born in Lodz.

Many other famous people have lived or worked in Harrow.
Winston Churchill went to school in Harrow. A picture of him is on the Whitefriars glass in the Harrow Civic Centre, which is going to be demolished. I hope they preserve the glass, as well as the wall of tiles commemorating famous people and events, and the parlour's cabinet of gifts from various groups, from or to former mayors, and the marquetry on the wall in the parlour showing famous people of Harrow.

9Byron
He wrote and went to school at Harrow on the Hill. His young daughter was buried in the church grounds, almost inside the church door.

10 Claire Rayner wrote in Harrow, a formidable woman and campaigner on health issues.

Central London has many more: Dick Whittington and his cat. Harrow is not short of famous people. We need statues of our heroes and heroines to inspire students and install pride and ambition in our residents and workers and visitors.

I want to keep this list in one place so I shall probably come back and update rather than starting another post on the same subject. Georgia Weston, Sue and others have commented on the Facebook page on Harrow.

Photo of sculpture of Arthur Rubinstein seated at the piano in Lodz, Poland, from Wikipedia.
Other photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author and photographer.

Lost and found in the USA, UK, Singapore and worldwide

Lost and Found
I was thinking it was time somebody set up nationwide and worldwide lost and found websites. You need one centralised place to report losses. In Singapore We had to go to the terminus of two different bus lines, a police station, the UK passport office, and the NRIC office.

(I was thinking we need a lost and found site like Tell Us Once. What's that? In the UK in the old days after somebody died if you were the spouse or descendant or lawyer / executor you spent months writing to different government bodies. The death certificate needed for funeral plans took priority, so the pension would continue to be paid and had to be paid back. Hours of work, week, months, for the family, and masses of extra paperwork and muddle for the government offices. Now a wonderful website called Tell Us Once informs all government bodies simultaneously.)

Lost and Found in the USA
I went hunting on the internet and immediately up pops a site for lost and found in the USA. The alliterative subtitle is For property and pets. Such a great idea. The website connection is lost but I love the idea.

Finders Keepers
But maybe a 'lost' item was not stolen but just lost. How many items get lost?

Taxi Lost and Found
A sign in the Singapore taxi warns that fifty per cent of items left in taxis are either wallets or phones. Sometimes a recorded voice tells you to check you have left nothing behind. What more can they do? I think the driver should have a camera on the back which enables him to check.

Taxi Drivers Could Help
Every driver should give a receipt automatically, not just ask whether you want one. Driver should announce his name and the taxi company. For example, "My name is Mr Lim. Thank you for booking GrabTaxi." "Hope you had a good journey in grab taxi. Check you left nothing behind? Nothing on seat, in the pocket? Keep the receipt. If you lose anything, call GrabTaxi and tell them you were in Mr Lim's taxi. Have a great visit."

Receipts Identify Your Taxi
I always ask for a receipt from the taxi. That way if anything ever goes missing you know which taxi and which service. There could be five or more taxi companies and hundreds of taxis.

Finders Keepers
An old saying suggests Finders Keepers. Not so. British courts have set precedents proving otherwise. To give a couple of examples, somebody who had money moved into their bank account in error had to repay it. Treasure from Roman or earlier times has been deemed crown or national property. I shall search and research this and update this post or add another later with details.

In the UK it used to be the case that if you took something to a police station and it was not claimed after three months the finder could keep it. However, you were still expected to return the item.

Accepting Loss - How Soon?
How long should you wait before accepting something is lost? Eventually something might turn up?

Common sites for losses.

Accepting Loss
Some people take the attitude, wave goodbye to what's gone and move on. In Singapore a well-known expat family lost a son who committed suicide. (He had suffered from a slight handicap and was bright and successful and personable yet had been bullied.)

Persistence Pays
On the other hand, a famous quotation - Winston Churchill said, Never, never, never give up.

Lost children - like Madeleine McCann. Lost pets - occasionally turn up miles from home and are reunited.

On Transport
Have your property packed up ready to go when a bus arrives or you reach your stop.

When Should You Give Up?
After you have done all you can. In Singapore I went to the two terminus points at the end of the bus looking for my lost wine red bag containing my passport, NRIC and two phones, my iPhone in a purple 'clam. cover, the Singapore phone in a Cappucino cover.

Staying at one address is a great help. Every time you change address it becomes harder for the finder to return your property.

Losses
My handbag cut in Marbella. Stolen car drew up alongside. Thief cut the handle of my bag. Driver veered around corner and crashed. Car occupants ran. Driver disappeared. My bag was found cut plus Swiss knife - which only later did I realised had been used to cut the handles.

Successful Lost item Found
I lost a valued glove when out looking for a place to live. A week later I retraced my steps. A kind person had stuck the glove upright on top of a post, easily seen.

They never knew I found it, only that somebody had removed it. A belated thank you years later from me - I should have left a thank you note.

In the old days in the UK you could take lost property straight to the local police station. Unfortunately police stations have closed down and centralised. You have to travel a half hour round trip.

Singapore
In Singapore, reporting a loss at the police station, my relative told me the police did not even want to make a report on my 'lost' bag - only if it was stolen. Immediately after it disappeared, we assumed I had somehow dropped it or left it behind on the bus. But since my trace has been found, we now assume it was stolen.

Scotland
At Edinburgh, when visiting the Edinburgh Festival, we lost a camera outside a book fair. Later in the day we went back to the book fair. I went to the desk to ask if anybody had handed in the camera. Sure enough, there it was.

Cost of Loss
What is the cost of loss? You probably underestimate the cost of replacement of goods. Even a new lipstick can cost £20. Replacement passports, NRIC identity cards in Singapore, cost a lot of money.

NRIC
A property agent was asked by a security guard to leave his NRIC. He refused and instead handed over his business card as proof of identity. If you lose your NRIC, the cost of replacing it a second time increases.

Summary:
Losses:
People - children such as Madelien McCann - ongoing search. Hopefully the search for her can have three good outcomes for children, parents and people worldwide a)

Success:
1 Lost and Found website USA.
2 Colleague's empty wallet containing our borrowed library card found in attic of AGB office building, years after wallet went missing. The wallet was taken from a jacket on a chair back in building which you could enter only with an employee or guest pass. (So we now presume the wallet was stolen not by a member of staff but by a contract worker who had access to the roof space.)
3 Empty (and handle cut) shoulder bag retrieved in Marbella, Spain, when we reported loss to police station.
4 Glove found on post a week later in UK.
5 Member of Toastmasters Singapore told me he lost a wallet but within an hour an honest Singaporean had returned it to him.

Action On Lost and Found
National website for lost and found in each country. it could give you the locations of lost and found offices, how to mark and safeguard your property, where to report lost credit cards, give you a record sheet you could fill in with the brand of your handbag, the serial number of your phone, the phone numbers for your credit card companies, your office or relative to be contacted for return of items.

(You don't leave your house, leaving it empty, to collect missing doorways, or burglars could use the keys to get in your house while sending you miles away, or even around the corner). Suggestion - send somebody with your identity and/or do a visual call to identify both parties and the lost item and location in public place with witness for the handover.

Who Retrieve Useless Items
What use is an old passport, now I have a new travel document? It has a record of all my travels, including the time and date of every entry and exit. I keep my old passports. (And those of my ancestors.) I trust that one day somehow the items will be returned to me.

Adrenalin and Chase Syndrome
It is psychological closure. The human brain goes into what I shall call Seek Lost Item mode. You get a rush of adrenalin, anxiety, gear up for physical chase.

(Not just a caveman era Idea. This really happens. And is still relevant and needed. We had two physical chases after lost/stolen property. In Marbella years ago my husband chased after the stolen car whose occupants had stolen my handbag.

In Singapore my husband chased after the bus after I got off and realised my bag was missing. First he chased the bus which stopped at the lights. When the lights changed and the bus sped away, still agitated, he rapped on the window of the nearest car and persuaded the driver to chase the bus. (Thank you Zak.)

Reward
A friend suggested I should offer a reward. So I offer a reward. £20 or Singapore$20 for each of the five missing items, the bag, the iPhone and cover, the Singtel phone and cover, the British passport, the NRIC card. Total £100 or Singapore dollars 200 for the whole bag and contents.

As for me, I wil forever want the return of my lost (acronym for lost or stolen) wine red multi-zip messenger cross-body messenger bag and all the contents, my iPhone with the purple flip wallet, also called a 'clam' cover - means it is like a book with a crease down the long direction so it opens up and stands up horizontally with two slits for cards opposite the phone.
My Singtel phone a Sony Ericsson with a brown cover, a thick, back only, imitation cappuccino cup cover. Also my British passport surname Sharot and NRIC.  The items could be discarded by the thief or finder.

STILL WANTED
I have been scanning every person I see on the bus worldwide - could they have found or been given my items, and not knowingly be in possession of them, not knowing how to return them? Now we are back to the reason for a national lost and found website. I am lifting the boxes of bins. Unfortunately in Singapore

UK the old London Transport Lost Property office can now be accessed online. In the old days you had to go in person and could retrieve goods for free. Now there is a charge.

What else can we do on the lost and found websites?
'LOST TODAY'
'FOUND TODAY'

How to prove it's yours?
I can't produce my passport as evidence of identity because my passport is the lost item. But my passport has my picture - you can see it's me!

My phone is supposed to turn on with my thumbprint. However, my phone doesn't like my thumbprint. I do, however, know my phone's passcode, which no stranger would know.

The Castle pub lunch at Harrow-on-the-hill

The sign outside shows you that the castle is a chess piece, that sort of castle, not the crenellated castle I had imagined from the name. Inside you won't find any sign of chess.

However, one room has clocks. As far as I could tell the clocks were purely decorative, all telling different times - and stopped.

The pub is on a corner of the slope near the summit of Harrow on the hill, just a few beet below the landmark triangle by the former King's head pub. At the other end of the street above is the famous Harrow School which Churchill attended. The pub has a famous quotation from Churchill on the wall of the back room.

The quotation is correctly attributed.
Lady Astor: "Winston, if I were you're wife I'd put poison in your coffee."
Winston Churchill: "Nancy, if I were your husband I'd drink it."

Interesting menu features unusual items such as two dishes with Halloumi, Greek cheese, as well as more familiar food such as fish and chips. We waited an hour for our hot food.  I think the staff should have sent olives or nuts or suggested we order a cold starter to share whilst waiting. Despite all those clocks, or perhaps because the clocks were stopped, the place did not have a strong sense of time.

I did not like the black on my bap. I think food cooked until it turns black causes cancer (which is what the cancer websites say). But another diner thought the bap was fine. He happily finished off what I left.

After our complaints about the wait, they did offer money back on the food (not the drinks we'd had whilst waiting). This mollified our large group, from three local clubs, for writers and readers, who are happy to go back and try the food and service again.

As the author of two books of quotations, I think fondly of any pub which has quotations on the walls.

My two books of quotations are:
Quick Quotations For Successful Speeches.
Who Said What When?

Battle of Britain Day 15 Sept 1940, commemorated 14 Sept 2014 at RAF Museum, Hendon

Churchill said, "Never have so many owed so much to so few". Articles on the BBC website, the RAF website and Wikipedia explain the background, how many planes were lost by both sides on the day, how the war progressed, the relationship between the navy, the airforce and Hitler's plans for ground invasion, morale, propaganda and lies on both sides about losses and gains - all fascinating.

See the Battle of Britain Hall at the RAF Museum, Graeme Park Way, London NW9 5LL. (Hendon.)

Learn about the women in the WAAF - The Girls in Blue, the Lancaster bombers and Spitfires.

Events for the commemoration include a Spitfire flypast (weather permitting). Also lunchtime music and guided tours.

See www.rafmuseum.com/whatson

You might also like my posts in my blog on recycling old diaries, as well as my books on lulu.com including a poetry workbook and books of quotations.

Angela Lansbury, author, speaker and poet.

Harrow School And The Straw Hat

Harrow School at Harrow on the hill is where Winston Churchill went to school, plus a number of other famous people. You can book a tour of the school. I've driven up the hill many times to visit friends who live there, or go to restaurants. On my most recent visit I was lucky enough to see a boy wearing a straw hat, famously part of the school's summer uniform and sold in a local shop. I would have called it a boater. The wikipedia entry for the school says that the hat is erroneously called a boater. But when I went to the article on boaters it mentioned hats worn at Harrow school. 

If you are not lucky enough to time your visit to take a tour or see a boy wearing a boater hat, at least you can be sure of seeing this statue on the wall, day and night, all seasons.

This statue is of Elizabeth I on the south tower. The photo is taken by me.

If you don't wish to stop at a restaurant another option is one of several pubs. The walk or drive downhill through impressively large the trees is very pleasant.

The spire of the hilltop church can be seen from the train to Harrow, even if you are not getting out at Harrow so look out for it.

Harrow's Heroes and Heroines Displayed In The Civic Centre

Harrow's civic centre has tributes to heroes and heroines of Harrow and the world.

At the entrance turn right to enquire from the reception desk; turn left to see the Kodak history display

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited Harrow.

Tiles include well known people such as: the poet Byron; runner Roger Bannister. You'll also see organisations including the masons; and landmarks great and small.

Winston Churchill went to Harrow school.

Byron was at Harrow school. He is buried here. So is his daughter - in St Mary's church - that's the famous spire you see on the top of the hill when you are driving towards Harrow or passing Harrow in the metropolitan line train.

(I'm updating this today and loading up more pictures but so I don't lose my work I'm adding them to the site and not waiting until it's finished. Come back and read more later.)



Current Mayor in 2014
Harrow is a very diverse borough. Schools and pupils and teachers do well.