Alligator Kills American - Can You Fix Stupid?

Photo in Wikipedia in article on Alligator. Photo attributed to Bignuts.Alliator in zoo.

Newspapers and other media reported that a woman went towards an alligator and was killed.

Several comments from the public worldwide were about the woman being stupid.

Yes, by definition half the people are under the half way mark of human intelligence. Children under ten, or under twenty, lack experience. They lack knowledge and are more vulnerable to wildlife and accidents because of the child's size.

A second vulnerable group are the elderly with dementia.

A third vulnerable group are those who are born with or develop low intelligence through accidents.

 As legislators and health inspectors and citizens we have a duty of care towards them, and the  public and emergency services who risk their lives thrying to save the endangered.

Do you seriously think that anybody of low intelligence should be killed aligators? What if it's your relative or enighbour, or granny? What if you are funding or managing the local hospital or mortuary or insurance company.

If it costs money to keep the mentally deficient or mentally fragile confined, then we think it is kinder to leave them in the community, doing simple jobs. But they are a danger to themselves - and other who try to rescue them.

Many of these events are predictable.

As people get older, a proporiton of them develp dementia.

Allowing people to drink during the working day before 6 pm (when they should only drink safely at home, without walking or driving home). Luckily the husband and wife did not go to help her or there would have been three fatalities. They threw a rope.

Should we give everybody an annual intelligence test? Questions including, should I fondle a lion or an alligator?

Instead, or in addition, should we invest more in fences around ponds and lakes and rivers and canals and clifftops?

What are the options?

Confine those of low intellience.
1 Barrier Rope  & Rescue Ropes For Humans
Install more ropes and life belts.
Bild more fences.

2 Barriers For Animals
We have fences around fields to confine sheep and bulls. Fences in farms and in Australia go on for miles.
Have bells and other items like scarecrows to keep wildlife in the water.

3 Cull wildlife.
Move wildlife out of urban areas.

4 Ban alcohol / restrict access and times.
(Like many muslim countries and the US in the Prohibiton era.)
Ban alcohol during working hours. (We used to have fewer hours when alcohol could be served in the UK.)

A moral rule used to be no alcohol and no valueble diamond jewellery worn before 6 pm - which prevented accidents and loss of valuables in working hours.)

5 Cage communities
Build gated communities with walls to keep out wildlife.

What Has Worked
In Australia they discovered that most deaths from drowning take place not in the ocean but to small children in homes with back yard swimming pools. So they brought in legislation that all back yard pools should have high fences and lockable gates.

In Rockville, Maryland, swimming pools were reured by the local council (inluenced by their insurance requirments) to have tennis court style high fences, and two lifeguards on duty during opening hours. Putting up warning signs is good. But if the young and old of low intellence, bavado, following dares, or drunk, have access to danger, ywe need to think of prevention by a second backup system.

How You And I Can Spread Safety Messages
Currently Covid-19 is causing legislation all over the world. The public and the media are supporting safety messages on Facebook posts and bogs.

At Toastmasters International we are occasionally asked in the Table Topics session (impromptu speeches), what would you do if you were king or president or could pass any law? I shall start a new notebook, or a page in my diary, listing the changes I would like to see, and plan to give this speech at the next opportunity.

Be Prepared To Speak
I might have to wait 6 months. But the moment will come. In fact, as President of Braddell Heights Advanced, currently on line at 7 pm every Wednesday, I can give the opening speech. I now have my topic.

Come along to hear it. Next Wednesday on learncool.sg contact the president of VPE if you wish to attend. You, too, have a story to use to illustrate a point if you are called upon to give an impromptu speech or comment. Plan your quick, succint comment on alligators crocodiles, covi-19 and any safety issue

Useful Websites
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8293063/I-guess-wont-words-woman-killed-alligator.html#reader-comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_alligator_attacks_in_the_United_States

About the Author
Angela Lansbury

Author

Author, Author! About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, trainer and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)

Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.

See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.

See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

LANGUAGE TEACHER/TRAINER

If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,

Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.

On learncool.sg

I am also a member of

Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. In 2019-2020 I am also a member of

Tampines Changkat Advanced. Tiarel.

Harrovians, London. HOD London.

Toastmasters International Find a Club

https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club

https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations

lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product-21713991

drink

Other posts about food, drink, restaurants and artists and museums and destinations and languages.

See later posts on pools.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Coronavirus Precautions Considered - Enough Or Not Enough?

Flag of China

The Coronavirus has spread around Asia.


This pretty little flag is the flag of Hong Kong.



Some people have argued that, 'A lot of fuss is made over a few deaths.'

I have seen posts saying:
'More die from alcohol,' and
 'More die from road accidents,' and
'more die from flu'.

Yes, firstly we have loads of laws in place to try to stop these.

We already have countries with prohibition for alcohol, drink driving laws, tax on alcohol, points on licenses for drink driving, flu jabs.it is all our effects which reduce the effects of all the other causes.
Experience has shown that we can reduce deaths by taking precautions, other prevention, or punishment.

Secondly, the latest deaths are not instead but in addition to all the other deaths.

I have also heard:
You are going to die anyway;
It is only the elderly;
It hasn't killed you yet (therefore why wash hands).

If you took this attitude, you would never bother with hospitals for anybody or anything.

What is on my mind is:

1 Nobody has said how long you remain ill until you recover.

2 And are there any after effects? This is very relevant. People argue that not many are dead.

Polio
Relatively few died from polio, but a US president was in a wheelchair all his life from catching it. the paralytic illness of  Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) began in 1921 when the future President of the United States was 39 years old.



Measles
Measles might not kill you. But you could end up deaf-blind like Helen Keller who had either scarlet fever or meningitis. You could be weakened and succumb to the next round of flu.

We are lucky today that modern science can identify what's wrong with us. Although that's not much consolation when they tell us that it could be a year before a cure or vaccine is developed.

1918 Flu
The 1918 flu killed the young who were not immune, and killed more than WWI.

Be vigilant.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Singapore

About The Author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please see my other websites. Please share links to your favourite posts. 

What's On The Wine Label And Why?

A wine label tells you the country of origin, the grapes, where the grapes were grown, where the wine was bottled, who imported it to your country, how much alcohol is in the bottle, and how sweet the wine is. 

The bottle shape might tell you the country and style of wine if a particular wine is always sold in that style of bottle. 

The colour of the bottle may protect the wine from light and possibly heat. The red wines will be in dark bottles. Rose wines are often in white. More darker pink colour, more black skin from dark grapes. Generally a drier wine.

The year of the wine tells if it was a good year or a bad year (lots of sun or rain), as well as if the wine is young, or vintage. Gone brown, gone off.

Is it an ordinary wine, or a vintage? The French say vin ordinaire for ordinary wine. 

A blend? 

Appellation   

Apel is French for name. The appellation is the Name or naming on a wine label restricted to an area or style of wine which often must also follow rules specifying which grapes are allowed. Why? In order to promote consistency and protect both the growers and customers from fakes and confusion.

ABV - alcohol by volume - the amount of alcohol. Percentage of alcohol.

When I first started drinking wine I collected wine labels in a book so I could re-order wines I liked and recognize them on a menu.

If you are in a restaurant, you ask for the sommelier. that's French for the wine expert. His job is to advise you on which wine will go with your food, within any budget you specify. 

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Drinking, driving, designated drivers, or death

Somebody in the USA died, a bar tender who drank too much and was killed whilst driving.

Tiger Woods is being sued.

Yes, the person who died should have been responsible for his own actions. But it is not enough to shrug and say that. Supposing it was your family member?

Supposing your family were killed by the oncoming car, driven by a drunk driver?

When I lived in the USA I experienced three types of restrictions.

West  Virginia
Only clubs could serve alcohol. We drove for a long way looking for a restaurant but could see only private clubs. Eventually we stopped and asked a passer-by. He revealed that to serve alcohol the restaurants needed to be clubs.

To join the club was no problem. You could join instantly. You paid a fee of a dollar and supplied your ID and left your name and address and contact details. d back toal the restaurant. Sounds good. We

We were a couple on a tight budget. At the restaurant, we mutteringly complained to each other that it would be cheaper to drive on to McDonalds, that the cost of joining the club offset the low offer on the price of food. We decided to walk out. The owner, said he would give us a voucher equivalent to the cost of joining the club.

Washington DC
Another restaurant nearer Washington DC served us a meal with a bottle of wine. We could not finish it and wanted to take it away. The restaurant owner said he was not allowed to let us do that because we could not drive with a bottle of opened wine in the car.

In some ways this is counter-productive. Next time, we were tempted to drink more at the restaurant, rather than seeing half a bottle of wine going to waste.

Down South
At New Year's Eve towards Houston, Texas, the bar had a sign saying that we could get a free lift home to a home or hotel from a local taxi. This system was started by a local taxi driver whose friend of family member had been killed by a drunk driver on New Year's Eve. He asked all the bars in the area to put up a sign saying he would offer a free ride to anybody drunk, because it might save a life.

His offer was copied by all the other taxi drivers in the city.

We accepted the free ride, but decided to pay the going rate for the taxi.

I though it was a great idea.

CALL TO ACTION
Every bar needs a big sign stating how much a person can drink or order without waiting, taking water or food in between.  Every bar needs a big sign saying the bar tender can lose his job for serving somebody who is intoxicated.

May be a free fruit juice alternating with every alcoholic drink. Free cocktails, mostly non alcohol.



In the same way that a free muffin is often given with coffee, free or low price food should be served with drink.


In the UK pubs are closing down and being taken over by gastropubs which serve food and the same choice of alcohol.  Sad or good?

Sweden?
The Scandinavians found the answer. Some countries will not serve drinks without food.

Canada
Canadian areas have also tried this.One rule can be that a place serving alcohol must have a kitchen.

Maybe it's time to ask drinkers if they are driving.  hand everybody a coloured voucher or re-usable token - date-stamped so they cannot save yesterday's.

If somebody is driving, keep a bar check on the phone ap showing how many drinks you have had and when to stop.

The Future
With the third drink or round of drinks, you should get a voucher for an uber.

I am also looking forward to the time when a car won't start if the driver is inebriated, and the self-drive car.

Useful Websites
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7025599/Tiger-Woods-sued-drunk-driving-death-bartender-Florida-restaurant.html#newcomment
Drinkaware
https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/
Swedish taxes, drinking habits and EU forcing changes
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/28/world/europe-making-sweden-ease-alcohol-rules.html
Canadian Rules
https://www.chowhound.com/post/bar-serve-alcohol-food-ontario-split-ontario-board-585817
USA
https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/booze-and-the-law/Content?oid=10205

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

What to See in Surabaya, the 'City of Heroes' in Indonesia, after trekking up Argopuro

Surabaya is the second city of Indonesia, after the capital Jakarta. Surabaya calls itself the city of heroes. 

Let's start at the beginning. The name Indonesia derives from the Greek name of the Indos (Ἰνδός) and the word nesos (νῆσος), meaning "Indian islands". 

Lots of islands. Mostly Moslem. The wine making is in Bali which is not Moslem.

My family frequently climb the volcanoes in Indonesia.
"What?" I gasp, "Volcanoes!'

My family reply, "Indonesia is all volcanoes. All the mountains are volcanoes. You are on one or under one."

Really? They didn't teach me that in school.

So, my intrepid trekkers, went on yet another long weekend to trek up the Argopuro volcano in Indonesia. The island has several volcanoes. Every now and then a volcano sens up a plume of smoke and a trek is cancelled or postponed. So, off they go to another nearby mountain. the mountains are not only hot inside, but have trees and lakes and trails trodden by feet and worn down by mopeds and
signs at the top giving you the elevation.

Plus local guides. Local taxes to enter national parks containing valcanoes, fees which are higher for tourists than for low-paid locals.

Does that money go on signs and paths or the pockets of people, as legitimate salaries, wasted on admin, or bribes, or to help local infrastructure? We may speculate, but we have no time to investigate that. We are too busy organizing flights and maps and tents.

The first night hotel was:
Utama Raya Beach hotel
on Jalan R aya.

At the back were inflatable boats, brightly coloured. Across the car park is a Starbucks.

Our group had supper together at the back of the hotel, on heavy iron seats, which look red in the pictures. Perfect for dinner outdoors overlooking dark sand beach with pebbles at the back and boats.

Next day the trek starts. It is a one way trek with the minibus meeting you at the other end, so if you want to turn back, do so early. It is steep and tiring.

One of the older hikers turned around on the first day. He went back to Surabaya and waited for the return flight.

The rest of the group soldiered on and slept overnight in tents. Everybody gets up at 5 am.

Indonesia is mainly Moslem so no much alcohol. Surabaya has a large Chinese population who are ethnic Chinese but speak bahasa (language) Indonesian.


Entrance to Chinatown, Surabaya, Indonesia. Photo from Wikivoyage.

The city, a Singaporean friend tells me, after he stayed there at a friend's house last year, seems much safer than the larger capital city of Jakarta.

At the top of Argopuro you can pick up a sign with the name of the mountain, on what looks like a car number plate and hold it up for a photo.

Coming back, half way down, you see a very peaceful lake. Local have built a jetty where you can sit and take a peaceful picture, not a sound for miles except the occasional bird.

Our group of expat climbers met the locals who had just rebuilt the jetty. A local girl said, "Come to Surabaya and visit the chocolate shop where I work!"

If you are stuck in Surabaya, or have time on your last morning before the lunch time flight back to Singapore, what else is there to do?

Surabaya Sights
1 See two bridges: the long bridge across to the island, Suramadu bridge lit at night.


2 The Red bridge.
3 The museums about independence.
4 A high statue of an Admiral, representing the fight for independence, from the Dutch.

5 A giant green Russian submarine, now a museum.
Cafe alongside.


Photo by Midori in article on Surabaya in Wikivoyage.

6 Some strikingly pretty mosques.
7 A chocolate shop whose website shows fabulous chocolates and cakes.
8Traditional Hotel.


Surabaya is the second most populous city on Java. However, my relative was tired from the trek and decided not to go into town. His excuse was that the traffic was so bad that he did not want to risk missing his flight.

What to buy? A charger at a service station, good value, takes two phones or devices.

Costs
Flight from Singapore.
Jetstar flight.
Pay extra for checked in luggage.
Two Leki brand sticks. (We previously had cheaper ones which fell apart.)
On the return flight the airport staff tried to take the walking sticks away. An elderly traveller argued that he needed them.

Payment to local guide who carries your overnight bag. Tip to guide on last day for general help.
You need a day bag contained lots of water. On one day, day one, one of the hikers drank four litres of water.
Small fee to trek organizer, who does not go on treks.

Finally, once home we looked up the song about Surabaya Johnny for The Threepenny Opera.

Author
What to buy? A charger at a service station, good value, takes two phones or devices.

Indonesia is mainly Moslem so not much alcohol. For sharing out food at camping breakfast time, one traveller brought dates. Another had the smallest coffee pod coffee maker and coffee pods. Another had cheese.

One traveller found that after several years of service his tent was starting to leak in the rain. At the end of the trek, he gave it to one of the porters. 

I am a great fan of recycling. Nonetheless, when I heard this story, back in Singapore, I protested, "Maybe the porter wouldn't want a leaking tent! Would he patch it up?"

The reply I got was, "I promise you, dear, the porter would be very glad to have it."

Travel Tip

When you get off your group coach always keep your phone with you to contact the others. My relative got off the minibus for a coffee in Starbucks. When he emerged the minibus had vanished and so had his group. He did not have a phone to call them. He did not know the name of the hotel. Eventually he crossed the car park and went into the lobby of a nearby small hotel. He told the man on the desk he had lost his group, and their minibus had vanished. 

The man on the desk reassured him:

"You are in the right place. They have just checked in. The minibus has gone back. All but one. You must be ..."

The phone he left on the bus was with the group organizer. The moral is, even if you are just rushing to the toilet and the coffee shop, always have your phone and your group leader's number and your destination hotel phone number and address with you.

Useful Websites

Jetstar

Singapore Airlines

singaporeair.com

indonesiatourismboard.com

traveloka.com (comparison and booking) pairs up the different legs which saves searching

booking.com gives each leg of your journey separately.

INDONESIAN AND MALAY LANGUAGES
If you are planning a trip, you might like to brush up your Indonesian vocabulary and grammar (pretty much the same as Malay, which you hear in announcements and read on the four language posters on every journey on the MRT in Singapore

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

How To Report An Emergency, Crime And Drunks On Trains And Roads - What Is correct behaviour in public places - alcohol, trains and football matches

Most trains and buses display their emergency numbers. It is a good idea to put these in your phone. In an emergency the lights on the train might go out or it may fill with smoke. You might not want to reveal to an assailant that you are reading the emergency number.

What is acceptable behaviour in public places? Singing? Being inebriated? Shouting at your friends? Shouting at other passengers?

Irish Flag

Coming back on the train after St Patrick's night you can get a lot of happy people singing songs in unison. That is fun. That is fine.

Drunks
When the language gets blue, or a drunk starts lurching down the train and accosting passengers, that is more worrying.

Begging
I have also been on trains where somebody with a dog walks along the train asking passengers for money. I try to look down and ignore them. If necessary, I get off at the next stop and either run along the platform beside the train and jump into another carriage (on infrequent trains) or get off and wait for the next train.

UK and Football Fans
I have sat and stood on trains in London where groups sing, shout and lark about.

Football Fan Trains
UK trains can run dry trains to football matches.

Singapore
Unwanted Conversation
I wrote earlier this year about reporting a man who had been trying to engage an anxious girl in unwanted conversation on a Singapore train.

In future I would try to photograph the person and keep the emergency number handy in my phone. It is better to report from the train rather than waiting until I reached a station, with the delay of going up two escalators.

DRUNK DRIVING


Emergency Phone Numbers
In the UK and some former commonwealth countries the number 999 is used.
In the USA 911 was chosen as being quick to dial.

AUSTRALIA
General emergency number 000.

https://www.crimestoppers.com.au/
New South Wales (Sydney and NSW)
Remember you can report your knowledge of criminal activity online (desktop version, mobile version), or by calling Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

CANADA
http://bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=30&languageId=1&contentId=-1

SINGAPORE

➤ If you require immediate Police response e.g. emergencies or life threatening situations, please call 999 or the Police Hotline at +65 6255 0000 (for overseas callers).

➤ If you wish to make a report for police investigation , you may do so through our e-services at https://www.police.gov.sg/e-services

MORE SINGAPORE

https://www.police.gov.sg/iwitness

UK
Police and emergency tel 999

Useful Websites
Football Trains
https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-facts/alcohol-and-the-law/drinking-alcohol-in-public-places/
Reporting Crimes
UK text British Transport Police 61016

Railway:
If you do become a victim of crime it is important that you ask for help and report it. You can call us on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016. In an emergency, dial 999.
http://www.btp.police.uk/advice_and_information/faqs1.aspx
https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/safety/report-a-crime-or-incident
http://www.btp.police.uk/contact_us/report_a_crime.aspx
http://www.btp.police.uk/safety_on_the_railway/if_youre_a_victim_of_crime/how_to_report_a_crime1.aspx

Europe
112

Ambulance in Romania displaying the emergency phone number, 112. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Greece, Israel and India
100 - easy to remember, especially in Greece which has a double letter e in its name and a double zero in the emergency number. 

USA
https://www.usa.gov/report-crime#item-35947
USA and Canada 911 and the Philippines.

WORLDWIDE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emergency_telephone_numbers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_driving_law_by_country

Warnings in songs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Vehicle_wreck_ballads

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

Chinese for Children and Adults: pointing, wanting, food and hotel

Problem - Teaching Children and Adults
I found a website for parents who speak Chinese to teach their children to be bilingual. Lots of amusing ideas, about starting with nouns, and simple verbs, but not one word of any use to an adult who speaks English and wants to learn Chinese. (Although the Chinese symbols would be meaningful to bilinguals, nothing useful for beginners.)

Answer
However, this search led me on to some really handy YouTube videos for adult tourists.

First Words For Pointing To Food
The first video teaches you the words you can use for pointing:
this
that
I
want
I want
I don't want
I don't want that
I want this

Signs and Tones
I had already learned that wo means I. the teacher in the video explains how the signs over the letters gives you clues about the tone of voice, the same as French signs. The bowl shape means the sound goes down then rises up again.

The website also gives you some amusing word breakdowns giving insights. Who would have known that the Chinese word for restaurant is the combination of the two words food shop! Who would have guessed that the Chinese word for hotel is alcohol shop!

Useful Websites
Diana Ser for children of Mandarin speaking parents
http://www.dianaser.com/how-to-us-eenglish-books-to-learn-mandarin/
http://www.dianaser.com/script-to-play-and-say-in-mandarin/

Emma on greetings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1LWu81kWqE

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Underwear Confidence For Long Journeys And Leaking

Problems
Forms of Transport:
TRAINS; PLANES; COACHES
There are line ups for the toilets on trains, long-distance coaches, coach stops, railway stations, aircraft.
MOTORWAYS
On a motorway you could be stuck in a traffic jam as long as seven hours.
WALKING, HIKING, CLIMBING, CAMPING
When hiking or even on a walking trail, you might not see a toilet, and going to the toilet outdoors might invite attacks by dogs or bears.
Camping in a tent whether on flat land or up a mountain on Everest and other mountains, you may not wish to go out into the dark and cold, even if you have a separate toilet tent.

Physical And Mental Conditions:
If you are pregnant, elderly, have a medical condition or weak bladder, had too much coffee or too much alcohol, you might need a toilet before you can reach one.
Stress incontinence from coughing and sneezing and laughing.
Unpredictable periods (menstruation).
Heavy periods.
Bladder or muscles weakened by pregnancy, youth, age, medical condition or unidentifable factors.
Foreign food upsets your stomach.
Fear gives you the runs.

Answers
You can buy a plastic child's potty with or without a lid, a commode chair to take or send to a second home or holiday home, buy devices for men and women to keep in the car, or improvise
1 Double thickness underwear. Two pairs or thongs under granny knickers.
2 Panty liners.
3 Waterproof and / or water absorbent underclothes.

Current (2017) Offers
1 UK
Morrisons supermarket sent me a special offer of a free packet of 10 Always Discreet and discount coupons for related products. If you pay the full price they cost 74 p.

2 INTERNATIONAL
Facebook is carrying ads for ICON panties, from a website headed Thinx. When I clicked on the page I found dozens of reviews about the various merits of the company's products, the different sizes, which shape of figures different styles suited. They discussed Thinx, ICON Panties and Poise Pantiliners.

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

What wine does to you: calories; inebriation; wine and water

What does wine do for you or to you? Here's some research:

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/understand-your-drinking/unit-calculator

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07czwhz/the-truth-about-8-alcohol

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3612346/The-video-shows-never-drink-stomach-Lack-food-leads-alcohol-absorbed-TWICE-fast.html

http://grapedeal.com/sweet-wine-fattening-dry-wine/

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

Travel, allergies, asthma and health, conference centre design and Excel, World Travel Market

A selection of articles in today's online newspapers make me wonder about the effects of travel and conferences, diet and outdoor activities on health.
I should be looking at transport to England and the World Travel Market.

The event is changing from four days to three. One of the reasons given is that the sales people conducting selling and buying at the show would prefer a three day event to four. Three longer days. That cuts down costs of travel to and from the show daily, the overnight hotel accommodation for foreign visitors and the hours away from the home office desk.

What about the effects on health of the building? Other articles have looked at the effects of sunlight and vitamin D on asthma. We have all known for years that too little sunlight causes health problems, although so does too much. (Too little sunlight ... I'll research this later and come back; too much sunlight skin cancer and possibly an effect on the eyes.)

Quite apart from any difficulty getting out in the case of a fire, it's good to focus the eyes on the distance and to breathe fresh air. Some of the conference areas and bars at ExCel look out over the water. Smokers are ironically the people who go looking for the outdoors. It's a very long walk to either end of the building. So sign of exits along the middle. How do you get out in a fire, or other emergency?

Then there are the simple logistics. Dragging a suitcase on wheels to collect brochures and free samples (exhibition visitors) or set up (stand organisers) - yet you are faced with staircases.

And toilets. Why not have toilets on every floor. Architects should consider this. You have the plumbing in place, the staircases, the water pipes, the sewage pipes. So much wasted time going up and down stairs. You can't take a toilet break.

You lose you friends and family. You break off a meeting. Your contact thinks you have abandoned them and goes away. You leave your heavy bag with a stranger because you can't carry it up and down the stairs to the toilets.You leave your stand unmanned during your food and toilet breaks. In offices you have food trolleys bringing water and coffee. surely these could visit stands.

A conference centre caters to hundreds of people. Some will be in wheelchairs or walking with sticks, have twisted ankles from ski accidents and sports even if young. As for the Over 50 show - do you really expect several thousand over 50 visitors and those at shows for pensioners (retirees) to not need more ground level toilets. (Plus older people need toilets more often. So do younger women, pregnant women and nursing mothers needing to feed children and people with toddlers and those needing to change babies.)

One article I looked at was on the benefits and dangers of cats and dogs and animals and farms in immune systems. Another was on cats and lions can turn on you any time. Another was on vitamin D saving you from allergies. Another thought was that hairless dogs may help those who already have allergies but like dust mites, it's what comes out of, or off, the creature which causes problems. Dogs and other animals lick to clean themselves and the skin dropping is coated with bacteria.On the subject of bacteria, it's the good bacteria in fruit fibres which causes the protective effect.

So what Do I need in a conference building, disco, evening meeting? A chance to walk, eat fruit, drink water rather than alcohol.

My other discovery on the thealh front is that sweet wines have lower alcohol content. I was looking at a bottle of low alcohol lambrusco. A pink drink with only 4% alcohol. Like been's lower level of alcohol. Workers tend to drink beer in the daytime.

Traditionally wine would be drunk in the evening. After six. (When ladies wore diamonds - not during working hours.)You don't want to get drunk while operating machinery, or even walking about.

As for conference centres. No I don't want to drink acohol during my working day and walk up and down flights of stairs, and have long walks to the loo on a diet of coffee and alcohol.

More and more stands are offering free water. The dehydration effect of conference centres makes you tired. One for the road is a glass of water.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22570859
asthma.org.uk
https://www.nhs.uk/symptom-checker