Mid Autumn Festival Celebrations at Gardens By The Bay, Condos & Toastmasters Clubs

  Outings and Events - Gardens By The Bay

Mid autumn festival, a harvest festival, a festival of the moon is celebrated in Singapore and Asian countries and places with Chinese populations and Chinatowns. 

In Singapore you can see seasonal displays at Gardens by the Bay.  How long should you allow? Twice as long as you thought. 

Condos Holding Parties

Private events take place in condos. At a condo in Cashew Heights, Singapore, adults and children were given lanterns.

Cashew Heights Condo party for the Autumn Festival, with flowers and coloured paper langerns. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Toastmasters

Toastmasters clubs in Singapore decorate rooms with lanterns and serve calorific moon cakes.

Tampines Changkat Advanced Toastmasters Club in Singapore.  Lanterns for the Mid Autumn Festival.

Useful Websites

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

https://www.youtube.com/user/gardensbythebay/videos

https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/

Practical Travel Clothes: Anti Mosquito and Convertible Zip-Off and On Trousers

 

Tropical Countries

I was shocked when I went to Bali and found that they had mosquitos. We were warned to keep our bedroom doors shut We had mosquito nets over the bed.

In Singapore, insects are known in condos, even up in the air, on the 12th floor.

Singapore - Insect Attacks

Even in flats and condos up in the air, in Singapore, insects fly up there. When there's a spate of cases of dengue fever in your area, government inspectors come round to check you have no breeding places such as water in saucers under plant pots.  Insects could get carried in, are born and breed on plants on balconies, get everywhere. 

One person I knew caught dengue from mosquitos breeding in the gutters of brand new houses in the street where she was living. Another friend of mine came down with dengue after being bitten when she chased after a golf ball into long grass. She was wearing shorts. 

Maybe she would have fared better with convertible shorts.

Convertible shorts-trousers

Zip off trousers. Photo from Wikipedia. Author Mabalu.

Companies such as Craghoppers and others who specialize in outdoor wear, often have a line or two of 'convertible pants' which zip off trousers lower legs to make shorts. To me it is more important that you can zip on the lower leg. If you are out in the countryside after a morning in town. 

Also if you stop at a mosque or mausoleum, as we did on holiday in Cyprus. There they had a dress code of trousers for men (and long dresses over the knee for women).  No shorts allowed.

Dengue Fever Warning

Dengue alert in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Dengue alert. Photo taken and cropped by Angela Lansbury.

Singapore Mosquitos

 Insects fly up high rise buildings to your residence in condos. Insects can get carried in. The little devils are born and breed on plants on balconies, get everywhere. 

If you get heat rash, and mistakenly think you must have been bitten, you rush to find protective clothing. 

Useful Websites

Craghoppers

https://www.craghoppers.com/womens/trousers/zip-off-trousers/

Can you answer the quiz on Americanisms and British equivalents? Words of the world: bothy, diaper, grifter, pants and more

I shall start with a couple of words which were new to me, which I saw in the newspaper this week. Then I shall give you a list of some common words in the USA and British equivalents.

USA
grifter - con artist, swindler, petty crook, USA (not to be confused with drifter, a low-life person who drifts from place to place, as the British police and newspapers would say, of no fixed abode


UK
bothy - mountainside overnight shelter open for the public, UK, especially Scotland - mountain refuge

AMERICAN - BRITISH ENGLISH
1 a quarter after - a quarter past
2 bell hop - porter (in a hotel)
3 closet - wardrobe (or walk-in wardrobe)
4 condo - large apartment block or complex of several blocks with communal leisure facilities such as a gym and swimming pool, maybe a shop - apartment complex with leisure facilities
5 cookie - biscuit
6 diaper - nappy
7 faucet - tap
8 hacks - tips and tricks
9 make a right - turn right
10 momentarily - briefly, for just a moment

11 over-easy - cooked both sides (usually to describe fried egg, occasionally meat)
12 pants - trousers
13 pie a la mode - pie with ice cream
14 private school - fee paying school
15 public school - private school
16 regular - standard size
17 rest room - toilet/bathroom
18 underpants - pants
19 truck - lorry
20 trucker - lorry driver

BRITISH ENGLISH - AMERICAN
1 a quarter past - a quarter after
2 biscuit - cookie
3 council housing - public housing
4 council school - state school
5 fried egg cooked both sides (rarely served, usually just fried egg) - egg over-easy
6 lorry - truck
7 momentarily - soon, shortly, not for long
8 nappy - diaper
9 pants - underpants
10 pie with ice cream -  pie a la mode

11 porter (in a hotel) - bell-hop
12 public school - private school, usually historic with high fees
13 toilet - rest room
14 standard size - regular, normal, medium size
15 tap - faucet
16 tips and tricks - hacks
17 trousers - pants
18 turn right - make a right
19 wardrobe - closet
20 condo

Quiz
1 What is a grifter?
2 What is a bothy?
3 What is the British English for diaper?
4 What is the American word for lorry?
5 What do the Americans call trousers?
6 What is the British for truck?
7 How do the Americans say turn right?
8 What is a quarter after?
9 What is the British English for faucet?
10 What is the American for toilet?

Answers above

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, has lived in the UK, the USA and Singapore.
See many blog posts on American English British English and learning languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.

What is a condo? A ranch house? A bungalow? UK, USA, SINGAPORE, INDIA - all different. Traveller and buyer beware!

A condo 

Singapore flag.

The above first picture shows a condo in Singapore. This one is a gated complex. It consists of several blocks of flats, each flat called a unit. They share facilities such as a swimming pool surrounded by gardens, a children's playground, a gym, tennis courts and a shop and nursery school.
A friend in England (she is a writer who has written a book about farming) writes to ask me, what is a condo?

UK flag.

UK Flats
Let us start with a flat. In the UK a flat is any one level family unit in a block of flats. In a city centre a block of flats might have a car park but no garden.
Flats in London will be called flat one, flat two, and so on.
However, in some other countries, a flat is very basic, maybe small, a bit like the UK studio flat, which is one room for bedroom and living room combined.
APARTMENTS
An apartment is a grander word, suggesting more space.
CONDO
A condo is different and is a bit more like a hotel with facilities. usually not just a communal garden, but recreational facilities, such as a gym, or swimming pool, or tennis courts. A larger condo might have a shop.
When you or your agent advertise a property to rent or buy, you must get the terminology right.
1 As a seller, so that you do not mislead the customer and waste their time or worse still get into a dispute.
2 As a seller, so you don't downplay the advantages of a property and lose a sale.
3 As a buyer so you are sure to get what you wanted.
BUNGALOW
A bungalow in India and Singapore might mean a detached property.

In the UK it is usually one storey, no upstairs (occasionally one room in the converted attic. All the kitchen and bathroom and living room and at least one bedroom are on one floor so it is often sold to retired people who cannot manage stairs.
In the USA it would be called a ranch house. In the USA, you often have a cellar which is cool and used as a playroom or store room.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer photographer, author and speaker. She teacher English and public speaking.
Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club for training speakers meets online on app learncool.sg twice a month on the first Wednesday evening (6.30 for 7 pm Singapore time) and 3rd Saturday afternoon 1.30 for 2 pm Singapore time.
Visitors welcome.

Americanism and British English - still surprised xxx xoxo?

American English and British English are only slightly different, but I learn new things constantly.


An English author was asked by the copy editor to leave out xxx on the end of letters (mail and email) because Americans would not understand this mean kiss, kiss, kiss.


Americans and some Europeans think it means x rated. Readers are puzzled.

I have noticed but never understood xoxo. Apparently Americans use this to mean kiss hug, hiss hug.

What about Canadians?


Canadians follow British language habits more closely than the Americans.

I already knew what I thought were most of the Americanisms from living in the USA as well as the UK.

British English - American English
bargain basement/bargain shop - thrift store
condom/Durex - rubber
kindergarden - preschool
lorry - truck
Mum - Mom
nappy - diaper
primary school - elementary school
public school - private school
rubber - eraser
secondary school - high school
tip - hack
turn right - make a right

American English - British English
elementary school - primary school
eraser - rubber
hack - tip
high school - secondary school
make a right - turn right
Mom - Mum
on consignment - sale or return
preschool - kindergarden
private school - public school/fee-paying school
public school - state school/council school
truck - lorry
thrift store - bargain shop

Well, love to all of you.
xxx
xoxo

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

Singapore fish in condos, coy Koy and catfish

Problem
What are they, Carp or Koy or catfish in ponds in condos?

Koy, the king of fish, are a kind of carp. They are not coy. They race around.

Catfish
If they are feeding on the bottom of the pond they are probably catfish, scavengers. Simple wiki explains, catfish are called catfish because they have barbels which look like cats' whiskers. Catfish was commonly on the restaurant menu when I was living in North American, particularly along the east coast, in North Carolina.

The other fish swim towards you with open mouths, hoping to be fed.

 Fish. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Look at the fins. Are they flat or vertical? Look at those points like whiskers either side of the mouth. Check on Wikipedia or find an image or ask the gardener or head of the housekeeping department.

Maybe the fish will inspire you or your children or grandchildren or grandparents to write a poem or a fairytale.

Perhaps it's better to be practical and not anthropomorphize fish. To be frank, the big ones eat the little ones.

When you see kissing gouramis, they are simply using mouth to feed on the walls of your aquarium or the pet shop aquarium.

On a brighter note, I was upset when my fish died. I read books about fish keeping and discovered that many fish have a life span of only three years and if you buy adult fish their remaining lifespan is only a year or two, so you have not killed them. They were going to die anyway.

After all the work of feeding fish, cleaning out fish tanks, I now appreciate that looking after even a small size aquarium takes work, time and money. So now I can appreciate that the ponds in condos require attention and upkeep. You must feed the fish the right live worms or plants so that they don't eat your pond plants nor other fish.

'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing', is the phrase which comes to mind. But the follow-up sentence is the advice: Drink deep.

At condos in Singapore you see signs, DO NOT FEED THE FISH. Signs also warn you not to put unwanted fish or tortoises into the water because they will eat the plants or the other fish.

Knowing the effort required to mix and match the right fish and the right size fish, I can appreciate the work which has gone into designing and upkeeping the ponds.

You will frewuntl find water features such as fountains and fish ponds in condos and shopping centres. Water is considered good fung shui (pronounced foong shway, depending on whether you are in China (official language Mandarin), Hong Kong (Cantonese) or Singapore - Fung shway means wind and water, harmony created by aligning with the prevailing winds (or direction of building and windows and doors and furniture) and the water or added water.

Useful Websites
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koi

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

Is the Fridge Working In Your Kitchen Or Rented Room Or Flat Or Condo?

Inside an Indesit mini fridge.

Problem
Fridge Check
A member of our family was phoned by a tenant who said their fridge was not working.

Answer
Making a call-out trip, the person checking found that the temperature control was wrong.

Next time, I shall run through a check list.
1 Check the plug is in and the switch is on.
2 Check the temperature light if any is on.
3 Read off the temperature.
4 Landlord - add a note about the correct temperature and type and print or photocopy from instruction book a checklist for faults to check before calling the landlord, agent, or repair company.

Setting A New Fridge
A new fridge usually has to be left standing for a day before it is used to let the 'liquid/gas' inside settle before the correct temperature be reached. If you turn it on too quickly, it works too hard to reach the right temperature and can break.

After that time elapse you can proceed.

Ask the person installing the fridge or showing you into your new or temporary home where the fridge is and what temperature it should be.

If you and / or any other adults and children have no head for numbers, print off the correct temperature setting and stick it on the fridge door with a magnet. All the users have to do is watch that the number on the fridge temperature guage matches the photo.

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

The cost of buying a condo (flat in block with pool) in Singapore

I've been to several talks on making money and saving money. The general consensus of opinion (general or majority view) is that you should spread your money over different types of saving and investment, not only money in banks, building societies or shares, but also property. Like people who invest in both ice cream and umbrellas, whatever the weather, your gains offset your losses.

The money you spend on rent could be used to pay off a mortgage.

Problem 1
What if you want to live in the centre but can only afford to buy in the distant suburbs? I have friends who bought a property in a cheaper area out of town. The rental income pays their own rent to live in the city centre.

Problem 2
Whenever I tell somebody that I or my friends are renting in Singapore I get asked, "Why don't you buy?'

Answers
Many people who come to Singapore don't expect to stay more than two years. No guarantee of longer employment. The company might move them on. The company will pay rental. I'm not sure you can use the money for a mortgage instead.

Profiting From Inflation
Normally a property owners gains from inflation, having money in property which increases in value, whilst money in the bank would be worth less.

Negative Equity
Another worry might be negative equity. That means that you buy at the top of the book and then prices tumble.

However the reverse happens in negative equity. Your property is worth less. You sell at a loss. If you can't repay the mortgage, when the loans company repossess, the property is sold at lower than it cost to buy, so you owe the loans company more.

Tip
Before making a decision, check out the figures.

Take into account, cost of buying ready-built new, second -hand, from a plan, government property. Note your income, ability to pay down payment, costs of any stamp duty or government tax, and legal fees for the transfer and searches and property agent fees. You also need to consider:
whether you can get insurance to cover loss of income yet without losing the property, and the cost of this insurance;
and the maintenance costs of the building admin
plus what you need to pay to redecorate, furnish, and repair the property.
Do you need to pay an agent to rent out and look after the property if you are overseas.

HDB
HDB are government dwellings, subsidised for those on lower income. You can use your government scheme mention savings (CPF) to buy property if allowed. However, I was told I would not be eligible if I had property overseas.

Website Tip
http://sgyounginvestment.blogspot.sg/2014/02/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-own.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, has lived in the UK, Spain, USA and Singapore.
I have another profiles and posts on blogger.com and Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram. Look at my books on Amazon.com and Lulu.com
Please like, follow and share my posts.

Doorways, balconies and corridors in condos and HDB flats

Whether you are in an HDB or an affluent condo with four rooms and plentiful built-in wardrobes, you will see in corridors a constant entertainment and amazement. Wardrobes of shoes. Bicycles. Balls. Pairs of china elephants guarding against theft. Small shrines to Chinese ancestors with the remains of joss sticks. Small plants and large plants.

It's feast or famine. People who grow one plant have a garden centre around the door. A miniature jungle surrounds the door frame, hanging from ropes, a cluster of plant pots, wall mounted half moon containers, a dinner service of plant pots, a kitchen garden invading the steps, growing over the balcony like hanging gardens obscuring or providing the view.

Looking out of the living room onto the corridor of an HDB flat. You can see the plant on the left and a small diamond shaped hanging attached by a hook to the horizontal slat of the ventilation grille secondary outer door. 

I have even seen a collection of umbrellas hung from the horizontal slats, I presume not as decoration but to avoid cluttering the tiny flat and convenient fro grabbing when you get to the door and think, I should take my umbrella.

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

Safety and swimming pools worldwide

Two well-publicised fatalities in swimming pools: one in the USA, one in the UK. (Demi Moore. Barrymore.)

Pools in Private Residences in Australasia
In Australia and New Zealand it's the law that you fence off swimming pools so that children don't fall in after it was found that more people died in swimming pools than in the ocean. This was featured on stamps - as I learned in the post office in New Zealand.

Pools in Condos in the USA
When I lived in a condo in Rockville, Maryland, USA, the pool was surrounded by tennis court style see through wire netting over six foot high - nothing you could vault over. The pool was locked at night. Insurance or local bye-law or state law or all three said you had to have a lifeguard on duty when the pool was open. In fact you had two lifeguards. So if one had a sandwich break, or went to the toilet, or turned up late, or went off early, or turned their back to talk to somebody, the other guard was still sitting watching the pool.

 It's time that worldwide swimming pools were fenced off. Maybe make it mandatory to add a warning sign on the gate.

Private Pools in the UK
Friends of mine living in Hendon used to have a pool. The husband, who was in the medical profession, would not allow his wife or children to swim alone. If the wife was alone she would invite a friend or neighbour into the house if she wanted to swim.

That was to guard against anybody getting into difficulties in the water. Falling in. Or having a heart attack or fainting fit whilst swimming.

What should a warning sign say?

1 Only enter if you can swim and are sober.
2 No unaccompanied children.
3 No parties of more than 100 people without a lifeguard.
4 Nobody to swim solo.

Safety - you can learn from living overseas and seeing what other countries do for safety.

Neighbours in Pinner have a pool. Theirs has a low gate. They had four children.

They were also worried about the safety of their neighbour's children. Even when the swimming pool owners were away on holiday, they were concerned that their neighbours children would leap over the low fences between the gardens for a secret dip - even without the swimming children's own parents knowing.

US and Singapore
Many condominiums in Singapore and the USA have swimming pools. In Singapore I went to a meeting in a condo which had been in the newspapers because a toddler had drowned in the unfenced pool. The family had been preparing for a wedding or similar large celebration. Both mother and maid thought the other one was looking after the child. the family were busy making food, serving drink and greeting guests. I thought back to the USA, where I had loved in a condo with a gated pool. That accident could not have happened if the pool had been gated.

What about pool parties? I've been to blocks of flats where they have barbecues beside pools. People eat and drink, stand by the pool watching swimmers. Party goers and visitors walk by the pool. People stand in groups, step back and fall in.

Children and adults, drunk or sober, push each other in for a joke. Women trip over long dresses or dogs or their own bags left lying on the ground. Waiters and bar staff carrying drinks on trays at shoulder level have their eyes up on the drinks or guests and trip over obstructions such as recliners pulled across the path.

I used to wonder why hotel pools and condos closed pools at night. I thought it was to stop people falling in when it was dark, or to stop late night parties making noise when others wanted to sleep. But I now realise that people tend to drink more in the evenings and get drunker as the night goes on. An old saying comes to mind, better safe than sorry.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker. 

House hunting in Singapore for Expats - top tips

What is the difference between an apartment and a condo?
In Singapore flat, apartment and condo are used as technical terms. A flat is basic and small. An apartment is larger.

A condo, usually occupied by more affluent ex-pats has facilities socialising and sports facilities such as a swimming pool, sauna, spa bath, squash courts, tennis courts, a gym, an outdoor children's playground, a waterfall and landscaping in modern blocks. Indoors are meeting rooms or function rooms for parties and entertaining.

An HDB is near an MRT because the residents are less likely to have cars. Also a hawker centre is likely to be nearby to provide cheap eating. A hawker centre has stall around communal tables and mostly stools rather than chairs, often outdoors or in an open-sided area in clusters on the ground floor of the housing blocks.

What affects price, facilities and size?

Price
High floors with better views and less traffic noise are likely to be more expensive. Completely redecorated will be more expensive. Swimming pool is likely to mean more expensive.

Size
Older buildings are likely to have bigger rooms and a maid's room (a box room off the kitchen or scullery, with an adjacent toilet, small basin and shower.

A 'walk-up' flat has an outside staircase and no lift. This will be less expensive. So if you are young and fit and like exercise, that is a good option for saving money. However, a fit, young friend of mine warns, what seems an easy climb on a sunny day carrying nothing, is less fun on a regular basis during rain with two bag of shopping or a big box of equipment.

Also harder to bring in a pram, bicycle, toddler, or elderly relative. Another hazard if somebody likes a drink. Or might develop an injury such as twisting on ankle, pulling a hamstring, getting a hernia.

Pool pleasures and problems
My list n/f plus points inc dudes swimming pool. The perfect pool for me has waterfalls and trees. Steps you can walk down, instead of metal ladders, are convenient as well as attractive to look at. Some shade is good.

Negative Windows
Obscured view from windows - too narrow, darkened by an overlay designed to cut heat and stop light fading furnishings. Light obscured by nearby buildings feed away, or large block which blocks your view.

I like balconies to be protected. Other members of my family don't mind railings so long as the metal is painted white.

The other great problem is noise. Traffic from roads can be noisy on floors lower than 6 or 7. Up on floor 8 you might get a better view across the treetops and city.

The biggest problem is buildings sites which spoil the view and create dust and noise. Pile drivers are worst. A nearly finished building could mean shops and restaurants nearby. But check the dat when building works are likely to end.