Masks and more

 

This is from Etsy.

You can buy tie-dye tee-shirts with matching masks.

Several video show you how to make masks from fabric or cutting pieces our of garments. 

Useful Websites

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/910393660/happy-hanukkah-face-mask

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/about-face-coverings.html

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

A wedding with coronavirus?

A wedding with more than 100 attending?

We had a wedding planned for June om the UK. We had guests from all over the world.

They were from the USA, the UK, the Middle East, Israel, Singapore. All ages, including the elderly and those with health issues.



We were watching the situation in the UK, the USA, Israel and Singapore.



And airlines such as Ryanair and Singapore Airlines.



Flag of Cyprus.

We had planned a trip taking in Cyprus and the UK.

 Then we wanted to bring it forward to March. Then American and other countries started putting in more restriction on travel, and quarantine on arrival.

The venue allowed us to make a reservation for September.

The big cost is the catering.

What are the problems? Guests cannot travel. No flights.

Quarantine
Guests could be put into quarantine on arrival in your country.
Guests travelling from overseas may be put into quarantine when they return home.

Cancellation Charges
If the government bans big meetings, maybe you can cancel the event and recover from insurance the catering cost. But if you cancel or bring your wedding forward, you may not be able to claim on insurance. Check the terms.

Checking
Call the caterers and insurance company to find out.

Travel Bans
On the other hand, the longer you leave it, the greater the risk that your family will be unable to travel.

Will there be flights? Road blocks? Travel restrictions.

Health Risks
Or they won't want to risk getting ill. Or you won't want to risk infecting all your elderly relatives. Or being to blame if even one person falls ill.


Singapore flag.

Singapore Airlines Queues
In Singapore there were huge queues (line ups) of people wanting to cancel flights, change flights, leave, not leave, bring journeys forward to get out whilst they could still get into other countries.

Singapore Airlines was asking people to not go to their offices unless their flights were in the next 72 hours, so they could reduce waiting times and make a priority those with immediate travel needs.

We looked at the insurance websites. Some insurances say you cannot get a refund unless you have a medical reason, supported by a certificate from a doctor . If you are over 70 with an underlying medical condition and over 70s are told not to travel, you may be able to get a doctor's certificate saying it is not safe for you to risk travelling. It is wroth phoning your insurance company and your doctor to find out.

Useful Websites
Ryanair
Singapore airlines
Singapore government health information updated daily

About the author
travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite post.

Why Governments & You Must Act Now - Coronavirus cases mounting - but charts show lockdown brings numbers down

I watched with shock how the cases mounted as days progressed.
An animation shows the lines shooting across the chart alarmingly and the lower numbers racing past the front liners.

What to do?
Another series of charts shows you how the cases must have been incubating days before the coronavirus was symptomatic and identified.
comparing these cases each day with the lockdowns each day, it seems clear that lockdown brought down the numbers dramatically, in China and elsewhere.

The moral is that staying home and not mixing with others and not travelling really does make a difference. To you and everyone else. So stay home. Vote for lockdowns. It really makes a difference.

Useful websites
charts and animated charts showing progress through time:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51235105
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

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

Where To See Joseph Conrad memorial in Singapore and other statues worldwide

Author Joseph Conrad, 1857-1924, who wrote Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim(1900).

Why would you find a plaque to Joseph Conrad in Singapore? He features Singapore in his short story, The End of the Tether in 1902, as well as using Singapore in other stories. As the plaque says, Singapore was his home port. he would have had to register at the post office which is now the landmark Fullerton Hotel.


Singapore flag.

Singapore was and still is an important port and stopping place for ships to re-load goods and fuel, crew and passengers. Conrad spent a lot of time aboard ships and went from one country to another.

I was visiting the historic hotel in Singapore by the museum and river when I came across a plaque to Joseph Conrad. He was a most remarkable man. He grew up surrounded by the patriotic Polish people and language in places which were under Russian rule, in what is now Poland, in cities such as Krakow (now Poland) and Lvov (now in the west of Ukraine on the border).

He lived in many countries, first France, and finally including England where he became British and managed to extricate himself from Russian citizenship. He later had chosen to avoid countries such as Russia and France where he would have been forced to serve in the military.

He had lost his parents (who both had tuberculosis) when he was a 12 year old child. Later in life he attempted suicide.

He wrote best sellers in English, which was not his first language. It was his third language after Polish and French.

Like many authors, he lad a life more dramatic and incredible than his plots and books. He met other famous authors and was the model for the character in another author's book.

He spent about ten years at sea, working his way up through the ranks.

I took a photo in Singapore at the time I first saw his monument and again, which has unfortunately disappeared into my stored photos on a disc somewhere. Never mind, you can easily find photos of  his monuments including the memorial in Singapore in Wikipedia and on the web.

I had copies of his books but looked up the plots in Wikipedia. I like that about Wikipedia. In review sites you don't get a through analysis of a book because they are to anxious not to reveal the plot twists and ending. Wikipedia gives you plots, characters, films made of the book, enough of the author's life to see what inspired him, and separately the author's life and quotations.


Conrad's grave at Canterbury Cemetery, near Harbledown, Kent.

Conrad's grave in England.
As Jonson famously said, 'Worth seeing but not worth going to see'.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g294265-d11824838-Reviews-Joseph_Conrad_Korzeniowski-Singapore.html

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

Coronavirus sources of statistics and information

I have been in the UK and Singapore since January.

In Singapore I signed up to a government App which sends daily report on numbers who are tested positive, hospitalized, dead, and released from hospital.

The UK has a larger population.



Singapore had cases first, with more visitors from China. China is nearer to Singapore than the UK, so Singapore took action earlier.

Like everybody else I am watching the situation carefully. Assorted pieces of advice I have seen on the internet:

Who Is In Danger?
The older you are the more you are at risk.

If you have already got a health problem, you are more at risk. For example, heart trouble, diabetes.

One table seems to show that men are more likely catch it.  This could be because men are more likely to be drinkers and smokers.

I asked a statistician if that was because women stayed at home and men went out more.

He replied:
It could be be genetic.
Or when men go out they form groups such as committees and work meetings.
It could be under reporting of women.
Or under presentation of women at hospital in male dominated societies.

So if you and I are older, or not, we might catch it.

Action
So what can you do?

Don't shake hands or kiss people on the cheek.

Sneeze and cough into a handkerchief, or your elbow rather than hands which might then touch lights switches and hones and door handles and escalator banisters.

Lifts (Elevators)
Use your knuckle to touch lift buttons. Or a pen.

Door Handles
Use a tissue to touch door handles or banisters.

FOOD
Use tongs to distribute food, not fingers. Don't dip your fingers into bowls of nuts, olives or other food. Avoid 'double dipping', putting fingers back in after eating.

Don't share glasses, cups, crockery and cutlery.

Washing
Wash your hands with hot water and soap.

If you are sneezing and coughing, wear a mask to help prevent yourself from infecting others.

To avoid misinformation, check government websites - of the countries you trust!

2019–20 coronavirus outbreak by country and territory

Country or territory[a]	Confirmed	Deaths	Recoveries[b]
Afghanistan[31]	1	0	–
Algeria[31]	5	0	–
Andorra[31]	1	0	–
Argentina[31]	1	0	–
Armenia[31]	1	0	–
Australia[32]	42	1	21
Austria[31]	21	0	–
Azerbaijan[31]	3	0	–
Bahrain[31]	49	0	–
Belarus[35]	4	0	–
Belgium[31]	13	0	1
Brazil[31]	2	0	–
Cambodia[31]	1	0	1
Canada[31]	33	0	8
Chile[31]	1	0	–
China (mainland)[31][c]	80,270	2,981	49,856
Croatia[31]	9	0	–
Czech Republic[31]	5	0	–
Denmark[31]	10	0	–
Dominican Republic[31]	1	0	–
Ecuador[31]	7	0	–
Egypt[31]	2	0	1
Estonia[31]	2	0	–
Finland[31]	6	0	1
France[31]	212	4	12
Georgia[31]	3	0	–
Germany[31]	203	0	16
Greece[31]	7	0	–
Hong Kong[31]	100	2	37
Iceland[34]	14	0	-
India[33]	21	0	3
Indonesia[31]	2	0	–
International conveyance[31][d]	706	6	100
Iran[31]	2,336	77	291
Iraq[31]	32	0	–
Israel[31]	12	0	1
Italy[31]	2,502	79	160
Japan[31]	293	6	46
Jordan[31]	1	0	–
Kuwait[31]	56	0	–
Latvia[31]	1	0	–
Lebanon[31]	13	0	–
Liechtenstein[31]	1	0	–
Lithuania[31]	1	0	–
Luxembourg[31]	1	0	–
Macau[31]	10	0	8
Malaysia[31]	36	0	22
Mexico[31]	5	0	–
Monaco[31]	1	0	–
Morocco[31]	1	0	–
Nepal[31]	1	0	1
Netherlands[31]	24	0	–
New Zealand[36]	2	0	–
Nigeria[31]	1	0	–
North Macedonia[31]	1	0	–
Norway[31]	32	0	–
Oman[31]	12	0	2
Pakistan[31]	5	0	–
Philippines[31]	3	1	2
Portugal[31]	4	0	–
Qatar[31]	8	0	–
Ireland[31]	2	0	–
Romania[31]	4	0	1
Russia[31]	3	0	2
San Marino[31]	10	1	–
Saudi Arabia[31]	1	0	–
Senegal[31]	1	0	–
Singapore[31]	110	0	78
South Korea[31]	5,328	33	41
Spain[31]	165	1	2
Sri Lanka[31]	1	0	1
Sweden[31]	30	0	1
Switzerland[31]	58	0	1
Taiwan[31]	42	1	12
Thailand[31]	43	1	31
Tunisia[37]	1	0	–
Ukraine[31]	1	0	–
United Arab Emirates[31]	27	0	5
United Kingdom[31]	51	0	8
United States[31]	126	9	9
Vietnam[31]	16	0	16
80 territories	93,174	3,203	50,795
As of 4 March 2020 · History: China, others v t e
Notes ^ Region where case was diagnosed. Nationality and location of original infection may vary. ^ "–" denotes that no data is currently available for that territory, not that the value is zero. ^ Includes clinically diagnosed cases and deaths from 12 February 2020 and onwards in the province of Hubei. ^ The cruise ship Diamond Princess was quarantined in Japanese waters and managed by the Japanese government. However, these cases are not included in the Japanese government's official count. The World Health Organization classifies the cases as being located "on an international conveyance".

Useful Websites

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_outbreak
singaporeair.com
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/02/hand-shaking-alternatives.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/02/with-coronavirus-you-are-expected-to.html
Animated gif showing cases spreading through the world
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COVID-19-outbreak-timeline.gif
Update on Sunday March 8 2020.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8086549/Heartbroken-family-second-UK-coronavirus-victim-pay-tribute-wonderful-great-granddad.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed

About the author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer, photographer and speaker
See my earlier and later posts on Coronavirus and how to avoid touching other people.
Please share links to your favourite posts.