Preventing Dead Bodies Being Lost & Found in Bayous

 The bayou (waterway) around Houston has large numbers of dead bodies. And that's only the ones reported missing and found. 

Causes - serial killer. Preventable accidents needing safety measures.

Whichever is the cause, here are some solutions

Common cuases and solutions. 

Causes

1 Drunk people. 

2 Walking Home Alone.

3 Can't swim. 

4 Unfenced waterways. 

5 Nobody knows what happened.

Solutions. 

1 Serve food with alcohol. 

2 Free water or coffee with every drink or every second drink.

3 Provide free transport 

4 Or shuttle buses linking bars to landmarks and transport hubs. 

5 Fences around all areas near bars, sponsored by the city, and bars, and gofundme, and police, and city, and environment. (Memphis has run a contest for an attractive istorical artistic fence on the Black Bayou.)

Houston Bayou.

Memphis Bayou fence. 

6 Everyone walking home should have a phone recording their journey live to a family member, recording, or central police observation.

7 Apple watches recording heartbeat which send out alarms and location if heart stops.

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15161751/houston-serial-killer-mystery-hunt-bodies-bayous.html

https://uacmem.org/projects/black-bayou

Please share links to your favourite posts.

8 Cameras along bayous.

A Cure For Haunted Houses & Hotels - Explanations for noises, lights, and hings that go bump in the night

 When I was a busy freelance travel writer for newspapers and magazines I went to visit a family-owned countryside hotel. 

At the bar, my husband and I got talking to the owner. I had researched the hotel, and found that in the old days, under other owners, it was supposed to be haunted. Yet the current hotel publicity of the website and brochure made no mention of this attention-getting and memorable fact.

I asked him, "Is your hotel haunted? Has anybody seen a ghost? Why on't you mention it?'

He told me, "When we first opened, we had a visitor who claimed the hotel was haunted. She said one of the rooms felt cold. She was a ghost-hunter. I let her stay the night for free. She did not see the ghost.

'I was getting a lot of complaintes about chilly rooms. So we put int double glazing. The chill went away. No more complaints.

'The ghost hunter came back. The room was no onger chilly. She said the ghost must have gone way. So we don't mention the ghost in our literature.'

That seems to me to be a very rational answer.

I've also read lots of stories about unnerving noises in houses. The noises turn out to be a wasps' nest

Or other creatures.

Unnerving Noises

We had noises. They were either magpies hopping about on the conservatory roof, trying to crack open fruit nd nuts..

Or the fridge turning itself on and off. The dishwasher on a new cycle. The washing machine or spin dryer on a new cycle.

The radiaators with air locks. The boiler with air locks.

The central heating turning itself on and off with a timer

We also had cats running along the fence. Foxes mmating with dreadful screas.

The gaardener letting himself into the back garden through the side gate with a key. My faather in law who had a key going to the bck garden to trim the roses and prune trees.

Worried About Being Watched

I also had the feeling I was being watched. I was. I caught the culprit. It was a fox.

Fox in a London garden. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 I mistyped that as fax. In the olden days, a fax would come through at night. I have also been alarmed by the sound of the printer turning on and off when I was printing something. There is a delay between pressing print and the prininting starting..

Mysterious Light

Finally, those lights and ghostly figures. What are they?

Floaters in your eyes. Reflections in your spectacles.Relections of the house lights in the window pane which look like lights outside.

Flow worms and fireflies.

Cars driving pas whose headlights shine through your window.

Bumps In The Night

Somehing knocked my bed in the night. What was it.

1 My husbnd returning fro a trip to the bathroom.

2 A small earthquake. Reported in the newspaper next day.

Mail

Mail comes through the letter box. Leaflets are dropped in. Parcel deliverers get no anser and leave a note helf way though the letter box.

Door Knocking

Deliverers ring, get no answer, and leave. Popel who are lost knock to ask the way, then realise they are in the wrong street nd toddle off.

A passer-by  

A Child Murdered in Texas. Would A Fenced Back garden have saved her? Gardens, back gardens, back yards, safety, fences and walls in the USA, UK, Australia and Mexico.

Singapore

As you travel from one country to another, one county to another in the UK, one state to another in the USA, you see different styles of housing and security.

Angela Lansbury on a balcony with a high railing in Singapore in a private condominium. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

India

In India a man fell over a balcony wall and was saved by a bystander. The kind of guard above would have prevented the incident.

South Africa

 South African substantial homes are guarded by high walls. The walls have warning signs.

UK

London homes traditionally have fenced front gardens. Middle class homes have high fences. Cheaper homes have cheaper, lower fences at the front and back.

USA Murder

In Texas, December 2022, the worst pre-Christmas ever for one 7 year old child, who was murdered by a delivery driver. The child was in her front yard, the drive, as the Americans say.

My reaction was, why was the child out at the front, after an argument, when she might have run away or done something silly. She could have been in the back garden. Some people say the child should have been sent to her room. 

In my view an upset child, indeed any child, should be kept close to home and watched. The child should not have been out the front. There she was exposed to being knocked down by a car, running away, being hit by an incoming vehicle, attacked by a neighbour's dog, abducted. 

She should have been in the fenced back garden. (Unless it had dogs and unfenced pools and ponds - in which case the dogs should have been muzzled in a dog house and the pond and swimming pool should have been fenced with a locked gate.)

Australia

 In Australia, back garden swimming pools must be fenced and gated. This rule was brought in when it was discovered that the largest number of drowning deaths was not in the sea but in swimming pools.

Singapore

In Singapore, dog walked around a condominium grounds and car parks must be kept on a leash.

Ideally the kitchen window and lounge windows should have overlooked the garden so the parent or guardian could watch children playing. To watch out for deliveries, from a back kitchen, there could be a camera system such as door-ring. 

Singapore Play Areas

In Singapore blocks of flats are designed so that the play area can be overlooked by the surrounding flats, so that a parent can watch. Also the play area is not secluded. Cameras and a dozen eyes are on it. 

Housing can be designed so that front doors are overlooked, which reduces crime. 

Middle East

In the hot middle east and north Africa, houses and blocks of flats are built like a square frame with a sheltered garden in the centre. The women and children can play safely indoors, sheltered from strangers and the sun. Pets and plants are protected from theft.

USA Fenced and Fences Banned

An interesting debate on Quora gives several views on why and where and when homes in the USA have had fences at the front, or none. 

If you are thinking of renting or buying property overseas, whether on holiday or for business or retirement, you can search on street view and check crime levels and local building regulations.

UK

Secluded back garden in London, England, seen from kitchen window. Sharot family photo.

Useful Websites

Indian Incident

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9380921/Indian-man-saved-certain-death-balcony-fall.html#comments

Texas Tragedy

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11497599/Texas-girl-dead-two-days-abducted-FedEx-driver-dropping-package-home.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

Ring doorbells attach to your phone where you can video

https://sevog.com/products/ring-video-doorbell-camera-3-smart-home-wireless-camera-video-door-bell?currency=GBP&variant=40018486264014&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=CjwKCAiAp7GcBhA0EiwA9U0mtsFIaLfMsiVKHVLcIKf2gqNn31d_oTPGfU-W78Uvz6QACXK-4k3YphoCj1IQAvD_BwE

RING VIDEO DOORBELLS

https://en-uk.ring.com/collections?category=doorbells

Florida Alligators - How Our Small Son Could Have Died - When Travelling Check local safety rules

When checking into a hotel, ask about local safety rules.

We flew from London, UK, to the USA, Florida.



Our small son wanted to go alone to the buffet. I wanted to prevent him or go with him.

I was distracted from my conversation with my husband, and kept watching. My son had disappeared.

I chased up to the buffet. No sign of him. i raced around the dining room. No sign of him. I raced into the Reception hall. He was not in the hotel lobby.

The other way was the outdoor pond. A sign said 'Do not feed the alligators'. My son was throwing parts of his sandwich into the pool!

I grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards the door.

From a safe distance, away from the edge of the water, I read the sign to him.

I led him back to the dining table. I instructed him;
"You are never to leave the table, or the room, or throw food. You must stay with us at all times!"

American alligators are more widespread than you might think.

Warnings For Foreigners
In addition to signs warning about alligators, Reception staff should warn foreign visitors, and local visitors about local dangers, and hotel dangers, and roperty dangers, and city dangers, and country dangers. Also tell parents to keep childen within sight and reach at all times.

Fence and Glass Barrier
I think ponds should also be fenced or glassed in.

Useful Websites
Australian Rules About Fencing Swimming Pools
https://www.spasa.com.au/consumer-info/fencing-laws/https://www.spasa.com.au/consumer-info/fencing-laws/

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

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.
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, London.
Tiarel, Singapore.
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
learncool.sg
Please share links to your favourite posts.

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.

What You Need To Know About Restrictions On Fences And Rainwater Collection In Homes In the USA

Problem
You move to the USA, or another state in the USA. At first, it's great. Huge properties. High ceilings, Big bedrooms. Swimming pools. Wonderful. Then you discover a host of local regulations which make no sense. Drinking, marrying, gambling, building a fence or collecting rainwater, buying and carrying guns, death penalty - allowed or banned? It depends where you live. That's why in films (movies) you see the criminal racing across state lines to escape the cops.

1 Some areas won't let you build a fence around the property.
2 In this State you can drink. In the next State, you can't.
2 It's illegal to save water in a water butt, or install water collection devices to make your property green and water the plants. Where?
Why? What the ...!

STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS DIFFER
Coming from England, it took me a while to understand why different states had different laws and what federal means.
A state is like a council in Britain. You have laws which apply to the whole of the USA, and others which apply only to one area.

ALCOHOL - WHAT YOU CAN & CAN'T DO
One state can ban alcohol. We drove through West Virginia looking for a restaurant and kept seeing signs which said Club. Eventually, we stopped and asked a passer-by for direction to a restaurant. He told us,
'There's one on the corner. You just passed it. It's huge. I don't know how you missed it."
 I replied,
"Yes, we saw it. But we didn't stop because it says it's a club."
"You can eat there. You just have to join the club. It costs a dollar. In our state, only clubs are allowed to sell alcohol, so a restaurant serving alcohol has to be a club and charge you a membership fee. Every member of your group has to pay the dollar club fee. Of course, we locals, just pay the dollar once to two or three local restaurants, so, for us, it's no big deal."

We drove back to the restaurant, which was about to close for the night, just one customer left, or maybe they only ever had one customer, but we were just in time.
Our conversation with the receptionist went something like this:

"Howdy, folks! How ya'll doin'?"

"Fine thanks. Can we eat? Three of us."

"Yes, sir. But we serve alcohol, so, first, you have to join our club, which costs five dollars, each, for a  full lifetime membership. Fill out this form, pay me the money, and I'll give you your cards."
My husband does a quick calculation.
"Fifteen dollars! But we're only here one night."
"In that case, Sir, only one dollar each. And that's for the whole year! Keep your cards. And I'll keep your records, all year. Just in case you come back drivin' this way."
"That's an extra three dollars. For all of us? I'm not drinking alcohol. I'm driving. Can't my wife be a member, and let me in as a guest? Our son's under age. So he's not drinking."
"But, sir, if you was to take only one sip of your good wife's drink, and that state trooper, sittin' over there, watchin' us, saw you, you would be in big trouble, for drinkin' without the paperwork. And I could lose my business for servin' you! Let me explain ..."
"It's late, and I'm tired and hungry," said my husband. "Here's the money. Just give us the membership cards."

Every now and then I read that a debate is on to change drinking or other laws in one state or another. You have to watch it. But at least we now know what it's all about.

FENCES ARE RESTRICTED - WHY?
We used to drive around wondering why the big ranch houses (in the UK we say bungalows) had no fences. They looked unfinished. Like show homes.

And what about security! I suppose that's why they have guns. Anybody can walk in, and right around your house, looking in the windows to see if anybody's at home.

Then one day the mystery was solved. Some estates have bye-laws saying no fences. All the houses must look the same. Not different walls and fences on each one. (A bit like Hampstead Garden suburb in England, where you can't change windows nor doors, nor update antique wood with white ersatz double glazing, nor paint your house pink and purple stripes and dots.)

In America, on some estates, you have to keep the grass mown, because everybody can see. Lawns are around every house. Bushes over a certain height and tall trees are banned. No surrounding your property with fast-growing Cypress Leylandi and blocking the neighbour's light.

 No flowers. (I'm not sure if flowers are banned. But, I suppose the postman, delivery boy, or children, imaginary children, could pick them.)

If you don't have fences, you are rather paranoid. Rightly so. You keep a gun.

FENCES AND DOGS
How do you keep your dog inside your property and stop it running out to annoy neighbours or getting killed on the road? A Canadian company and others have made invisible fences, using electrified wires around the property. Oops - won't that injure children and other people and scare animals? It can be made connected to a dog collar which bleeps a warning when the dog gets close, without giving it a nasty shock. (See Wikipedia.)

What about dogs from outside coming onto your property. What if a dog comes onto your property, damaging your plants, leaving dog mess, threatenign you, your gods or your small children? A much-publicised court case in 2018 concerned a dog shot by a neighbour.

GUNS - TELL ME MORE
Gun laws vary from State to State in the USA, just as other laws vary.

So do the laws on when you can use guns.

'Stand your ground', is the catchphrase. Well, folks, you ain't got no place to go. As they say, the police are only half an hour away. Shoot first, asked questions later. Better judged by twelve than carried by six.' That puzzled me for ten seconds the first time I read it. It means judged in a court of law by a jury of twelve, for killing somebody, is better than carried in a coffin by six, because somebody killed you.

And the death penalty, or lack of it, varies, too, from state to state. States are like little countries. America is the size of a continent.

Okay, now I have visited America, taken a Greyhound bus, in a big circle, coast to coast, New York to LA and on to New Orleans. I lived in America, in three different states, and driven around from New York to Florida. I've also been on press trips to Florida, the mid-west, and California. I can go along with all of those laws, that stuff about drinking, and fences.

I also understand guns. Quite apart from those unprotected houses without fences. I have been to the mid-West and seen a preserved room where somebody got shot over a game of cards. I met a man on horseback who had a gun, when we were driving across a mountain range in Utah in the middle of nowhere.

I have sat on a boat in water, not Disneyland, real water, in the deep south, surrounded by crocodiles, giving toothy grins. Not me, them. Alligator or crocodile, same difference. Anybody got a gun? I hope it's not one which takes three minutes to re-load. There's another crocodile - behind you!

WATER COLLECTING RESTRICTIONS
Rainwater
But what about water? Bottled water, if you want it in a restaurant, but there's movement against plastic bottles. Drink tap water.
Some people install filters in their kitchen tap. Others collect rainwater as it falls on the garden. Or draw it out of wells.

Flashing around Facebook is a demand to fight and change laws stopping you from collecting rainwater in the USA. What's that all about?

WHY ARE THEY RESTRICTING WATER COLLECTIONS?
If you are asking why should it change: because we could be saving water in times of drought by collecting rainwater for plants. This would help your area not run out of purified water when the population increases or drought makes the water in dams run low. Poor people, those interested in conservation, people living 'off the grid', anybody moving a caravan or building a house and not yet on the water supply system, even demonstration centres and water butt sellers could be prosecuted if the law is allowed.

Why Collect Rainwater?
If you are asking why should restrictions on saving rainwater change: because we could be saving water in times of drought by collecting rainwater for plants. This would help your area not run out of purified water when the population increases or drought makes the water in dams run low. 

Poor people, those interested in conservation, people living 'off the grid', anybody moving a caravan or building a house and not yet on the water supply system, even demonstration centres and water butt sellers could be prosecuted if the law restricting water collection is allowed.

Useful Websites
US LAWS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_West_Virginia
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5108843/Woman-left-tears-man-shoots-pit-bull-dead.html
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/08/united-states-cant-fences-certain-height-front-backyard/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/is-rainwater-harvesting-legal-in-your-state-us/61586739
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/foreign-nationals-and-death-penalty-us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_the_United_States

St James Hotel, New Mexico. Photo from Wikipedia by Daniel Schwen. 

TOURIST SITES:
GUN HISTORY
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8798 Chair where Wild Bill Hickock was shot dead during a poker game
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Hotel_(Cimarron,_New_Mexico)
St James Hotel, New Mexico, USA, fatal card game room. Everyone you can think of from the wild west stayed here. Wild Bill Cody, Wyatt Earp, Jesse James and many more. I loved it. Highlight of my trip.
WATER CONSERVATION
USA
https://www.hooverdamtourcompany.com/center.html

Hoover Dam showing the Hoover Dam bypass bridge, far left. Photo by Kuczora in Wikipedia.

HONG KONG
http://www.hypsos.com/en-us/cases/visitor-attraction/water-conservation-education-centre-in-hong-kong.aspx
TOURIST BOARDS
visitbritain.org
visit-usa.com
LANGUAGE & EMERGENCY
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/chinese-translation-of-emergency.html
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/american-and-british-english.html
Many more posts by Angela Lansbury about Americanisms, language, Esperanto, Chinese, learning languages, travel to the USA, Canada, UK, China, Singapore and more.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. 
I have many other posts on travel, living overseas, learning languages, and business travel and holidays.
Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Paintings Produced On a Painting Holiday

 The pupils in the art workshop at Writers Holiday in Fishguard, Wales, had a different demonstration and exercise each hour long session on the painting course. For this painting we had been told to find a coin and draw around it to create a moon, leaving the paper inside the circle white (or painting it white later). We then added the sky in two or more colours. 

Some people added trees below, which was the scene outside our window overlooking the Fishguard Bay from Fishguard Bay Hotel. However, I am a city girl. So I drew a city scene.

Blue sky at night over the city by Angela Lansbury. 2017. Copyright.

A walk by the lake. By Angela Lansbury. 2017. Copyright.

I did a second painting with trees. The instructor, Susan Alison, suggested that I put something in the foreground to increase the perspective. First I added the picket fence, similar to the one outside the window. 

Fence and walk from Fishguard Bay Hotel, Fishguard, Wales. Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

Then I thought I would add a man and a dog. 

In one session we drew the human body facing you, then with legs bent when walking. In another session we had drawn a dog. I had asked for a session on a dog. A previous year the class had requested a session on drawing a horse.

You might like the earlier version of the painting of the lake, with its view through the trees to the boat. I am glad I took a photo of the painting at each stage. That way I could see if I preferred the original version. 

If I ruined it with too much clutter, or a poorly executed figure, I still had a photo of the original. I could copy it as a postcard or book illustration.  I could re-paint it.  

I could use both illustrations for a book chapter or short story. I could start with the view over the lake. Then the man walking the dog. Finally the lake again, without the man and dog.

However, I was very pleased with the addition of the man and the dog. 

You can see that the addition of the man and dog creates a complete change. First we have human interest. Secondly, the eye goes in the direction of the walking man. This creates the impression of a boardwalk or path. It opens up the path ahead of the man. 

For the next Writers' Holiday, (February 2018) see:

www.writersholiday.net

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have other posts about paintings, the painting holiday in Wales, and Wales. Please bookmark and share your favourite posts.

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.