How to hang up a handbag when you are seated on a bar stool, in a restaurant, home or even a public toilet

 How to hang up a handbag. I recalled that in London at a restaurant with high bar stools, I could not reach my handbag which was far below - also on the fity floor, and vulnerable to being trodden on, or stolen. The staff showed me that they had installed hooks for handbags.

I was sitting in Wine Connection in Telok Ayer, and thinking, what a pity they don't have hooks for handbags. They could attach them. Is there a suitable spot on the wooden cross board or legs. I looked under the table top and do my surprise and delight, there was a hook!

I had not thought to ask. The staff had not thought to tell me.

Now I am wondering whether this is a common feature of tables where diners have high bar stools. In future I shall look. 

If there is none, I shall suggest to the staff that such hooks should be installed, and promoted as a service by the thoughtful staff and management.

Hook for handbag or hat, underneath high tables at Wine Connection, Telok Ayer, Singapore.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The alternative is to carry a folding handbag hook in your handbag. They are not expensive. They make an amusing novelty gift.

You can buy a set of four different ones for under ten dollars, to keep one for yourself and give others to family or friends or as gifts and giveaways at conferences and contests.

There are loads of amusing, pretty, or elegant designs. 

The dearest I saw was about twenty dollars from Clips which ran a video showing their device attached to the handbag strap and un folded to fasten the bag onto a table, armchair and public toilet washbasin.

Americans call them purse caddy. 

Americans use the word purse where the British would say handbag. In British English, a purse is what other versions of English would call a coin purse, or clutch bag.

Useful 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=handbags+hooks+for+table&adgrpid=153705952068&hvadid=644836291419&hvdev=c&hvlocint=9045970&hvlocphy=9062509&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=2806546795560624803&hvtargid=kwd-1943649555250&hydadcr=22583_2214456&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_6ea01nf0lx_b

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Personalised-Foldable-Handbag-Hanger-Portable/dp/B09SBDPHT3/ref=sr_1_24?adgrpid=153705952068&hvadid=644836291419&hvdev=c&hvlocint=9045970&hvlocphy=9062509&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=2806546795560624803&hvtargid=kwd-1943649555250&hydadcr=22583_2214456&keywords=handbags%2Bhooks%2Bfor%2Btable&qid=1681802920&sr=8-24&th=1

MOMENT

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016212VD4?pd_rd_i=B016212VD4&pf_rd_p=2fa5a177-ff58-47c1-b70e-97fbff1ec480&pf_rd_r=C74FJR1FPPVK7YFBFSQQ&pd_rd_wg=UppsX&pd_rd_w=nZN9M&pd_rd_r=c4d6f9f5-a4d5-4e69-b48a-10031b43a56e&th=1

Be Prepared - travelling with tissues

Problem
What should you carry to be prepared?

Answer
Basic emergency medical supplies, which for most people would include paper tissues, a sticking plaster or two, and an aspirin or panadol.
Some people carry water and a chocolate bar or an apple on any journey. Others take a plastic container with a secure lid for leftover food. (If it's big enough, it could also be an emergency potty for children or adults if you break down on the motorway in snow or fog or get stuck in a ski lift.)

Stories
1 A Facebook friend, David Astbury, told us how he supplied a fabric handkerchief to stop the bleeding of a child who fell of mother's lap at a wedding. I replied:
The magic is not in having a fabric handkerchief - paper tissues would have done just as well. The magic is knowing in which pocket you have placed the handkerchief or tissue in order to produce it instantly on demand. The average person can spend twenty minutes searching for a paper tissue, a door key, a train ticket, their spectacles, their handbag, or the right coins for payment at a till. I know. I'm an average person. Trying to be above average. A place for everything and everything in the correct pocket.
Angela Lansbury, author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In (a book I wrote to remind myself of everything the rest of the family and the world had taught me, all of which I forgot until and after I wrote the book.)
2 I was stuck on a three person ski chairlift in America, with two other people. Balanced in mid-air. Can't even wriggle or reach in a pocket. No food or toilet. Sitting in the cold. Eventually saw people ahead being removed by a rescuer who was abseiling. Then a megaphone told us the lifts would be starting again.
Why do you need tissues? To blow your nose. Emergency toilet paper. Mopping up spills when you talk with your hands and spill wine or water. For the child or adult who starts bleeding.

Tips
1 Before leaving the house check your checklist - which could be stuck on the back of the front door or in your phone or diary:
2 Address and phone number of people and place you are visiting. Ideally phone to check they are open and will welcome you.
3 Depending on your location, you might also carry a small umbrella.
4 Carry a pen and paper and a business card.
5 Mobile phone.
6 Paper tissues.
7 Hat and gloves.
8 Wear white at night. (To be seen by traffic when crossing the road.) I keep a white scarf or hat or bag handy. Failing all else, carry a newspaper. A newspaper is also handy if you sit on one of those cold metal seats at a railway station. (But newsprint is black so don't sit on a black newsprint item wearing a wet or white or light colour coat.)
9 Go to the toilet before a journey, even a short one on a ski lift.


AUTHOR
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
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Learn a few Italian words easily

I like words which look similar to English or French. Italian is derived from Latin which I learned at Grammar School. Italian is also similar to Spanish and Portuguese and sometimes French.

You probably know that the film title La Dolce Vita translates as the sweet life.

La Dolce Vita in Hatch End.

Gelateria - ice cream shop

caffe café or coffee shop (or tea shop)

pasticceria - pastry shop / confectionary

borsa - handbag (I was struggling to remember this one. Then I saw it begins like bag with a b, and ends with RS like purse. B.RS. Like so many Italian words you add a on the end. But the other letter is a modified a, an O. Borsa. Borsa. Borsa.
cane - dog - (like English canine teeth)
Cappotto - coat (like cape, the little kid looks cute in his cape and Otto is cute in his cappotto)
dolce - sweet - (like dulcet tones and la dolce vita)
la - the
mangio - I eat - (like French manger to eat)
riso - rice (sounds and looks similar to the English)
vino - wine (like vineyard and vine)

How do you remember plurals? Squash the last vowel. So o becomes i, and a becomes e.
ragazzo - boy
ragazzi - boys
ragazza - girl
ragazze - girls
stivali - boots (I was struggling to remember this until I thought of stirrups. My memory aid sentence is: You need stirrups for your boots to ride up the valley.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, Language teacher and tutor.

Stained or frayed bags? Stained pillowcases?

Bags
I just read the website of handbag lab.com
What they do is wonderful, remove stain and dye, re-stitch, restore corners with the wire showing through. The only thing missing is the cost. They are aiming at people with very expensive to buy and replace designer bags.

Shoes
My shoes in Singapore, if they have composition heels, frequently crumble.
Local cobblers could only sell me half soles and heels. So I've bought glue and stick on soles online. It's a lot of work, cutting the sole to fit, sticking.

How do you stop the guy sticking your fingers to your thumbs?

Wear protective waterproof gloves, and use the s p a t u l a supplied.

Stained Cottons
Cotton pillow cases and underwear and blouses can be dyed to a darker colour, from white with yellow or brown patches to red or blue. So long as you don't mind a mottled effect. I have a whole sets of matching underwear and bedding using dyes.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker.