Preventing Vehicle Traffic Accidents, Reporting and Rescuing

An accident in Wales left three dead and two alive, but trapped for more than two days before friends and police found them. 

Time

What could be done to prevent this happening again? Nothing good happens after midnight. But they, apparently, according to the report I read, set off at 11.15 pm? 

Drinking

They went out for 'a few drinks'. The Scandinavians have a rule about serving food with alcohol. A Singapore restaurant recently told us they had only bottled water which we had to buy. The rule worldwide should be that free tap water is served with alcohol, unless the customer prefers to buy fizzy or still bottled water.

Drinking & Driving

What about a designated driver?

Stay In Your Own Car

One rule when on a blind date with a stranger is to stay in your own car.

In Wales, one woman had her own car but left with the others, presumably in a guy's car. 

Stick to a slow convoy

Agree in advance to a speed. Prevent getting into a car with somebody who wants to show off and ignore pleas to slow down.  

Tracking Car Routes

Ask for the destination to be texted. Text to tell family your destination. 

Tracing Phones

When two or more persons go missing, after driving, a police warrant for phone tracking should not be required. 

New phones and cars and hired or shared vehicles should have tracking and automatic impact reporting. This should be required by insurance. 

Insurance Requirement

What if there's no insurance? Cars should fail to drive unless the driver is sober and licensed and insured. 

What if you need to move the car In an emergency? 

The car could be driven by a passer-by or rescue service, but with a report on who is then driving. 

Privacy

What about privacy? Yes, that is a valid issue. But, if you die, you have no privacy. Better to be alive.

Rescue - barriers

How to prevent this? Barriers around run offs into trees around roundabouts. Even if it won't prevent a crash, it will show a gap where the car went through, bringing help sooner. 

Call For Help

A comment says saying hey Siri call emergency services would work even if you were unable to reach your iphone. All new phones should have this service. Maybe it could be built into all new cars and hire cars too.

Safety for Cyclists

The Dutch Reach makes you turn your head to check the mirror for oncoming cyclists and vehicles.

Separate lanes in Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11832347/Bank-worker-20-survived-Cardiff-car-crash-suspended-wreckage-TWO-DAYS-mother-says.html

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dooring#Dutch_Reach

see Wikicar

Story of a lost iphone USB lead for charging and data

"Apple insist on using their own connectors," complains one of my family.
Yes, sigh, I am without mine.
I manage to borrow one and leave it attached to the wall so it can't get lost.

Then we drive off for the day wtihout it!

Disaster!  Firstly, I want to use my phone for taking seasonal photos.
Secondly, I need to phone the family.
Thirdly, we lose each other at a motorway stop. I see the photo of my family member phoning to ask, "Where are you?" but, before I can answer, the phone has died.

When we meet up, we hunt through the car hoping that the connector will be attached to the car device in the compartment between the seats in the car. Sure enough, there is a lead. We have three leads - but none of them fits an iphone.

Then, happy moment. I am hunting through my huge handbag which holds everything you could want and many things which you don't want, when I find a phone charger. It has two leads, one for the iphone, one for all other phones.

The blue light is on, showing that it ischarged, ready to charge a phone.

Happy moment, yes, it has two connecting leads, and one has the neat squashed oval which fits the iphone - both ways up - unlike the other lead which is asymmetrical, like a hump baked bridge standing on flat ground.

The charger itself can be recharged plugging into the device which fits into a cigarette lighter.

iwalk portable battery charger with two connecting leads (attached, neatly slide into corner
Model number UBO3000.

It's absurd, or handy, that the Iwalk phone charger can be connected to another device to charge itself by a non apple connector, but that solves your problem if you have an apple device and no connector.

I tried connecting via the charger overnight but only got 17 per cent in the morning. Maybe I forgot to connect the phone. Anyway, I charged up the charger and then I could use it to charge the phone.

Useful websites
amazon.co.uk
amazon.com

   https://www.amazon.co.uk/iWALK-12000mAh-Portable-External-compatible


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

Glossary (dictionary)
SD - secure data - extra storage space for photos, videos .
SIM card - the one which has your phone owner details, linking your phone to the company from whom you rent the monthly allowance.

In theory you can change the SIM card to a new phone, for example, hiding your expensive Apple iphone and taking a cheap phone on a trek or to a market, transferring the Sim card from your expensive phone/camera to a cheaper one.
Alternatively, you might wish to swap the new SIM card into your better phone in order to take good photos on holiday.

However, some phones are fixed to prevent this happening so that thieves cannot switch their SIM cards into a stolen phone. So you might have to get the shop where you buy the phone or rent it to change the Sim card as they have the unblocking device or permission.
The best time to get this done is when you are renting the new phone, when they will gladly agree to anything to secure the sale.

 If you then later have to go back to the shop to reverse the SIM card swap, that means another journey, another wait for attention, explaining what you want and why, getting them to agree to spend time on something which is not benefitting their sales person, changing the paperwork.

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

Help loading up photos, and solving problems with your laptop and mobile phone - especially for the MacBook and iPhone

Problems
TRANSFERRING PHOTOS
1 I used to have trouble loading up my photos.
EDITING PHOTOS
2 Then editing them.
FROZEN LAPTOP
3 Later my laptop froze. Nothing was happening. (Glossary at end for basics.)

Reasons
1TRANSFERRING PHOTOS
If the laptop has been carried about and has only just been plugged in, you may need to wait a short while for both the laptop and the mobile phone to be moderately powered before they start talking to each other and downloading photos from the phone to the laptop.

2 EDITING

If you are in the middle of editing, that stops other functions. For example, if you have a window open for Information and change the title of a photo, on my system you cannot do anything else until you have shut that window.

FROZEN LAPTOP
Is my laptop on? First check the plug is secure in the socket, the switch is on, the multiple extension socket is plugged into the wall. (Somebody could have plugged in a table lamp or coffee maker or vacuum cleaner or another laptop and disconnected the extension.

If the green light is on, the power is getting through to the laptop.

If something is on the laptop is on screen but nothing is moving, that is good sign(s); it's not dead, just in a coma.

1 Try re-starting.

2 If that doesn't work, turn it off. Hold down the power (circle with a line pointing through 12) for several seconds until the screen goes blank.

Wait a minute.

Press power on again.

You should hear the whirring, the start up tune or warning, then on comes a symbol, then a useful screen.

You might need a password.

With luck, you get back to the menu.

Routers
Is the problem my router?

Mobiles
Is my mobile on?
If the screen has something showing, probably on.

Laptops
Laptop
1 You are in the middle of an activity and you need to close that before starting anything else. Check all over your screen. Shut everything else down.
If all else fails, go to the brand sign top left of the screen (the apple for a MacBook Air or Pro) and click on it. Try restart. If it says this will shut in 57 seconds, and you are impatient, there's probably a sign in effect saying click here to do it now.

2 Your laptop is asleep although it is connected because the power is not yet firing it up. (Just like somebody coming into the room and shouting a question at you first thing in the morning. You may have your eyes open but you are not yet awake.)

Phone Fails
You cannot use your phone whilst it is attached to the socket soaking up the power to recharge its battery. (Like you when you are drinking water.)

You have to disconnect the mobile from the cable linking it to the power supply and then it will work.)

The phone keeps asking me for my pin number. Why is it doing this?

Because you have been busy doing something else. Just in case you put your phone down on the table in a restaurant, ignored it for a while, and somebody else picked it up, your phone is set to switch off automatically when not used and ask for the PIN (personal identity number) before it starts. In 'Settings' you can decide how long you want it to wait before asking for your pin number.

Solutions
First check if the blue or green lights are flashing.

If the lights are on, like the saying goes, that usually means somebody is at home or the machine is working.

No lights? Once I unplugged the router, not knowing what it was, when I was vacuuming. Somebody else in the family checked the router, saw it was disconnected and plugged it back in.

Re-setting the router.
Like everything else electrical and with a cable, sometimes you need to unplug and re-plug and that is all it takes to get the machine going again. Note how many things are being unplugged and where they connect. You might like to take a photo before unplugging.

If you have only one circular piece and one circular hole, that's easy. Pull it out, wait a minute, then plug in again. (Unplug everything at the same time and then re-plug everything, to be sure and not get in a muddle or forget to re-plug, or forget to unplug and replug one cable. But disconnect each one by one if you are checking which connection is faulty.)

If you have several sockets, all identical, maybe it doesn't matter which one you use. If all else fails, just in case a socket is faulty, plug the cable back into a different socket later. (Just in case the socket is faulty or you damaged it when yanking, you could try another one later.)

Router Pin Number Needed
Now you may be asked for the pin number for the router. This is usually on the back of the router. However, it tells you how to re-set the pin number.

If the pin number is not working, maybe somebody in your home or office has re-set the number.

You could have a piece of concealed paper with the information, or have it on a pinboard which cannot be seen from a window. Or turn the router around and photograph it (I tried that but my picture was out of focus). Or write it down in a password book, or write it on a piece of paper which you later shred.

Settings on Your Mobile Phone
Settings - Changing how your mobile phone works. Click on settings and various options come up, including times and dates, sounds for the ringtone. You can choose from the options of ringtones, or import your own unique tune so when you are in a supermarket or public place you know it's your phone, not somebody else with the same ringtone. If you have two phones, you can have different ringtones, so you know immediately if its work related or personal, your home country phone meaning it's the family, or the one you use overseas.

Anything you want to change, look at settings. Every now and then, when you are doing nothing else, have a look at settings. Maybe something you never used before will be useful.

Alarms
On holiday or a business trip, maybe the alarm you set at home is waking you up too early on a holiday and you can change it. Maybe you need a new alarm to catch a plane or remember an important meeting.

On Planes
Settings is also the first place to look to shut down your mobile on a plane, turn your phone on again or turn on the wifi or roaming, cancel roaming so you don't get charged, and so on.

Recording Instructions
If you are a bit blank about phones and keep forgetting, and somebody else has the same phone, record them instructing you. Re-play the instructions until you remember them or get the lightbulb moment when you see the logic.

Calling Applecare in the UK
Have you Applecare helpline number for the laptop in your mobile phone so you can call them when your laptop fails.

You get a recorded message asking which device you are calling about. Is it a mobile phone, which model, a laptop, the Pro or The Air. (Why? They probably have one person dealing with and trained in each product.)

How To Find The Model Number
Next, they want the model number. You can find this by clicking on the apple symbol and going into the about my Mac section.

If your screen is blank, you cannot do this! They tell you that alternatively, look at the box the machine came in.

Or you or a colleague or family member might have written down the number in a password book, on a pinboard, a file on your possessions, your tax and invoices file, somewhere else.

Don't panic. Stay calm. Finally, they offer you the option to go ahead without the information, warning you that the first thing the company will want to do is learn the model number. They will also want to check your name and address or other details to confirm it's really your machine.

Online Help
After you have spoken to Apple, you will get a follow-up case number, later a question asking how your session went and was your problem solved.

Other Laptops And Phones
Most problems can be solved by a process of elimination. If you have the instructions for one type of phone or laptop, you can probably work out what to do with another. is somebody else can't help with your machine, ask what they do when theirs goes wrong.

I shall deal with another brand of phone next month.

Glossary
PC Personal computer.
Router - a little box like a switchboard which connects your laptop(s) to the outside world.

Settings - symbol on iphone looks like a circle with battlements. Lets you set the alarm, screen, sound, lots of other things.

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

How To Improve Club Photos (Part 1)

President of Harrovian Speakers (left) and winners of ribbons. I am in the centre wearing red. More information on the club's Facebook page.  

Problem
I have several photos taken at Toastmasters club meetings where the faces are dark. The person photographed may have a dark skin, wear a hat, or stand in shadows.

Answer
You can try increasing exposure. On the Apple system, go into edit, then adjust, then try moving each slider to see the effect. Move brightness, then exposure. You might find that if you go as far as you can, the lights in the ceiling make big splashes of white. Slide back until the face is clear but the white of the ceiling lights or window is not too bright. Alternatively, edit the photo by cropping to cut out the white ceiling lights and white window.

Counter-intuitively, on Apple's Iphoto editing programme, you slide the shadow icon to the right. Suddenly the face appears.

Moving contrast tends to make dark faces become darker. If you need to enhance black writing on a sign, adjust the black enhancer.

On your smart phone, such as an iphone, you will also have an editing function. Try out all the symbols below the photo.

You can duplicate the photo to compare before and after. Sometimes cropping makes the person or their face larger. You might want them in the centre of the photo instead of to one side.

Cut out a bystander whose eyes are shut. Remove half bodies. A white hand on somebody's black shoulder can be removed by filling in the black, used the touch up tool.

Adding Photo Details
If you have only one picture, you might illustrate an article by placing the whole picture at the start or end. Select a cropped close-up of a medal, ribbon, trophy. Then take the winner's smiling face.

Adding Logos and Buildings
Add the building logo. Add a photo of the building taken earlier at another meeting.

Congratulations and Comments
Get a congratulations quotation by speaking on the phone from the absent president, illustrated with a photo of them taken on a previous occasion.

If you have too many photos, you could make a mosaic of tiny pictures. Alternatively, list all the people photographed, or the name of the club, and refer to another site where pictures of them can be seen.

If you have time, during daytime, ask your subject to move into natural daylight. In the evening you can simply try the variety approach. Take the subject facing left and right, with you on the left and right, in another part of the room. Then select the best or easiest to edit. If you are sending photos to a newspaper, or a timed report, you want to get the photos up fast.

If you email immediately to the people at the club, it will save time next day. You also have a chance to ask people for their email in order to send the photo. You can check with them that it has arrived and be sure they saw it. You can check with them the correct spelling of their name. You also have each photo matched to an email often containing the subject's first name or surname or business, which speeds up writing captions.

You can take a group photo before the event or afterwards. Afterwards some people will be dashing off to catch a bus or release a babysitter or feed or walk their dog. So an extra photo or two taken at the start of the meeting of the audience is handy.

If you have fewer than twenty people, you can usually find most of the names correctly spelled on the agenda. You still need to check. Your subject will be doubly aggrieved if their name is wrong on the agenda and again in the photos!

Another idea I learned when I did teaching in schools, is to make a plan of the desks or chairs or rows of seats in an auditorium. Add the names or functions when people sit down. You might have president centre stage, VIP guest to president's right. In the front left might be two timers. At the back and out of sight is the official guarding the door. I write question marks where I need to get a photo or a name.

I can then see at a glance that during the interval I must get the name of one of the timers, and a photo of the door guardian who was missing from the opening photo.

If you can't identify or remember the name of the president, go back through internet records of the club meetings to find the president's face and matching name.

Privacy and Photography Announcements
Your meeting or large group could contain people who do not wish to be mentioned by name all over the internet. They could be worried about identity theft or being stalked by an ex. Usually the photographer or President or Toastmaster of the evening can make relevant announcements such as:
1 Please don't take photos during speeches. You can taken photos during the break and after the meeting.
2 You can take photos but please don't use flash.
3 Don't take photos of speakers unless you have their permission in advance.
4 We are taking photos for our Facebook page. Please let us know if you don't want your face included.
5 Our photos appear on our club page but it is only available to other club members.

Selfie
Finally, yourself, the photographer. You can add some cheery message such as, Congratulations to ... and club ... from photographer .... with a picture of yourself. If you have other photos which you can provide you might like to say so. If you have already spent hours editing you might prefer to keep quiet. Just put your feet up, relax, and admire your photos.

Afterwards - Memoirs?
Plan ahead. Will you ever want to produce an end of year photo montage or newsletter, or a book of the club history? If so create an album of all the year's winners, presidents, helpers. That saves time at the end of the year. You already have one vital photo of every meeting o event, all in one place with suitable captions accurately made at the time.

Remember The Missing
Tick off every member of the club. If you find that you have pictures of 19 out of 20 club members, add the missing one's face. Oops - nineteen membebrs won prizes but one didn't get a mention or award? If you cannot make an award with a ribbon or box of chocolates or certificate, at least include a happy caption.

Add to the photo a kind or welcoming message, such as loyal supporter, enthusiast, long-standing member, or latest member or introducing .... . That way as many readers as possible will find faces and places of interest.

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to your favourite posts. See my latest travel blog:
http://luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Duo lingo Korean Has Arrived

Problem
How do you learn Korean letters?

Answer
Duolingo. They have just launched Korean for both a laptop and a phone, iphone or Android.

I started my first lesson. Only three of four letters. But it's a start.

I went to add it to my phone. Then I found the bad news. You have to pay for Duolingo Plus. It's only $10. And I know I will like the product.

Even so ... What if you are short of money this week?

What if you don't trust the internet connection and don't want to give out credit card details?

What if you are afraid that once you commit to this, it will recur on a regular basis and you will be locked in for life to a system which may increase prices and never let you leave?

https://www.koreanair.com/global/en.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of languages.

Holidays From Hell - Stories For You To Tell in Traffic Jams

Problem
What do you do when you are stuck in a traffic jam or stranded on a plane runway for hours?

Answer
Tell stories of other holidays from hell.

Stories
My Travel Disaster Stories
Fire Alarms
In Scotland at the Achiltibuie hotel, a fire alarm went off in the middle of breakfast. We all had to abandon our buffet breakfast and go down the steps onto a terrace lawn. We could hear the fire engine blaring up the steep hill to the top of the hill where our huge hotel commanded a great view. The chefs were also evacuated, standing on the terrace in a group with their white hats. Also evacuated, a bride and groom - the bride in a long while - night-dress.

Flood
At Swanwick Writer's Holiday in Derbyshire, one year the site was flooded after heavy rain. The accommodation blocks were separate from the main blocks with classes and evening entertainment and the lounge and bar. Going back your feet were up to their ankles in muddy water and frogs were jumping about.

In Germany our car was broken into in Koln (Cologne).

Another car was broken into in Prague.

A third in the zoo car park in Madrid - after a group had mugged us in Marbella stealing my leather handbag and contents.

I was stuck in mid-air on a three person chairlift in a ski resort in the USA.

Worst of all, in Corsica I was on a bus which broke down on the way to the airport to go home. We were all closing the road from the broken down bus when a car came over the brow of the hill and knocked me down. 1984. I had multiple injuries including ribs broken in two places, a broken collar bone, a cracked shoulder blade, a head injury which left me bleeding from my ear, with everything spinning around more than 100 times when I tired to sit up. I ended up in a hospital in Corsica where they did not even speak French, my only other language, but Italian dialect. I tried talking to the woman in the next bed fro a day. She said nothing. Eventually I asked somebody to translate. He explained that she could not talk because she had had an operation on her jaw.

Theft
Singapore - my shoulder bag was stolen, containing a British passport, a Singapore citizens card, money, my new UK iPhone and my Singapore handphone.

Here are some fearsome photos from the internet in the Daily Mail online newspaper. My favourite is the frogs in the toilet. But that was after a flood.

Tips
If you like to convince the family or friends that your problems are not as bad as you thought, print out a copy of one of these photos, keep it concealed, then bring it out as a distraction. When your car breaks down, you can look at the picture of the elephant straddled across a mini car.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-4283256/Hair-raising-capture-travel-scenarios-gone-wrong.html

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

How to Identify and Block A Premium Rate Call To a UK number on an iPhone

If the number just rings you once it is probably a premium rate nuisance call. If it is your family and they nudge the phone and call back accidentally, they will call again.

To find out who called, type the number into Google. Up comes who-called.co.uk

They will alert you to codes starting premium rate numbers. The one I just checked started 0843, which I saw charges about 45 p in the UK on top of your call providing about 10p per minute. (Other numbers from overseas could be higher charges.)

To block the caller on an incoming number on an iPhone, I was shown in the Apple shop, you tap on information. Scroll to the end of the options and you see block this caller. Tap on block. (The number is still in your recent calls, if you want to check the number again - for example, if you want to list the number and make comments for the benefit of yourself of others receiving calls from the number.

Watch out that you don't accidentally click on it and call the number. I would delete it as fast as possible, so you don't call it back, neither does anybody else using your phone and searching for a recent caller's number.

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

Why would you want an Apple watch? Which one?

Apple logo.

I looked at the Apple watch in an Apple store. The priciest gold watch is about seven thousand pounds. It might also make you a target for thieves. So you would need to wear long sleeves to conceal it, unless you are all dash and flash, in your own private Porsche and helicopter. (Or Prince Harry, with a bodyguard.)

But at £299 (just a little lower than £300) the cheapest watch is affordable if you get a group of friends and family to co-ordinate and merge funds for a birthday or Xmas, even if you have to work overtime, eat into your savings, or run it off the business as an expense.

Watch Safety
Why would you need a watch in addition to a phone? You could argue that a watch attached to you is less likely to get lost than an iPhone placed on a table in a restaurant.

Mobile phone Theft
Newspapers have reported that a common trick in London coffee shops is for a stranger to stop to ask a question, place a newspaper on the table over your phone, gather up the phone under the newspaper and run out of the door and disappear. CCTV in and outside chains of cafes and restaurants eventually caught one culprit, as well as revealing how it was done. So the phone attached to your wrist is less is easily moved in public places.

However, I have seen demos of people removing watches without the owner noticing.

Forgetting negative ideas about security and loss, let's move on to the positives. What can the iPhone do for you?

Restaurants Ban Phones
In some restaurants phones are banned. One reason is because customers take noisily on phones. If you sit on a train in any country you will hear entire personal conversations and business transactions from people shouting into their mobile phones.

Subtle Watches
The watch phone is more subtle. You can glance at it whilst waiting without anybody knowing you are doing more than checking the time.

Tanglin Club Restaurant
For example, the Tanglin Club restaurants in Singapore ban mobile phones. In one restaurant, the member cannot book a table but must sit at the table to secure it. The host has to sit without using a phone. Meanwhile the guest wants to text: 'Sorry, delayed in traffic, estimated time of arrival ten minutes late. Please start without me.'

With a watch which takes texts, no problem. So who will buy me, or you, a watch?

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker. Please follow me here and on Facebook, link to me on Linked in, watch me on YouTube and buy my books on Lulu.com

The Apple Watch - What It does for you and your friends

You can see the new Apple watch displayed in Apple stores. Even if you don't want to look at it, videos of hints and tips on using it appear on screens on walls of the big Apple stores.

It has lots of new and amusing features. Your friends faces appear on a clock face so you pick one. They are also co-ordinated, matched by number. So number one could be your spouse, boss, or oldest child, or mother. Instead of hunting down through an alphabetical list of dozens of names, you just go to one on the clock face to pick Mum or call the boss.

I was thinking of putting this on my list for a birthday party gift. Even though the price of the cheapest watch is more than I would budget for this birthday gift, I could give a contribution. So two or more people got together, or contribute some money towards it so the birthday boy or girl can top up the fund.

But there's one problem. The watch is not an independent item. It's an accessory to an iPhone. First you need to have you bulkier iPhone with you. (So no good when swimming or sunbathing on the boat if you are about to dive in the water.) Secondly you need to have an iPhone. So I can't give it to anybody who is not on the system, even as an introduction to Apple.

No, I shall just have to wait until somebody buys me an iPhone watch. And the iPhone I need to go with it.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, speech trainer. 

Lost and found in the USA, UK, Singapore and worldwide

Lost and Found
I was thinking it was time somebody set up nationwide and worldwide lost and found websites. You need one centralised place to report losses. In Singapore We had to go to the terminus of two different bus lines, a police station, the UK passport office, and the NRIC office.

(I was thinking we need a lost and found site like Tell Us Once. What's that? In the UK in the old days after somebody died if you were the spouse or descendant or lawyer / executor you spent months writing to different government bodies. The death certificate needed for funeral plans took priority, so the pension would continue to be paid and had to be paid back. Hours of work, week, months, for the family, and masses of extra paperwork and muddle for the government offices. Now a wonderful website called Tell Us Once informs all government bodies simultaneously.)

Lost and Found in the USA
I went hunting on the internet and immediately up pops a site for lost and found in the USA. The alliterative subtitle is For property and pets. Such a great idea. The website connection is lost but I love the idea.

Finders Keepers
But maybe a 'lost' item was not stolen but just lost. How many items get lost?

Taxi Lost and Found
A sign in the Singapore taxi warns that fifty per cent of items left in taxis are either wallets or phones. Sometimes a recorded voice tells you to check you have left nothing behind. What more can they do? I think the driver should have a camera on the back which enables him to check.

Taxi Drivers Could Help
Every driver should give a receipt automatically, not just ask whether you want one. Driver should announce his name and the taxi company. For example, "My name is Mr Lim. Thank you for booking GrabTaxi." "Hope you had a good journey in grab taxi. Check you left nothing behind? Nothing on seat, in the pocket? Keep the receipt. If you lose anything, call GrabTaxi and tell them you were in Mr Lim's taxi. Have a great visit."

Receipts Identify Your Taxi
I always ask for a receipt from the taxi. That way if anything ever goes missing you know which taxi and which service. There could be five or more taxi companies and hundreds of taxis.

Finders Keepers
An old saying suggests Finders Keepers. Not so. British courts have set precedents proving otherwise. To give a couple of examples, somebody who had money moved into their bank account in error had to repay it. Treasure from Roman or earlier times has been deemed crown or national property. I shall search and research this and update this post or add another later with details.

In the UK it used to be the case that if you took something to a police station and it was not claimed after three months the finder could keep it. However, you were still expected to return the item.

Accepting Loss - How Soon?
How long should you wait before accepting something is lost? Eventually something might turn up?

Common sites for losses.

Accepting Loss
Some people take the attitude, wave goodbye to what's gone and move on. In Singapore a well-known expat family lost a son who committed suicide. (He had suffered from a slight handicap and was bright and successful and personable yet had been bullied.)

Persistence Pays
On the other hand, a famous quotation - Winston Churchill said, Never, never, never give up.

Lost children - like Madeleine McCann. Lost pets - occasionally turn up miles from home and are reunited.

On Transport
Have your property packed up ready to go when a bus arrives or you reach your stop.

When Should You Give Up?
After you have done all you can. In Singapore I went to the two terminus points at the end of the bus looking for my lost wine red bag containing my passport, NRIC and two phones, my iPhone in a purple 'clam. cover, the Singapore phone in a Cappucino cover.

Staying at one address is a great help. Every time you change address it becomes harder for the finder to return your property.

Losses
My handbag cut in Marbella. Stolen car drew up alongside. Thief cut the handle of my bag. Driver veered around corner and crashed. Car occupants ran. Driver disappeared. My bag was found cut plus Swiss knife - which only later did I realised had been used to cut the handles.

Successful Lost item Found
I lost a valued glove when out looking for a place to live. A week later I retraced my steps. A kind person had stuck the glove upright on top of a post, easily seen.

They never knew I found it, only that somebody had removed it. A belated thank you years later from me - I should have left a thank you note.

In the old days in the UK you could take lost property straight to the local police station. Unfortunately police stations have closed down and centralised. You have to travel a half hour round trip.

Singapore
In Singapore, reporting a loss at the police station, my relative told me the police did not even want to make a report on my 'lost' bag - only if it was stolen. Immediately after it disappeared, we assumed I had somehow dropped it or left it behind on the bus. But since my trace has been found, we now assume it was stolen.

Scotland
At Edinburgh, when visiting the Edinburgh Festival, we lost a camera outside a book fair. Later in the day we went back to the book fair. I went to the desk to ask if anybody had handed in the camera. Sure enough, there it was.

Cost of Loss
What is the cost of loss? You probably underestimate the cost of replacement of goods. Even a new lipstick can cost £20. Replacement passports, NRIC identity cards in Singapore, cost a lot of money.

NRIC
A property agent was asked by a security guard to leave his NRIC. He refused and instead handed over his business card as proof of identity. If you lose your NRIC, the cost of replacing it a second time increases.

Summary:
Losses:
People - children such as Madelien McCann - ongoing search. Hopefully the search for her can have three good outcomes for children, parents and people worldwide a)

Success:
1 Lost and Found website USA.
2 Colleague's empty wallet containing our borrowed library card found in attic of AGB office building, years after wallet went missing. The wallet was taken from a jacket on a chair back in building which you could enter only with an employee or guest pass. (So we now presume the wallet was stolen not by a member of staff but by a contract worker who had access to the roof space.)
3 Empty (and handle cut) shoulder bag retrieved in Marbella, Spain, when we reported loss to police station.
4 Glove found on post a week later in UK.
5 Member of Toastmasters Singapore told me he lost a wallet but within an hour an honest Singaporean had returned it to him.

Action On Lost and Found
National website for lost and found in each country. it could give you the locations of lost and found offices, how to mark and safeguard your property, where to report lost credit cards, give you a record sheet you could fill in with the brand of your handbag, the serial number of your phone, the phone numbers for your credit card companies, your office or relative to be contacted for return of items.

(You don't leave your house, leaving it empty, to collect missing doorways, or burglars could use the keys to get in your house while sending you miles away, or even around the corner). Suggestion - send somebody with your identity and/or do a visual call to identify both parties and the lost item and location in public place with witness for the handover.

Who Retrieve Useless Items
What use is an old passport, now I have a new travel document? It has a record of all my travels, including the time and date of every entry and exit. I keep my old passports. (And those of my ancestors.) I trust that one day somehow the items will be returned to me.

Adrenalin and Chase Syndrome
It is psychological closure. The human brain goes into what I shall call Seek Lost Item mode. You get a rush of adrenalin, anxiety, gear up for physical chase.

(Not just a caveman era Idea. This really happens. And is still relevant and needed. We had two physical chases after lost/stolen property. In Marbella years ago my husband chased after the stolen car whose occupants had stolen my handbag.

In Singapore my husband chased after the bus after I got off and realised my bag was missing. First he chased the bus which stopped at the lights. When the lights changed and the bus sped away, still agitated, he rapped on the window of the nearest car and persuaded the driver to chase the bus. (Thank you Zak.)

Reward
A friend suggested I should offer a reward. So I offer a reward. £20 or Singapore$20 for each of the five missing items, the bag, the iPhone and cover, the Singtel phone and cover, the British passport, the NRIC card. Total £100 or Singapore dollars 200 for the whole bag and contents.

As for me, I wil forever want the return of my lost (acronym for lost or stolen) wine red multi-zip messenger cross-body messenger bag and all the contents, my iPhone with the purple flip wallet, also called a 'clam' cover - means it is like a book with a crease down the long direction so it opens up and stands up horizontally with two slits for cards opposite the phone.
My Singtel phone a Sony Ericsson with a brown cover, a thick, back only, imitation cappuccino cup cover. Also my British passport surname Sharot and NRIC.  The items could be discarded by the thief or finder.

STILL WANTED
I have been scanning every person I see on the bus worldwide - could they have found or been given my items, and not knowingly be in possession of them, not knowing how to return them? Now we are back to the reason for a national lost and found website. I am lifting the boxes of bins. Unfortunately in Singapore

UK the old London Transport Lost Property office can now be accessed online. In the old days you had to go in person and could retrieve goods for free. Now there is a charge.

What else can we do on the lost and found websites?
'LOST TODAY'
'FOUND TODAY'

How to prove it's yours?
I can't produce my passport as evidence of identity because my passport is the lost item. But my passport has my picture - you can see it's me!

My phone is supposed to turn on with my thumbprint. However, my phone doesn't like my thumbprint. I do, however, know my phone's passcode, which no stranger would know.

Using your phone as a memory aid

In the previous post I described how you can use your iPhone to take a picture of a new friend and attach it to their email.

You can also use your mobile phone as a memory aid. For example:
1 The name of the car park, the floor and the position of the car.
2 Your own car numberplate - especially in a hire car overseas, or a friend's car. You also know the car model and colour.
3 The shop opening hours.
4 The bank opening hours if you go to get money out or pay a cheque in.
5 The restaurant phone number on their menu, or the shopfront above the window, if you want to phone them later.
6 The dress or other item in the shop, or shop window, so you can remember to buy when they are open next day, or check on the internet later if you can get something online.
7 The hotel where you are staying, especially if you have trouble remembering or pronouncing the name.
8 Your own family, so if you are looking for your husband or children in a restaurant you can ask, 'Have you seen this person?'

Email yourself the address of your destination. If you can't remember the postcode, just check today's emails to find the address.

Traveller's aid - the iPhone - what it can do for you

I keep finding out new things I can do with my iPhone. First I found out how to add a photo to my list of contacts. Later I learned to ask questions verbally (Siri) and get a text answer. Here are some of my discoveries about problems solved.

1 Save photo of new friend with their email.
click on
home, Phone, Contacts.
Plus sign top right of screen.
Type in First name, type in Last name, type in Company or where you met or your usual friend, Done to be sure you save what you've done so far.

Not to add the photo:
Go back to camera symbol, click on big white circle middle of edge of screen to take a photo.

Go back to contacts: type in their first name or last name, whichever is first in alphabet or least common. Click on their name, click on edit.

Click on add photo (circle on left of their first name).
The screen then shows photos.
Click on choose photo. Your recent photo of the person should be in Moments, or Camera roll.
Click on the photo, put two fingers on centre of screen and if they are in a group photo move their face into the centre. Spread your two fingers on the screen over the head of your friend to make the photo expand larger, then click on choose.

It's great when you meet a new friend and they have no business card, or you have none. It's good for asking somebody called 'John' what is their surname, or if you didn't get the spelling of their company name.

Photos From Your Smartphone on the move

Great tips for using your iPhone (and other smartphones) to take photos when travelling.

First, for any handphone user, they show you how to make a little tripod out of card if you've left yours at home. Great for taking photos of yourself or holding the camera still in poor light. If you get the angle right, you can take a video of your speech when visiting a club, or at your home club, or rehearsing your speech at home.

Where do you find a piece of card when travelling at a hotel? The backing of a shop-bought shirt or even a pair of tights in stiff packaging. The carton of cereal on the hotel breakfast buffet.

Next, for iPhone users, how to use the panorama feature. I've never known what it was for. I must check it out.

Last good trick, solved the problem of your arm in the way of a selfie, using the button on the earphones to operate the camera in your phone.


http://www.lipstiq.com/others/7-photography-tricks-you-didnt-know-your-smartphone-can-do/