Expat or moving house and want to install a dishwasher?

 In the USA you are lucky. Most homes will come with a dishwasher. The only trouble is if you move in and find the existing model is rusting, leaking, or not working. In the UK most homes have dishwashers.

In Singapore most homes don't. Flats are built with a scullery and maid's bedroom and toilet/shower. People traditionally have maids, or home helps. 

I heard of an American ex-pat who said he would only rent a flat i

If you have a maid - what if she is not to be trusted with your glassware?

1You might want to upgrade to a new dishwasher. Some models have pull out trays, cutlery racks: more accessible filter change. You might want to move your dishwasher from ground level to waist height so you don't have to stoop to fill it and empty it. You might want to move it to get the noise away if you work in the kitchen-diner en suite with a living room. 

2 A helper has moved in. You have had another child. A parent has moved in. A lodger has moved in. Your in-laws are staying for the summer. The amount of washing up has doubled. You are planning a dinner party and need to wash up a lot of items. You need to re-use the plates from the starter for the dessert.

3 You are in quarantine and your teenage children or spouse do not want to do chores when they have work or homework.

4 You are getting older. The dishwashing which seemed easy before is now too tiring or time-consuming.

5 You are working from home.

6 Your last dishwasher leaked all over the floor and you want a new one with a guarantee. You also want the risk of it flooding kept away positioned away from the busy kitchen.

7 You are paranoid about washing machines and tumble driers and dishwashers catching fire and want them away from the kitchen and the overhead bedrooms.

If you are a handy DIYer, this could take 2 to 4 hours.

You need a strong enough support for a table top dishwasher. We had a sink in a plywood worktop The back wall against which the dishwasher would a wall which was not a firm support concrete wall but a flimsy thin wooden  room divider to create a maid's bedroom.

We needed tiles on the wall behind the sink, before installing the dishwasher.

The dishwasher needs 

1 Electricity. It could plug in. If  you think the plug is away from the water and is safe. You want an accessible plug. And a label. And a plug clearly marked on and off, so you don't call out an expensive repair person which somebody or something has jogged the switch. You want to be able to turn off the electricity during repairs. Or doing some simple jobs such as emptying the filter. Or attach the machine direct to an electricity wiring supply. Check what your installer is doing. Consider the options.

2 It needs water to come into the machine. Hot water. Unless the machine is designed to heat water. 

3 It needs to attach to the run-away pipe under the sink, or to feed into a drain. You need it below an s bend so that you don't get dirty water feeding back up into the sink, or smells.

If you are installing a waste disposal at the same time, the cost for two jobs could be cheaper if done together. And cause less disruption.

Don't take my word for it. This is not necessarily what is safe or permitted in your property and country. Just a handy reminder guide to what you (and I) need to check on.

Useful Websites

https://www.wikihow.com/Install-a-New-Dishwasher

https://plumbinglab.com/how-to-plumb-a-dishwasher/

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

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Dishwashers

About the author of this blog post

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

How to Choose Backgrounds for your videos

Back in the good old days before COVID-19 I was out every night at Toastmasters meetings.

Now I am online several times a week, sometimes at two overlapping meetings, talking to people all around the world.


Singapore Online club. you can see that plain backgrounds are effective. 

Were you thinking of creating a video indoors - or outdoors? both have their advantages. Let's start with indoors - including a backdrop creating the illusion of outdoors.

I have watched several videos of people giving speeches in club and area contests with distracting backgrounds. First, a background of a bed topped by clothes. , a distracting clock in another time zone from mine, a whirring ceiling fan in the centre giving the impression that the speaker is Harry The Helicopter.

Not to mention the mother or husband bringing in a hot drink of plate of food, the granny or maid limping up the corridor behind and then disappearing into room two, reappearing in the corridor with a bag of washing, going off to room three.

Others have had toddlers demanding cuddles or climbing onto their lap, grinning or even singing. One contest convener specified that the person manning the cameras must be single with no family nor pets in the same room or dwelling causing distractions.

To create the illusion that you are in San Francisco by the Golden Gate Bridge, or on an exotic beach, you simply pick one of the four optional backgrounds provided in Zoom and ManyCam. 

(What's this? Think of it as many cameras. The illusions of extra backgrounds projected from another camera.) 

This works best if you have a screen. You can buy green screens in various sizes. 

Wall backgrounds

You could alternatively sit with your back to a big blank white wall, a white screen in an office or school. 

If your study has a filing cabinet or pictures on the walls, this ruins the effect. Consider having a picture to match the subject of your video, or a series of posters. You can print them from your computer, including your own holiday or trip photos.

If your printer only takes A4 size paper, you can still make a larger print to look bigger or more impressive or be seen or to cover what is behind.

You need to divide the photo you are using into two or four or eight, or even more. Stick them very neatly together with no mis-alignments nor black edges nor undulating edges nor projections where corers match at the edge.

You need to find somewhere to suspend a sheet

I needed a green screen for my Braddell Heights Advanced online meeting (Wed evening 7 pm join us on Learncool.sg) so I went through all my sheets until I found a plain green colour. 

That was a long job because, having taken out all tangled sheets, I folded it all neatly, moved the pillowcases into drawers to reduce the pile, and moved a white board over the right hand drawers in the wardrobe to overhand and create two tiers in what was previously a full length hanging space.

1

• 

  David  Angela, nicely done! And how is the green screen working for you?

  • 
    
  •  · Reply
  •  
• 

  Angela Lansbury I shall tell you after tonight's meeting. Thanks for the reminder. I'll try it out. 
• Joke: Just getting out of this green dress. 
• One way to be a ghost, wear the same colour as the background. Some of the old magic tricks involved wearing black clothes and using a black curtain. If you turn your back, or cover your face with a black cloth, you disappear.
• The same applies to any other colour. Make sure you are not wearing the same colour as your background.
• Finally OUTDOORS

PARK

• If you have no suitable background at home, your home is untidy and you wish to give advice on tidying, or don't want to reveal your collection of gold bars and antiques to the tax office, the burglars and the person you are divorcing, go out into the nearest park or garden. (COVID-19 in your country or state or area permitting.) 
• Plants such as palm trees look exotic if you are in Florida, or Singapore, or even gardens in London have palm trees. Walk up and down your nearest street or search on google earth.

On the other hand, you might wish to do the reverse, conceal your local palm trees and pretend you are in London, or on a ski slope in the snow. 

• BALCONY
• You could also stand on a balcony. Even in a bathroom or toilet against the door or wall (American with all the fittings such as door handles and taps hidden by potted plants or hanging plants or the portable green screen.
• No green screen? 
  1
  • I have used a golfing umbrella. If you are holding it in one hand you have only one hand to touch your screen and record or stop recording.
• Golfing umbrella. - indoors or out
• You could also try a golfing umbrella. It tends to fall sideways.
• SHEET
•  I needed a green screen for my Braddell Heights Advanced online meeting (Wed evening 7 pm join us on Learncool.sg) so I went through all my sheets until I found a plain green colour. Having taken out all tangled sheets, I folded it all neatly, moved the pillowcases into drawers to reduce the pile, and moved a white board over the right hand drawers in the wardrobe to overhand and create two tiers in what was previously a full length hanging space.
• I reported this in the media

• 

  David Levy Angela, nicely done! And how is the green screen working for you?

  • Like
  •  · Reply
  •  · 13h
• 

  Angela Lansbury I shall tell you after tonight's meeting. Thanks for the reminder. I'll try it out. Just getting out of this green dress. One way to be a ghost, wear the same colour as the background propped up.

• 
  
• Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.) See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts, Quick Quotations, Who Said What When. Also watch videos on YouTube.

  See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

  
  

  Please share links to your favourite posts.

  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. 

Are You Being Photographed? In banks and bedrooms and by passers-by?

Problem
Are you being photographed? What precautions should you take?

How do you get police to come to a private property?

One comment went along the lines of:
1 I called the police and said I was being photographed. They would not come out to see me.
2 I called back and said my children were being phtographed. They came over straight away and arrested the property owner.

That reminds me of the old story, said to be apocryphal, a legend, a myth, a joke:
1 I called the police and said a man was stealing from my garden shed. The police said they were too busy.
2 I called back and said, "A man was stealing from my garden shed. I've just shot him.'
The police 'shot' around. The police chief said to me, "I thought you said you'd shot him?'
I replied, 'I thought you'd said you were too busy.'

What are your cameras likely to catch?

Fox on the back lawn of a garden in London, England. Photo by Angela Lasnbury.

In the back garden
Foxes mating.
Dogs wandering in and out through holes in the fence.
A noturnal hedgehog.

In the front garden
Cats hiding under the warmth of a recently parked car. Maybe hiding ready to pounce at a bird.

You can set up a camera on a tripod with a motion-sensore device to photograph wildlife at night.

Cameras have been used to observe maids and carers looking after children and the elderly.

Cameras in empty homes have also caught burglars.

One home whose keys were in the hands of an agent had a video camera which recorded an agent making use of the property for a tryst.

So, how do you protect yourself?

Check clocks and other areas. Go online to see where spy cameras are hidden.

Useful Websites
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6150333/British-couples-horror-spy-camera-Airbnb-flat.html

Lift camera in London hotel used in evidence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rTkojpyW9I

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/03/a-part-of-daily-life-south-korea-confronts-its-voyeurism-epidemic-sexual-harassment

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/lifestyle/style/what-exactly-is-upskirting/ar-AAtYZBJ

Seoul to check public toilets daily for hidden cameras - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45388759

Sep 2, 2018 

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

Recalling and Recording Grandma's and Grandpa's Days in Singapore or anywhere: a world of Cinderellas

Problem
The grass is always greener and it looks so easy. Taxi drivers assume all Westerners are rich and descended from rich families, lazy people who never work. When you ask older people about their past, you hear telling details about life long ago.

My father lived to the age of 93. After he retired, he used to volunteer at the local hospital.

I asked about his childhood. He said he would take a cooked potato in his pocket for lunch. In winter the heat of the potato kept him warm at the unheated school.

In Singapore, as a Westerner, you meet people who have a house or a car and a maid and you assume they have always had an easy life. But as soon as they tell you about their family history, you find it wasn't so.

'Moona' told me that she was one of eight children. Moona's mother ran a coffee stall; the day after giving birth she went back to work.

Moon'as mother could not read nor write Chinese, so she chose a name for her daughter which had few strokes, so it was easy for her mother to write.

Adoption and Helping Others
Moona's mother and father looked after orphans and adopted or fostered children. When the children left school, the adopted family had to help the children and others like the orphans to find work.

Helping A Struggling Artist
One young man was an artist who could not find work. So Moona's father commissioned the young man to paint a portrait of Moon's father and his wife. After Moona's mother died, Moon'as father commisioned another double portrait to be painted, using a photo.

Recording The Past
Moona has the family portraits and tells the famly stories. But she says her grown-up nieces and nephews are not interested in the family history. I think it is important to write it down. So I have made a contribution.

Please write down your family history as told by your elders. Just a sentence or two is enough to capture the essence of the story.

How To Make A Family History Booklet
When we were planning a 90th birthday party for my mother-in-law, every weekend we had a family meal. I asked her questions each weekend, going through her life:
Where did you go to school?
What did you do with your parents at weekends?
What did you do in the war?
Where did you meet your husband?
Where was your first house?
What were the poeple you worked with like?
Did you get on with your cousins?
Did you see your grandparents?
How is life different today from your childhood?

I went off to the bathroom and wrote the answers down in longhand in my diary. When I reched home, I typed up the answers.

When I had enough material, I printed a booklet. It cost less to print three copies, than the cost of most of the giant boxes of chocolates or champagne or other gifts I could have bought her.

When she saw it, she was amazed. She asked me, "Where did you get all this information?"

Two years later she developed Alzheimer's. The good thing about Alxheimer's from a reseracher's point of view, is that the elderly tend to remember the past which is stored in their memory bank, without being able to add and sort new memories.

They can't remember yesterday. But they can recall two or three stories from their past which they repeat endlessly.

At this point, as after they have died, you are very pleased to have a record of their life. You are also glad to have been able to share it with them when they could appreciate the trouble you have taken and the honour they feel that you have made their life history into a booklet or book.

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