Safe Depth in Swimming Pools At Home And On Holiday

Olympic size swimming pool at a condo in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Stay In The Shallow End
On Singapore's escalators in the MRT stations you hear recorded messages: 'When travelling with young children or the elderly, use the lifts.' At swimming pools it would be helpful to warn 'keep to the shallow end' in similar circumstances.

Sometimes safety instructions are given on notice boards. But frequently only in English.

Pool Depth 1.7 metres, about 5 foot nine inches. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Depths
Depths are usually marked. But only in metres. 1.4 metres is about 5 foot. If you are five foot tall or less the water comes to the top of your head at this point. You need to stay further away. I test depth by moving along the side of the pool holding onto the edge. As soon as it gets too deep, I note the foliage or buildings or parts of buildings which I can see alongside as a marker, then move back to the safe point. That is my limit.

1.7 metres is about 5 foot 9 ins. You can check your height. But you don't want to be in water up to your height. That is too high. Check the height to your neck with a ruler or a metal measuring device.

You can find private pools in hotels and condos all over Singapore.

Some hotel pools are open to non-residents for a day or visitor fee. Might not be worth paying if you are only there for coffee or lunch, but if you are all day visiting overseas relatives could be worthwhile.

Other private pools are in clubs such as The American Club and The Tanglin Club. If you have a family member or friend they can take you in but they have to pay a fee.

Public pools are all over Singapore. the more modern ones have children's pools and chutes and diving boards and swimming lessons which you can book.

Useful Websites
https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/length/meter-to-inch.html
SINGAPORE AIRLINE
singaporeair.com

http://www.changiairport.com/en/airport-guide/facilities-and-services/swimming-pool-with-jacuzzi.html

About the author

How to copy, measure and sew a caftan

Problems
When i first arrived in Singapore I could not find clothes to fit. My low neck 'holiday' tops were unsuitable for teahing mixed sex Englisl language pupils. I swelled up in the heat so nothing fitted. Tight clothes were constricting My shspe changed as i went from the hot street inddooors into air conditioning and out again. I ubderstood why Indian eomen wear sarees and others wear caftans and sarongs.

I soon bought some caftans and bought
lots of fabric in Spotlight store.

I had several too long caftans from India. When i wore them i was in danger of tripping over and had to walk clutching the m and hoisting them up when climing steps and getting on and off buses.

I cut the lowest edge off, the height of a hand width. I wanted to keep the hem a safe height.

I used pinking shears to stop the hem fraying. A hem can easily be sewn by hand. It just takes time. I matched the colour of the fabric but i doubt whether anubody would notice an inexact match .

The leftover fabric I hemmed and made a matching scarf. If you need a belt you could use the spare material for a belt. You could wear the belt loose. Alternatively make two loops at waist level from a cut off pieve of fabric from the scarf o use two pieces of ribbon.

Do you need ribbons urgently? You probably have a dress or skirt with hanging ribbons inside the shoulers or waist of an old outfit. These ribbons are sometimes too long just what yiu need. Cut off a tiny piece for the belt on your new garment and sew back the end of the shortened hanging loop.

I have several styles of caftan. One has a low neck which requires cutting a large v shae fron the centre front and edging it with matching fabric Cut oof the hem or from extra material.

However my more elegant evening caftan has a high neck. Imagine using the lower third of a saucer and then cutting a vertical line to help get the garment over your head.

I wrote my measurements in my diary.

Width of fabric 114 cms.
Length 113 cms.

Mid point to neck approx 56 cms.
But 2 x 56 = 112. Be careful if you copy an existing garment. The two sides might not be the same.

Neck width at top - cut shallow semi cicle for high fastening.

The raised semi circle reinforces the neck at theback. When looking at shop bought garments I always wondered why they did that.

To fasten the neck elegantly at the top use small raised domed button like a small pearl on a shank. On the other side, sew aloop of ribbon. It's a bit fiddly to get the ribbon the right length for the button.  If it is too big a loop just sew the two inside edges of the loop to make it slightly smaller.

My neck se.mi circle is 16cms wide with a neck depth of 9 cms.
As they say in tailoring as wee as boot making and carpentry : measure twice, cut once!

Finally, the two long vertical seams:

Sew 20 or 22 cma in from the edge. Mark with safety pins and/ or tailor's chalk.

Failing all else mark with soap - which washes out!

I sew up to 20 or 22 cms below shoulders to alloe me to put my arms in.

In theory you could sew a horizontal line or sloping line above the waist to create a tighter sleeve or kimono sleeve effect.

I needed the two vertical sewing lines wide enough to allow for my hips and sitting down on a chair  easily.

But the two caftans which I copied had very different widths. The narrower centre for the body with wider flapping panels at the two sides with more material to hang over the arms looked more tailored and elegant.

Tips
If you can find a printed line of part of a repeating pattern, you can use that as a guidelines for a hem or vertical line.

Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Please share my posts.

Thanksgiving and Design

In America it's Thanksgiving, third Thursday in November. 

(Canada holds Thanksgiving on another date, the second Monday of October. Tied to the end of the harvest season, in the north, that is several weeks before America's holiday. Oct 12 2026. Oct 11th 2027, October 9th 2028, according to Farmers' Almanac.) 

Thanksgiving for Americans, is thanks for arriving safely across the Ocean, surviving a year in a new country. The year after they arrived, they celebrated the anniversary of their safe arrival, and survival.

In London, thanks to everybody who had contributed to designs and museums through the ages. Everybody you look at or use was designed by somebody. The bus. the bus stop. The train. The art deco stations. The museums.

Each generation has new ideas. New ideas on chairs, a cushion on the floor, a block of wood, a solid tub, a back, with legs. Upholstered. Plastic and wipe-clean.

A table of wood or plastic, on legs, with room for your legs underneath. A mirror on top for a dressing table. A desk with a pull out place for your coffee. A ledge or pull-out for your laptop. Straight, or curved top.

The 2016 glass-topped tables create a feeling of space in small rooms. But, as a landlady, I won't buy them, because a tenant might break them.

In the UK The Design Museum has re-opened in a grand new venue in London.

What I found interesting is that it does not attempt to choose good design, but rather to show a history of how design has changed, whether good or bad, a true museum.

I happen to think that art deco of the Thirties was graceful, elegant, wonderful. The Fifties, yuk, utilitarian, looks awful. I hate those spindly diagonal legs on furniture. Wood changes to wood chip. Plastic table tops and trays. Chairs no longer have upright backs but slope backwards so you get an L shape neck, hunchbacks and dowager's hump. Cheap backless bench seating encouraging slumping.

Thirties cups were an improvement. V shape. Easier to clean inside. Easier to look inside and check they are clean.

The Thirties? Beautiful buildings. White with green tiled roofs. However, flat roof houses and block of flats, introduced in the Nineteen Thirties are a design disaster in a rainy country. Anybody who studies history or has lived in a flat roof dwelling knows they are prone to leaking roofs. I've had leaks in blocks of flats where I lived in Singapore and London. Also a relative (Uncle Jack, a deceased relative my marriage) said he was nearly bankrupted by the cost of repairing his house which he eventually sold after years of problems.

I just came back from Umbria. The oldest churches were susceptible to earthquake damage. So were the oldest houses. Medieval buildings in the UK have been destroyed by fire this year. New buildings in America and worldwide are designed to be earthquake proof. Our thanks to all the designers and architects who have made buildings safer.

Useful Website

http://designmuseum.org

Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer, speaker.

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