Use a Pen and Paper To Entertain Children In Restaurants

White envelope, small scissors and pen for entertaining in restaurants. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

While waiting for service in a restaurant, you want to keep children siting at table - not racing around annoying other customers. 

One restaurant manager told me, "If I see children running around, I tell the parents, 'I have waiters carrying scalding hot tureens of soup. You tell your children to stay sitting down, and I won't have to tell my waiters that in case of accidents, dial 999 and call an ambulance."

So that you don't have to chase after your children in all directions when they hide in toilet cubicles, duck under tables, or go upstairs and downstairs, keep them entertained at table.

You can do this easily with a pen and a piece of plain paper, even an unwanted envelope from a letter. 

You can fold the paper into a hat for your head and decorate it. Write happy birthday or merry Christmas, or the dish you have ordered, such as chicken and chips, with a drawing.

Origami hat to fit a finger. With face drawn on using a black ink pen. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Or make a small hat to go on a finger. Draw a smiley face on the hat.

Or a plain colour hat to go on a finger. Draw a face on the top of your finger.

Some restaurants have menus and drawing pencils. Some airlines have coloured pencils which you can keep for use during a holiday.

With foresight, you can bring with you washable paint pencils and sheet of paper. Most parents have safety scirros with rounded ends for the smaller children. You can prolong the entertainment and suspense byy making a game out of presenting the toys in three different paper bags or envelopes marked 1, 2 and 3. What have a got in bag one? a pair of scissors!  

Happy Eating Happy Evening!

How to use chopsticks?

Photo by FiveRings in Wikipedia article on chopsticks.
From top to bottom: Plastic chopsticks from Taiwan, porcelain chopsticks from mainland China, bamboo chopsticks from Tibet, palmwood chopsticks from Indonesia (Vietnamese style), stainless flat chopsticks from Korea (plus a matching spoon), a Japanese couple's set (two pairs), Japanese child's chopsticks, and disposable "waribashi" (in wrapper)

Where might you need or want to use chopsticks?  In Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand^[ and to a much lesser extent Philippines. Or in restaurants from those countries.

How to use chopsticks?

Hold a pen as if you are about to write, between your thumb and first (next) finger, resting it on your middle finger. waggle the pen up and down. Easy, isn't it!

Add another pen next to it, balancing on the middle finger.Bring the points of the two pens together.  Waggle the first pen, your imaginary chopstick, by pressing down and up with your first finger (the one next to the thumb. So the point touches the point of the other pen.

If necessary, bring your middle finger further up away from the points, so the two points can meed.
Point the two points downwards onto an imaginary plate, such as a piece of white paper.

Practising
Imagine you are talking to somebody. Keep eating the food whilst listening to what your boss or host or guest is saying. It's like riding a bicycle. If you concentrate on something else, you find it much easier.

Then imagine that a bird or monkey is trying to grab hold of your food. You quickly grab hold of the food. If you are determined to do it, instead of hesitant, it is much easier.

The lower pen is held by the middle and fourth finger. As it moves up and down, you can see that you can grab something.

Get Guidance
If you are in a Chinese or Japanese or Korean restaurant, they will probably offer you a knife and fork. However, take the opportunity to ask for a pair of chopsticks. Practise on your own, or ask somebody to show you, a friend, or a waiter, or even somebody at the next table.

If you don't want to practise or delay eating in a grand restaurant, start in a hawker centre in Singapore (a food court). Chopsticks are widely available. Just ask a stranger at the same long table to show you.

Even if you cannot speak Mandarin and they cannot speak English, you can show them the chopsticks, and frown and shrug and look puzzled and hold your palm out towards your right as a question. They will be amused, show you how, all smiles.

Secret Rehearsal?
If you don't want to reveal to your host or guest that you cannot do it, you could arrive first and have a practise.

Otherwise, just ask your host or guest. They will be delighted to show off their skill and superior knowledge.

If you have children in your group, they are often less shy and like to learn a new skill. Show them what to do, then ask them to demonstrate to your guests.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

How To Sign Certificates For Contests Neatly

Problem
You are attending a contest and somebody has to sign a certificate. Who should sign? Who has the best handwriting?

Answers
Eight ways to write names neatly on certificates:

1 Print names of contestants / participants on certificates in advance.

2 Chief judge brings two rulers for base line and top line of writing to ensure writing is level and even. 

3 Or mark two horizontal lines in pencil and rub out afterwards, gently, holding corners of paper with white paper to avoid fingermarks, using very soft rubber - putty rubbers about £1 from art shops / Wilko.

4 Ask all judges to submit a sample of John Smith while you are out of the room and ask judges to vote which writing is neatest and get that person to sign.

5 Bring scrap paper and Italic pen and ask the person signing to practice writing neatly, three times, copying a printed version of the names with correct spelling.

6 Insist that anybody signing a certificate writes their own name neatly and with every letter clear, not just a squiggle.

7 If you are chief judge/president, practise writing all the names in advance and your own.

8 Create a letterbox template large enough for the longest name so that the signature kept within it looks neat.

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

Storing Travel Brochures and Video CDs In Shoe Boxes With Labels

Problem
I have a stack of brochures from a trip to Italy but they are creating a clutter. They slide off the table onto the floor. I put them in a plastic bag. Disaster. Too many bags. I'll never be able to find them.

 I pack them in a shoe box. Now I have them neat but I still can't find them.

Answers
Shoe Box Labelled with Pen
1 You can write the name Italy on the end of the shoe box in pen. Yes, I do that. It does not look tidy, organised, professional. Besides, the writing is too small and I still can't find it.

I have not taken the time to do what I was advised by a much-moved mother in Rockville, Maryland. She told me, when moving house, label every box on all six sides, the four sides and the top and bottom. That way, however the boxes are stacked, you can sill see the label from every angle.

I could then use a black felt tip pen. It would not look tidy, even if I used a ruler to keep the bottom of letters straight, drew a faint pencil line an inch above, marked the spacing of the letters with dots.

Better to print. I could print out the word Italy in large black type, by enlarging the font to the largest size allowed. But that takes a lot of ink. I then have to fix the flimsy paper onto the box.

I get out a brochure entitled Umbria to read and put it back down on top of the box. The width is just the right size. I could tear off the cover and stick it down.

I don't like to destroy a brochure - even though I often have two copies of brochures. Besides, I don't have time.

I reach for a long elastic band, the sort you get on parcels held together by the postman. (In the USA you would say mail man). You find elastic bands on the ground everywhere, all over the world. I have seen them in Italy and Singapore. Lets over the whole top. Find another brochure.

My first effort was simply to leave the brochure on top of the box, attached with a big rubber band. That worked very well when the shoe box was on a long table.

But sideways on, the original shoe box name on the lid is a distraction.

My next effort was to look for other items to stick on the sides.

You can also make a collage of travel brochures. All from one country, or from several. This works on a small box, a shoe box.

Of course the answer for a DIY or craft enthusiast is to completely cover the box with a holiday theme. Stick on duplicate photos. (I have loads from America in the late 1900s.) Print pictures from the computer, maybe print from my own photos on the laptop or mobile phone.

Or cover a box with Xmas birthday or gift wrapping paper. Add a window in the centre with the word Italy.

Or cover a box in white and draw a freehand sketch. Add large curly calligraphy of the country name. Make six matching boxes from different states of the USA. Or stack boxes for countries in South America, Europe or Asia, Russia or China and satellite countries.

I hate cardboard boxes. yet they are too good and stiff to throw away. They keep dust off the contents. They group things together. They stack neatly.

For more details on Umbria:
www.umbriatourism.it

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share posts.

Ten more easy Indonesian and Malay words

English - Indonesian/Malay

Pear - p e r
pen - p e n a
pencil - p e n s i l
Perfume - p a r f u m
Photograph (noun) - f o t o

picnic - p i k n i k
pilot - pilot
pyjamas - p i j a m a
radio - radio
restaurant - r e s t o r a n

Angela Lansbury, author and teacher of English and languages, author and speaker.
Please share my posts.

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.
Follow my posts on this and other blogs, also on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram. Please like my posts and share.

Asking For Freebies

Asking For Items
I never take things from hotels. I wouldn't want to spoil my day with the worry and guilt nor upset the staff with the feeling that somebody had stolen something. They might even get blamed for theft or expected to pay for the missing item.

I ask housekeeping by phone or or room cleaner in the bedroom or corridor if I like something. Sometimes if you want something such as a sewing kit, they bring you one, even if its only for the suites and you are in an ordinary room.

They or you may think they deserve a tip. If you are in America, where the room cleaners are tipped and leave a note with their name, you may feel that any gift deserves an extra tip or that you deserve a gift in exchange for the tip.

If none of this happens, at check out, with my cases packed, I can go to reception holding the item I want, whether it's a pen or pair of towelling slippers or whatever. I can ask them to check with housekeeping whether they throw the items away or wash them or have spares. I can say if they don't mind replacing it from stock but want to make a charge I'd like to know what the price to me would be it is.

Even if two times out of three they say that they need the item, that's ok, you are saved the embarrassment of being caught. The one time they laugh and say, 'Take it!', you can go off happily with your free gift with profuse thanks and smiles all around.

Angela Lansbury, author and travel writer and English language teacher.

Colour co-ordinates of shoes and a small carry-on or cabin bag

First things first. Shoes. Open sandals for summer - or shoes which protect your toes. Protect them from the rain. Protect them from the doors. Protect them from people who drop things out of the overhead luggage onto your feet. Or run over your toes with their wheeled luggage. Or even their feet. Doors which swing back onto your feet? You could have study capped walking shoes for travelling, and sandals for the other end.

I wear socks with sandals. I used to wear socks after I developed sore red spots or broken skin or blisters. Now more often I go for prevention rather than cure. It looks odd to wear socks with a short skirt - until somebody makes that a fashion. The trick is to  either buy black sandals with black socks, white sandals with white socks, and stay cool. Then quickly add black, white, tan, or colour co-ordinated knew high socks or tights on top or instead to look smarter when you get to your destination.  

If you can co-ordinate the colours of your shoes and tote bag and suitcase, plus accessories, scarf, baseball hat, sunhat. gloves, umbrella or parasol to protect you from sun, you have a completely co-ordinated outfit. Plus the matching necklace, bracelet, watch strap and ring. Also your box file or notebook and pen. 

Some people do this automatically. Some men go for everything black, or everything grey, or everything brown, or everything navy. A workplace may co-ordinate their colour scheme.

It can get a bit tiring and same-y. I went to a school which had a bottle green uniform. Admittedly brightened with a thin stripe of pale turquoise and red. With a paler green dress for summer. But I still would not wear bottle green for years. 

Some people simply go for this season's colour. All black is businesslike, safer in a crowd.