Baby Died In Hot Car - I forget my shopping - what can you do to remember?

We all forget things. I have left an umbrella behind in the car of a friend or a taxi to the airport. I once drove off leaving my teenager behind at school when he was loading up the car. I heard him slam the car door and thought he was in the car. But he had gone back to slam the car boot. Fortunately, I got no reply to my questions, stopped the car, looked back and saw him running after me frantically waving. No harm done.

But other people are not so lucky. I open the news and learn abut a death in a hot car.

An average of nearly forty children a year die inside cars. What can de done to prevent this?

Time to make it an offence to leave a child or pet in a locked car in hte USA. Put up a sign at supermarket entrance.

Suggestions to how to remember to take your child.

1 Warning reminders in car parks.

2 Warning reminders in cars.

3 Put your phone in your bag by the baby. If you think you might need your phone to hand in an emergency, alternatives could include leaving your shoe next to your baby, making your own handwritten or typed note, baby in car. Time for Mothercasre in the UK, to issue signs for the car.

End the news with reminders in hot weather. The temperature is ... do not leave chocolate on the back window, do not leave a baby or pet in the car.

People forget essential things all the time. They lose car keys. You don't want to lose your car keys with the baby inside.

Cars get stolen frequently. You don't want your car to be stolen with the baby inside.

But if you take the sleeping baby into the house in the car seat, that could also be a hazard.

Confession time
I left a bar of chocolate in a car. It melted. I had underestimated the heat and forgotten the chocolate. I don't do that again. With a child or pet you don't get a second chance.

How To Remember
The best and most unusal advice I saw:
1 leave a toy on the front seat to remind you that the baby is in the back.
2 Move the baby seat to the middle, not hidden behind the driver.
3 Buy a car seat alarm.

But you don't have children. How does this affect you?

The technology for alerts already exists. If you get into a car and don't do up your seatbelt, the car alerts you.

Set Alerts
The simplest alart is to set an alarm. If you know your journey taken ten minutes, set an alarm for nine or 15 to remind you to check on your child, or shopping.

Buy Alerts
Some alerts tell you that you have a passenger in the back when you open the driver's door. Others send a warning to your phone when you walk more than a certain number of feet.

One woman sais she bought car seat alarms or seats with alarms for her friends at a baby shower or a gift delivered when visitng a new mother or better still the mother to be. Garndaprents could also be given this gift, or give it to their children or children in law who are expecting a baby.

Some hire car companies supply car seats. Enquire about the seat's safety features and whether you need to buy an alarm.

An attempt was made to pass legislation but the law was not passed. Meanwhile there are sseveral items you can buy.

Some of the alarms have other functions, such as reminding you to remove your shopping or frozen food from the car.

An added incentive to buy one for yourself or others, or simply mention them to friends.

A simple solution is to set an alarm on your phone. Or to send a photo of the child dropped off to a whatsapp group of parents and granny

As they say, prevention is better than cure; forwarned is forearmed. Travel safely.

Useful websites
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7047435/Police-interview-mother-determine-left-baby-die-SUV-parked-AutoZone.html
https://myfox8.com/2019/05/18/baby-dies-after-being-left-inside-hot-car-while-parents-went-inside-store/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/mom-shares-warning-about-car-seat-danger-after-her-toddlers-death/ar-BBPmE98
https://www.ohmyparenting.com/9-safety-warning-signs-and-labels-every-parent-should-not-ignore/2/
https://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/advice/7-ways-to-not-forget-your-child-in-the-car/
https://www.fatherly.com/gear/best-car-seat-alarms/

Baby And Car Seat Alarms
https://www.kars4kids.org/safety-app/
http://ridenremind.com/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Visit A Rescue Centre. You Could Own Exotic Pets Such As Goats - Or Help Man's Best Friend, a Rescue Dog?

Singapore is holding a pet expo April 12-14 2019. this will appeal to residents, expats, and visitors from other countries.

In every country the type of pets kept varies. In American in Florida people keep crocodiles.
I've read about several cases of people who keep large venomous snakes and big cats and bears and species of monkey which grow large. You read about them in the news when the story does not end well.

You probably know the saying, an Englishman's home is his castle. A castle needs a guard dog. The British are known as a nation of dog-lovers. In England lots of people keep goats. British people have small houses but tend to have gardens, small or large.

Dogs have evolved as pets. A century or two ago dogs were working animals. Sheepdogs obviously were kept to herd sheep. German shepherds became guard dogs for the police. Foxhounds were used to catch foxes which ate farm animals.

My late father told me that in the East End of London his family kept a cat. You did not feed it cat food. The cat's job was to catch mice.

What's wrong with wild mice? They eat bread and rice. If you leave food uncovered, rats and mice will eat it and walk all over it with their dirty paws and fur. What's worse, after eating, they urinate in in your food.

Restaurant hygiene rules includes keeping all food covered, no open barrels of fruit or cereals.
After an infestation of rats in a block of flats in London, we were told to keep fruit bowls on high shelves, never on the ground nor a three-tier wheeled tray system, nor on a kitchen table.

In London you can go to petting zoos in some parks, and some suburban farms.

Goats As Pets
The smell of lots of goats might put you off. On the other hand, goats are very friendly. They have large eyes and engage with you and smile and make funny faces.

Apparently loads of people in England keep goats as pets. Celebrities keep goats. Ordinary people keep goats. People with farms and large gardens keep goats.

Goats are smelly, but friendly. If you fancy having a goat instead of or as well as a dog, then read about other goat owners' experience. Goats live about 15 years, a similar life span to that of a dog.

Disadvantages Of Goats As Pets
Compared to dogs: It is expensive to buy a goat. You can get a rescue dog.

Advantages Of Goats As Pets
You can get goats' milk, which you would not get from a dog. You can eat goat meat, whilst you would be pretty unpopular in many countries if you ate your dog.

Rheas
Rheas look like ostriches. In the UK a small number of people keep Rheas. Once in a while the rheas escape. Rheas are flightless birds. That doesn't stop them running off.

Police warn the public are warned no to approach rheas. Rheas are large and can be dangerous, because of the large, sharp claws. Don't run up close to a rhea. Take a photo with your telephoto lens.
You can see rheas in the wild in America and in Germany. Also in zoos.


Family-Friendly Dogs
Why keep a dangerous pet, when there are so many creatures which are known to be friendly. Even amongst dog breeds, you can pick and choose to find a dog which does not grow large, will not attack a neighbour and have to be euthanised.

Dog-Sharing
If you cannot afford the time and money to own a dog, you can do dog-sharing and have a dog just at the weekends. My family dog-share and take their part time pet away to a dog-friendly hotel for a holiday. If a shared dog's main owner is elderly and dies, the animal is not instantly abandoned but has a friend for comfort.

I think it's a good idea to try dog-sharing before adopting a dog. I have heard of people who adopt a puppy or give one as a birthday present, then find that the animal is not house-trained and they can't stand the mess and give away the unfortunate dog which has to get used to a new home. The RSPCA ran a campaign to stop this happening: A Dog Is Not Just For Christmas.

You can make an appointment to visit a dog rescue centre.

Singapore flag

In Singapore, which is a city state, most people live in flats, especially the government HDB flats. To prevent cats leaping off low balconies, if you live in a flat, you have to install a high grille or glass barrier.
In Singapore you can visit a goat diary, Hays Dairies.  (See previous post on visiting the Hay Dairies in Singapore.)

Battersea Rescue Dogs
You can visit dogs rescue centres in the UK in London, England, and windsor, Berkshire, and Brands Hatch in Kent.

The USA also has rescue dog centres.

Mixed breed dog awaiting rescue in Tennessee, USA. Photo by Maelo from Wikipedia.

For the pleasure of armchair travellers, I have humorous poems on rheas around the web including on my humorous poetry blog.

Useful Websites:
Singapore
Pet Expo
https://petexposg.com/
Singapore Dog Rescue
https://www.timeout.com/singapore/things-to-do/the-best-animal-shelters-to-adopt-a-pet-in-singapore

UK
Battersea Dog Rescue UK:
https://www.battersea.org.uk/about-us/visit-us

USA
https://www.petfinder.com/

GENERAL INFO
Choosing Dogs
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/news/a561691/the-top-10-family-friendly-dog-breeds-for-families-with-small-children/
Identifying rheas and other birds
https://www.hbw.com/ibc/family/rheas-rheidae

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

Giant Snail - Delights and Dangers -Touch or Don't Touch, a Pet or Not? and Photography Tips

Giant African Land Snail in Singapore. Photograph by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The extraordinary things about the snail are:

1 The huge size - which makes it both unusual and easy to photograph.

2 It is not afraid, does not disappear into its shell and so it is easy to photograph.

3 You can see clearly that it has two protrusions from the head, in fact, four, and uses them to feel ahead and cling on.

4 It progresses not just with slime but a kind of platform underneath.

5 When I read about it I discovered that:

a) It can hibernate and live in colder areas of the USA to the north.

b) Because of its voracious appeite it could be a danger to crops.

c) It has huge numbers of offspring up to 200.

d) It can reproduce as a hermaphrodite. Two females can reproduce. One of them changes sex? (So human beings are not the only ones with gender realignment.) Your female snail can reproduce if you get a second snail. You could end up with dozens 'eating you out of house and home'.

I had thought on initially seeing it, 'How cute! What a novelty. I wonder whether I could keep it as a pet? Would it be messy? Is that legal? Would I be endangering it? What would I need to feed it? Do I need a cage? Could it damage fabrics and wooden furniture? Would it catch insects such as mosquitos or cockroaches? It would be a great talking point. If I went overseas, I could just release it back into the wild."

What I did not realise was that not only might I be a danger to this relatively small creature, it could be a danger to me and you.

It is apparently common to Florida and parts of the USA and is well documented as being a risk to owners or handlers. What is the risk? Meningitis from rat lungworm.

Ah - nature red in tooth and claw. Look but don't touch, applies to the living as well as the dead creatures you see in your garden or parks and out in the wild.

Tip For Travel Photographers

Carry a small ruler in your pocket to show the size of items you photograph. Take at least one photo with the ruler and one without it. You might want to:

a) Use the photo with the ruler.

b) Not use the photo but specify the size of the item you photographed in the caption or text box. Say if the creature you photograph is unusually small or large or a typical size but can grow to a certain size or be within a certain range.

Useful Websites

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/10/giant-land-snails-are-on-the-move-and-a-nasty-parasite-is-riding-them-like-a-bus/?

Learn five more Romanian words for animals

Romanian - English
animal d e c o m p a n i e - pet
c a i n e - dog
hamster - hamster
pasare - bird (migrating bird passing through)
p i s i c a - cat (the last two letters of pisica are the same as the first two letters of cat)

English - Romanian
bird - p a s a r e
cat - p i s i c a (what does a cat eat? Fish. Fish sign - pisces. A pis eating ca t.
dog - c a i n e
hamster - hamster
pet - animal de c o m p a n i e

Duolingo.com Free language learning website.
www.romaniatourism.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and teacher of languages. Please share posts

German words you'll find easy, and German words you'll find confusing

Problem
How do you learn German?

Answer
I am using D u o l i n g o free online course. Today I was learning animals, birds and insects. Some of them were easy, almost the same in both languages.

German - English
Eine Biene - a bee
die Fliege - the fly (looks like an English command, "Die, fly!" but it's pronounced dee
Ein Insekt - an insect
Die Spinner - (a spider is a spinner of a spider's web)
Haustier - pet (Haus is German for house - it sounds the same, tier is german for animal, so a house animal is a pet)

English - German
a bee - eine Biene (remember that nouns start with capital letters in German)
the fly - die Fliege
an insect - ein Insekt
a spider - die Spinner

Angela Lansbury, learner and teacher of languages.