Bottle up, plant-based bottles

 At London Wine Fair, stand E50, for two more days, Tuesday 20th May 2025, and Wednesday until 6 pm.

Here's an answer to the question of how can we dispose of water bottles? Water may be healthy for us, but are plastic bottles healthy for us, and for the environment when the bottle is disposed of? We want to reduce pollution.

The bottles come in three colours, blue, pink and red.

This water was supplied in the walk up tasting at the London Wine Fair. 

The three day event at Olympia featured wines, spirits, beers, packaging, water, and teas.

Haze - the bad news and the good news - when can we travel?

English: This was a 2-ha peat fire that occurred near the Raja Musa Forest Reserve in Selangor, Malaysia. Note that there is a large amount of smoke without any open flames. This is because the fires are below the surface, where the peat is smouldering.
Date	5 June 2013
Source	Own work
Author	Tan Yi Han

Peat fire in Malaysia.
From Wikipedia.

Haze and fires are happening in many parts of the world you might visit, or travel away from.

First, the bad news. On Saturday September 14, 2019, the pollution measurement put haze at the danger level in the west of Singapore where I was, ironically, at the hospital. I was not there to treat any lung or heart condition caused by the haze which affects the vulnerable elderly as well as children disproportionately.  I was in the hospital's training area which was used by Toastmasters for a training session on Pathways.

As we drove away towards the nearby Yishun MRT railway station, I saw a sun out of the car window.

Sun in haze in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Seconds later, the sun was obscured by haze. My companion started coughing. Singapore is not the only country to suffer.

Indonesia and Malaysia
The bad news is that the fires are all over Malaysia and Indonesia. I was horrified to hear from friends that they believed that peat fires were not accidents, but caused by deliberate boring into the ground.

The good news is that the government of Indonesia has sent people to fight the fires.  Indonesia's citizens have suffered from the fires.

Malaysia has closed schools in Johor Bahru, whose name means 'new Johor', the city across the bridge from Singapore.

I was worried about my relatives who were planning to stay in Singapore in December for Christmas and to invite their other relatives from the UK to stay.

The good news is that the October weather will defeat the wildfires in Asia.

Fires have also caused problems in the USA, Northe America, and in South America.

India and Delhi
The haze affects Dehli in India. One of their solutions is to try to reduce car pollution. They ban cars with odd and even numberplates on alternating days.

London UK
Meanwhile, in London, England, adding to the woes of travellers caused by threats of strikes for more money by pilots, well-intentioned people are using drones to disrupt Heathrow flights to draw attention to global warming.

The amount of pollution I can see caused by a single plane seems much less serious to me that the smog blanketing the whole city, the whole country of Singapore.

Final good news. Sunday morning in Singapore the haze was clearing fast. Either the wind had blown it away or the efforts by the authorities have had effect or a bit of both. Hurray!

Last time there was a major haze, one of my Singaporean friends who has a second home in Australia hopped on a flight to Perth. An economy flight from Singapore to Perth is currently, Sept 2019, quoted at $449, which is about half the cost from Singapore to London on the same website, which was $988.

If you are concerned that you might want to cancel or postpone a flight, you can buy premium rate flight tickets from a major carrier which allow cancellation, but they cost more.

Useful Websites
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/schools-to-reopen-tomorrow-despite-air-conditions-but-agencies-have-plans-in
https://www.haze.gov.sg/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asian_haze

singaporeair.com

Author 

Pollutions and Solutions and Protections - Leather, Wood, Plastic

What are modern day widespread problems?

When plastic first came in, traditionalists preferred wooden furniture. I was a travel writer in the Nineteen Sixties and Anne Hills took a group of us around the hotels of London, ending up at the Berkeley five star hotel. The one star hotels had plastic. The five star hotels had wood. If a table looked like wood, it was wood.

Now, we are anxious to save trees, instead of cutting down trees, cut down on wooden furniture. Instead of printing out a receipt for your furniture, cut down on paper which is made from trees and go on line.

My late mother would not buy plastic shoes because they gave us blisters. She preferred leather.

However, our neighbours are vegan, so they would not sit on our leather furniture. They preferred sit on plastic.

Now, we are learnign about the perils of all types of plastic, especially the one use plastic bag.

From Wikipedia article on Joanna Lumley.

Joanna Lumley said:
I hate ... litter in the street .. it's lack of (interest /in the planet) concern for the hedgehog who might eat the plastic bag.
Adapted from BrainyQuote

Hunger and Thirst
Lack of food and water. Wasted food.
Lack of shelter. Shortage of housing.

Pollution
Why is pollution a problem? We are delighted to find buried Roman remains, broken down buildings, statues without noses and arms, creased coins. Under the sea, we are excited to find cities. And skeletons.

Dealy In Dissolving
Why is modern pollution such a problem? There is so much of it. Plastic does not dissolve and decay and disappear. If it breaks down into pellets, this is still a problem.

 It kills wildlife.

For example:
A straw in the nose of a sea turtle in Costa Rica.
You may have seen the videos on YouTube.

Burying plastic is not the complete answer. Pollutatns can seep out of the plastic into water and damage the water and the crops grown in fields next to the waterways and landfill.

What is the cause of pollution?

Creation of Plastic
Producing plastic?

Disposal
Individuals not disposing of it in litter bins?
Not separating plastic?
Burning litter?
Pumping litter into the sea?
Discarding litter?
Excess population: More humans than animals, birds and fish.

What Are The Solutions?
Prevention
1 Straws
Instead of plastic straws, a re-usable metal straw with a straw cleaner.
2 Re-use instead of throwing away.
a) Re-use at home.
Public recycling Shops hiring the disabled to provide them with employment.
Refusing bags - taking a re-usable bag.
But is it hygienic?

Ignorance

Cost

AFRICA

CHINA
Population explosion solved by one child policy.

SINGAPORE
Population control by sending domestic helpers for pregnancy checks before granting employment pass and after 6 months.
Child takes nationality from parent, not from being born in Singapore.

Strict

UK
Population problem and maternal death solved by birth control in Glasgow.
Deposits and refunds on bottles.

USA
Thin plastic bags shredded and heated to make solid plastic which can be cut and converted into coasters and other household objects.

Post being written. Come back later.

Can one person really make a difference?
I like the starfish story. An old man walks along a beach filled with stranded starfish. He sees a boy throw a starfish back into the sea and says to the boy, "The beach is filled with starfish. Throwing one back won't make any difference."
The boy picked up another fish and threw it back into the sea and replied: "I can make a difference to this one - and this one - and this one."

I was delighted to find the origin of the starfish story on Wikipedia.

The Starfish Story
"The Star Thrower" (or "starfish story") is part of a 16-page essay of the same name by Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), published in 1969 in The Unexpected Universe. The Star Thrower is also the title of a 1978 anthology of Eiseley's works (including the essay), which he completed shortly before his death.

Useful Websites
https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2019/05/30/a-state-in-the-us-offers-human-composting-as-a-way-of-burial/
https://brandongaille.com/125-protect-our-earth-slogans/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/how-did-sea-turtle-get-a-straw-up-its-nose.aspx
Protecting canals
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-48516745?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story

http://www.ninjajournalist.com/social/london-marathon-edible-water-pouches/
Author

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

The Joys of Canal cruising. Plastic Problems And Solutions

Let's start with the bad news and end with the good news.

Millions of pieces of plastic are polluting rivers and canals. But there are plans to clear it up. Why should we care about canals?

I have stopped to photograph canals.

Yes, I have been on canal boats, calm and peaceful.

No big decisions. You go forwards. You stop at your end point or come back to the starting point. The scenery goes slowy past. The hum sends you to sleep.

The stop-off points for food are few and far between and the canal boat owner or cruise company has them already arranged.

You take your own food and drink. You share everything.

Life Stories
You have endless hours to talk, share your life story. You listen to theirs. They listen to yours.

You learn things about them and yourself you would never normally have the time and intimacy to tell. "Childhood ... Marriage ... Divorce ... Bereavement ...

"Past jobs. What I did. What I should have done.

"Don't tell anyone. Success and failure. Dreams."

Midlands
In England we went crusing along a canal with a friend called Phil in the Midlands. He wanted to see his friend who retired to live half the year on a houseboat. We made up a foursome.

Picnic Food
The deal was that we took food and drink. He provided the boat. So we took along a copious amount of good food and drink, leaving our car in the car park by the pub at the departure point.

To our surprise, our food and drink was just for the hours on the boat. We started with the canal boat owner, more time and money spent at the pub. Have a drink.

Why? No preparation nor washing up. Hot food. The best place on the canal, why he had chosen that as our start and end poing. Order while waiting for our fourth friend to turn up on the motorway jam. We needed two to release the boat from the moorings and our fourth friend was familiar with it, not likely to fall overboard when untying the knots in the rope or chain.

After a while our fourth arrived and after a jolly lunch we left for the canal.

Pub At Night
In the evening we came back to the same pub. What had seemed like a simple, downmarket, dusty, half empty pub at lunchtime felt like a lovely warm and welcoming return home in the evening.

The lights shone through the darkness. Never mind the outside. The sound of laughter and the samll of food.

Inside was candle-light and cheer. The night hid the dusty corners. The pub was cosy, familiar welcoming, staff we knew. The toilet location we knew, no longer an unerving surprise. Pictures on the wall we recognized and now wanted to know more about. Regulars we hailed like long-lost friends. The buz of chatter.

Firm Friendship
Our friends, new at lunch time, like strangers not seen for years, were now close as family, their whole lives familiar to us.

Norfolk Broads
Long ago we went on the Norfolk broads. Invited by a friend called David. Again, by the end of the three hour afternoon our friends not seen for weeks had become very close.

Norfolk is now no longer just a place on the map for me, but like a forever childhood home, always with distant memories revived as we look at maps or drive past familiar names.

So, now I come to think of it, I do care about canals. More about the plastic in the next post.
If you are interested in the waterways, visit the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, UK.

Interesting and Useful websites
Canal clear-up
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-48516745?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g1118256-d3183144-r144069111-Ring_O_Bells-Marple_Stockport_Greater_Manchester_England.html
visitbritain.com
https://www.watermuseums.net/museum/national-waterways-museum/

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

Covered Walkways Encourage Walking To Stations In Singapore - please copy worldwide

Problem
I am about to go about but it's pouring with rain. If I'm feeling flush, I phone for a taxi. They are all busy. Uber provided a cheaper alternative. Now the private car alternatives to taxis have started pricing according to demand. Should I stay at home?

Answers
The nice thing about a good government is that it thinks ahead to what the citizens need and want and how they act and supplies their needs for the benefit of all. Sir Stamford Raffles famously built the 'five foot way', covered areas over pavements alongside the shop houses, as you can still see in parts of little India and Duxton Hill.

In those days many people walked or worked in the five foot way. Even today the shopkeepers put their trays of goods between the pillars and an old man with a sewing machine sets up shop out of the sun under the covered way.

Along came cars and careless city planners. Up go high rise buildings with no shelter for pedestrians, just cliffs of concrete and brick. In England Sough has roads like tunnels which pedestrians have no shelter from rain or sun, no ground floor shops, no refuge from heavy vehicles exhausts or splashing from big buses ploughing through dirty puddles splashing the payments (Americans say sidewalks).

However, the good news is that the planners in Singapore have considered how to get people out of cars and back into the new railway stations being built all over the city.

Last Spring 2017 I saw the covered way being built from the new Cashew station up the hill. A local resident told me it was to protect children from the local school walking to the station. Now I can see that the programme is extending to help adults and with a different purpose, not just to protect pedestrians from rain, but to change habits and to make walking to the station an easier option.

Reports say that the good results are:
1 More use of trains
2 Less use of cars - less pollution from road traffic, fewer traffic jams, faster road journeys for cars, and buses (and delivery vehicles and tourist buses)
3 Less use of buses means the same effect - plus fewer delays as people board and alight so quicker journey times.

I hope that the planners in Harrow will change their minds about are allowing giant towers of concrete alongside narrow pavements.

Disadvantages of Narrow Pavements
Cuts down the chance of expanding the road width later.
Claustrophobic
Exposes pedestrians to pollution
Pavements so narrow you cannot use a pram or bicycle without forcing pedestrians out into the road and preventing parents from holding the hands of children or the elderly.

Advantages of cover
Pleasanter to walk, run, or jog.
Shelter from both sun (exhaustion and melanoma cancer).
Shelter from and rain inconvenience and damage (wet clothes, dye running onto clothes and white paperwork, and wet shoes, soaked newspapers, and spoiled school books).
Shelter for sellers of food and drinks and protection from spoilage of food on sale and your snack pack lunch. (Shop signs in Takashimaya department store's basement food court deli stalls warned as yet uncooked and to be eaten raw fish and cooked fish (such as sushi) must reach home within an hour.)

Summary
Well done Singapore for the new (2017-8) covered ways.
England and other countries please copy.

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

Reminders from Rome and Italy: Rome, Etruscans, Crime, Cutting, Pollution, Police, and Perugia in Umbria

Italy is one of the top ten countries visited by the British and holiday-makers worldwide. So the Italians have been busy promoting at the World Travel Market in London. Rome is pushing for more upmarket customers, especially visitors on conferences, to stay longer than the average two-day stay, because conference goers stay longer, five days average, and spend more.

More Police
Rome is planning to introduce special police to cut down on crime. That's important. For years I avoided Spain and Italy because of my experiences there.

Cutting Crime
Another initiative is to remove one cause of Crime, immigrants who have no jobs and turn to crime as they have no other income. The move is to get employment for immigrants instead of taking the opposite approach which is leaving them unemployed or cording them to give up work.

I have always thought that forcing people to be unemployed (in the UK) is daft. Either send them home or give them work.

Cutting Polution and Traffic James
A second initiative is to cut down coaches or buses polluting and creating traffic jams. The increased charges on buses and coaches entering the city did not please a spokesman for buses, who told me that in many parts of the UK and presumably also Italy as many as five times as many visitors arrive by bus or coach, as arrive by air.

Tourist Tax on Coaches
In response the representative of Rome told us that they were not intending to cut out bus and coach travel entirely, just to regulate it. The changes planned are not only with the tax increase from the current 9 euros on each bus entering the city going up to 25. (If I've got the figures right. If you know otherwise please tell me. I don't think the exact figures matter, just the fact that it's a big increase to deter the buses as well as making money for the city.)

Pedestrian
The other moves coming to Rome include more pedestrian-friendly areas.  How will the pedestrians get around from the coach parks? Some shuttle buses, electric or environmentally friendly, are also in the plans or pipelines.

Rome and Exciting Etruscans
Rome has Etruscan ruins. I'd never understood who the Etruscans were nor cared about them until I went to Perugia and saw the giant cliffside gateway which is the entrance to the city. Looks like tunnelling into the cliffside, but huge! The Etruscans are the natives who fought the encroaching Romans. Either the Roman were more ruthless or better organized or both. Anyway, modern Rome also has underground catacombs, like Paris, as well as Etruscan remains. More on the Etruscans in my next post.

Umbria and its Capital City Perugia
Just a reminder about Umbria and one of my favourite cities, Perugia. The links are
 @UmbriaTourism and #loveUmbria

More updates on Umbria shortly. See my previous posts on Perugia.

Etruscan gateway in Perugia. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Websites and links:
 @UmbriaTourism and #loveUmbria
See my other travel website:
www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Author
Angela Lansbury
Please share your favourite posts.

Jaguar Cars and Jollity, Pollution And Cars Of The Future and Our Dreams

I went out for a jolly jaunt to a Jaguar show room. What lovely cars. The talk turned to old cars, new cars, petrol and diesel.

Problems of Pollution
London has pollution. Now the newspapers online are saying that the mayor of London wants to increase the congestions charge and extend the area covered, with cars running on diesel paying as much as £10 a day. I have heard people saying, "I never go into central London with a car. It won't affect me."

However, one or two hospitals such as Acton are within the new zones, so the elderly who need hospitals and drive old cars and can't afford to buy new ones will be hit by the charges. The elderly are also the greatest number to be hit by pollution, so it is of concern to all ages, not just those working in central London.

In London, England, we did a great job solving problems of pollution in the Nineteen Hundreds by ending the pea-soupers, smogs in winter, by banning coal fires and turning to electricity. Now in 2006, diesel cars are going to be subject to extra charges in an attempt to cut pollution in London.

That is bad news if you own a diesel car. Sell it and buy a new type of car. But who will buy the old car? What if you have a diesel car to sell, as a private seller, garage or manufacturer?

What is going to happen to all the old cars? Will they be moved out of London to other cities, sent to landfill, sit in museums, be sold off secondhand cheaply to other countries?

The consumers and car sales people are miffed because back in 2006 we were told to change to diesel cars. Did they, do they, give out less CO2 and contribute less to global warming?


I went to a Jaguar show room in Watford. They were advertising refreshments. They have a coffee machine and were serving mince pies and chocolate biscuits and toast with yogurt dips. I looked at an old E type Jag and an F type Jag.

Here's my picture of the sales staff in their seasonal outfits. I asked the man wearing the suit and matching tie where he got it from. He said he bought it a long time ago on the internet and could not remember where. What great outfits.

Answer
What should you do as a driver, a private consumer or public company? Buy new cars? One sales person at Jaguar told me that the bigger problem for the Jaguar company is not the individuals buying cars, but the fleet cars. Large numbers of cars are sold to companies. After they depreciate, the would be Jaguar owner, who has aspirations to own a Jaguar car, but would struggle to finance it, can see a glimmer of opportunity getting a car sold off by the fleets when they upgrade after a year or two. You might even be able to buy a demo car which has been not he road for 6 months, used by a sales team.

Stories
Science Fairs and Cars
About three years ago we went to the annual UK science fair which changed cities and was in Birmingham within driving distance of London. We booked tickets to learn about the Range Rover cars and Jaguars.

How do they develop and test their cars? I didn't think I would be very interested in this but at the time and in retrospect it was very interesting. First they design everything on a computer.

Then they take out their vehicle prototypes on the road to test them. The only way to test an all-terrain vehicle is to go on all terrain, right across a country, or a continent, such as Asia or Africa, in the harshest conditions. What an adventure!

Car Factory Visits
The sales person I spoke to this week told us about his visit to a Jaguar car factory. He was impressed by how fast and efficiently robots are used to slot together the parts of the car. Even if a car factory is not open to the public, you may be able to get a tour if you work in the business or are the owner or buyer or one or more vehicles. This is for the true car enthusiast, especially if you are in the area.

Car Factory Films
What a pity they don't show a film of the car being made in the car show room. I am sure that would entertain and attract potential buyers and their families. I think I would be happy to watch whilst my technically minded family discuss the technical aspects. I said I would go home and check out car factory films on the internet.

A Car As A Christmas Present
If you want a no expense spared gift, buy a car for Christmas or a birthday. The car sales room can put a ribbon on your car and attach a Christmas card to the wheel. One year we needed a replacement car. The company had the idea of delaying the delivery until Christmas and putting a Christmas card on the wheel.

Instead of saying, "I can't get you any presents for Christmas, I just bought you a car," the family were able to say, "Look darling, we bought you the car for Christmas!" When asked what I got for Christmas, I was able to say, "I got a car?" (It was a second hand car. And the old one - I won't go into that. I can't even remember. But it made me really happy. It made us sound much richer than we were!

Car Accessories
If you want to buy presents for a car owner, and don't have the cash for a new car, (not everybody has several thousand to spare), you might like car accessories. The Jaguar show room was displaying Jaguar themed gifts including cuff links. I have also seen key rings. You can get gifts ranging from about £5 to £50 and up for many makes of car. Try your local car show room. Or look on the Internet, the usual places such as Amazon and Ebay.


Car Owners' Clubs
Another idea would be membership of an owners club, which sends you magazines about the car you own, or aspire to own, or just your favourite. That will put you in touch with shows and rallies. You can also buy books about classic cars.

Tips
The first step in answering any problem, before making a decision, is to survey the options.
In the same way, the first step in selling anything such as a car, is to get the attention of potential customers.
The first step in marketing, is to find a problem and offer to solve it. Or did a novelty to get attention.

Car Mailing Lists
Jaguar cars sent out an invitation to see new and old Jaguars. I know two people who have, or had, Jaguars in London. One of the London Jaguar branches was holding an event in aid of charity, Save the Children.

Aspirations - Electric and Hybrid Cars
So what is the future of cars? Ford reputedly said that if he's asked the consumer what he wanted, the consumer would have replied a faster horse. Think outside the box.

What about electric cars? It seemed a dream. Now the plug in points are appearing at car parks outside supermarkets all over London.

What about a hybrid car like the Lexis? If the government is going to tell us to buy cars using one fuel, if you buy a hybrid car, you can switch over to go into central London, or when the system changes nationwide. Hybrid cars are made by Hyundai, Lexis, Nissan and Toyota.

Dream Cars - Impossible Dreams?
My latest dream is of a car with an engine you can drop in and pull out and replace in its entirely. So many products nowadays are not worth replacing parts. It's cheaper to buy a whole new one. Yet the old style of classic cars is often appealing. Some of us like vintage. At one time Jaguar were promoting the fact that they have wooden dashboards and their own forest in England supplying the wood. Now all the cars have black interiors which are the latest thing and very modern. But what if you want a vintage car, with the latest engine, faster or less polluting.

The sales person who had visited the factory said it can't be done. But somebody said: "If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert."

Free Rides
When I am in the Far East travelling, or indeed living, I am in places like Singapore where only the very rich have cars, but the hotels have ranks of grand cars such as Rolls Royces outside. So for one day a year you might have a ride in a vintage car, or a brand new glamorous one. Some hotels will give you a free ride when they meet you at the airport. Others makes a charge.

Even if you are not staying in a hotel, you might go in for coffee and admire the opulent car on your way in.

Goodwill
What we like about Singapore is that everybody aspires to own good things and admires good things.

Because it's the dream, you very rarely get envy, or deliberate damage to a good car. In any case the security camera is overhead and the chauffeur is inside, so it would be very foolish and the chauffeurs and owners can be confident that they will be much more likely to attract smiles and enthusiasm.

I remember as a child when I used to see a bride drive past in a bedecked wedding car I would smile and wave. Like train spotters, for car spotters, a magnificent car is a source of joy.

Websites
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3676260/Drivers-diesel-cars-hit-new-pollution-charge-Plan-daily-10-fee-travel-cities.
https://www.lexus.co.uk/car-models/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicle
http://www.jaguar.co.uk/
Photographs by Angela Lansbury, copyright, 2016.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please read my posts on this blog and others, like my posts and share them.
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Fun Facts For Everybody About Formula One, and Cars In California and Worldwide

Formula one race took place in Singapore yesterday, Sunday September 19 2016. Even if you have little interest in Formula one, and cannot see the race or attend it, you must have seen information on it in the newspapers or on TV.
How might it affect you?

1 You can watch the race if you can afford a ticket.
2 You can watch the race on TV.
3 You might have to avoid the area during the race time - I saw signs in advance warning of road closures and I took pictures of the signs.
4 You might have to listen to a family member telling you about the race.
5 You might be wondering whether it will be going ahead (what could stop it - the haze) and if it goes ahead, what's in it for you?
6 You can see pictures of the finish with fireworks online.
7 You can learn about the race and cars and its implications for cards worldwide.

Last year when I was in Singapore we were all worried about the F1 potentially being cancelled because of the haze. Cancellation would have been bad for the Singapore economy. Our friend who goes to the FI race for his birthday would have been disappointed.

Fortunately no haze this week this year - apparently the winds over Indonesia blew away the smoke from forest fires leaving lovely clear skies so everybody was breathing easy in Singapore. However,

FACT 1 DRIVERS ARE HOT
Yes I know that if you are a racing car enthusiast your favourite F! driver is 'hot' metaphorically, but drivers are physically hot. They can be inside a car up to two hours, driving around a circuit, strapped inside a car, going around a race track inside a car at high speed, one short stretch inside a tunnel.
It's hot inside the cars. It's so hot that the drivers have to drink water during the race. Some drivers ask for a reminder message to be sent that they should drink water.

FACT 2 WHEELS ARE CHANGED IN 2 AND A HALF SECONDS
Have you ever needed a wheel change? How long did it take? The F1 drivers who need a wheel change get it done in two and a half seconds.
Did I hear right? Surely that's twenty seconds - under a minute - really impressive.
Not twenty seconds, two and a half seconds!
How is that possible?

FACT 3 HOW THEY CHANGE WHEELS FAST
They have a man in front with the stop and go flag.
Car races in.
The jack - up man or men raise the car.
A team of people for removing wheels. One person with a large electrically driven rotating bolt turner to remove bolts from one wheel; later re-fix bolts on the next wheel. Four of those.
The wheel lifters. On each wheel, somebody to remove the released wheel; and somebody to replace with the new wheel.
After the wheel is lifted off -
The bolt or screw on machinery holders leaps forward.
After wheel is on - Four people raise a flag by each wheel.
When all four flags are raised the man with the stop-go flat raises his flag.
Driver roars off.

At the end the winners are announced and then the fireworks light up the skies.
If you are sitting at home you can see the fireworks on your screen.

It's over. So how does the knowledge of it benefit me or change my world?

One of my friends celebrated his birthday by going to the F1 race. You might buy somebody a ticket for their birthday.

FUEL in F1 cars
The braking in F1 cars is used to provide energy to re-charge the battery. Why? Because it's efficient and the manufacturers and organisers want to be seen as environmentally friendly.

This is the same system used in hybrid cars. They use braking energy to convert into power to keep the batteries going.

Did the F1 and racing car development necessarily cause the development of cars this way? My informant, (a racing car enthusiast in my family) told me that cars for the road and cars for the races were both probably working on the same idea and development independently. It's all a bit technical for me. If you want to know more, check it out on line.

CALIFORNIAN INFLUENCE
The idea of using brake energy to recycle energy for use by cars came from California where the laws about vehicle emissions prompted research and development of the use of less polluting of air from emissions from diesel and petrol (which Americans call gas).

BIRTHDAYS & FIREWORKS
So, now we have ideas for birthday presents, a glimpse of life in Singapore and Indonesia and how one affects another, how California influences cars production and cars on roads worldwide, and how racing cars and hybrid cars on our roads operate. I'm off to look at fireworks on line.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker