Personal Alarms, Prices and Scams

Problem
How to keep yourself and your family safe from attack. Pepper sprays are legal in some countries but  illegal in others.

Instead or in addition you might consider a personal alarm. One type operates with a pin you pull, rather than a button. The idea is that a button could be triggered accidentally, but a pin has to be pulled out.

I always compare prices before buying and check reviews. Amazon usually has reviews of fast-moving products.

If it's a company you don't now or you think there a hard sell to buy now, you might check the company name agains scams.

Angela Lansbury, author.

How your hands pull you forward or upward when swimming the breast stroke

How Should You Place Your Hands, Arms and Legs When Swimming?

Problem
What's the 'correct' way to do it? Does it matter?

Answer
What's correct according to one swimmer or teacher or era might not be correct for another.

In theory you don't even need arms to swim. I've seen international competitions in which an arnless swimming won, propelling themselves at huge speed through the water using only their legs.

I was amazed that they didn't sink, head first.

Several thoughts emerge. (Pardon the unintended pun.)

Arms may cause drag, holding you back.

Your head position keeps your eyes and mnouth and nose in or out of the water.

Speed comes from pushing though the water with either arms or legs or both.

What works is what works for you. I tried moving my hands back against the water. Then I tried pushing my hands diaognally down. Trhe effect is different. Move your hand back moves your forward. Pushing your hands down pushes you upward. When I pushed my hands down, my head came upward.

In many situations you would not want your head coming upward. You would get greater speed with your head half submerged wehnd doing the crawl. You only turn sideways or come up for air every other second / every backward arm stroke or every fourth second / second armstroke. My husband does two crawl armstrokes before breathing.

With breaststroke, the downward push brings your head up. Why would you ever need to do this? Maybe if you are a novice or panic easily and want to breath.

Pulling down deliberately with both arms simultaneously is the butterfly stroke. Exhausting.

Seeing Ahead And Being Seen
Maybe you want to watch where you are going. Maybe you want to be seen, by rescuers or companions or escorts in a boat. Maybe you want to avoid waves which wash into your mouth or face or eyes.

Maybe you want your face out of the way of obstacles, debris, or insects or other wildlife.

Why would you ever want to keep your head under water? To hide. (Like those horror movies, WWII, or River Wild, where you are the hero hiding from the human baddies pursuing you.) To see what is on the swimming pool base, search for items you have dropped or lost. Out in the sea to see the seabed below, to enjoy viewing wildlife, search for lost treasure - with or without goggles.

Try operating your arms like paddles, and see what different effects that has.

You can read about swimming on Wikipedia and see videos on Youtube. The disadvantage of links to youtube is that they are numbers and letters and don't tell you the contents. The wikihow links tell you what you are getting.

Useful websites
https://www.wikihow.com/Swim-the-Breaststroke
https://www.wikihow.com/Swim-the-Butterfly-Stroke
https://www.wikihow.com/Swim-Freestyle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_River_Wild

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker.

How to fix a broken suitcase zip pull

Problem
The zip pull has gone or broken. Why does it matter?
1 It looks unsightly.
2 You cannot get a good grip to pull.
3 You cannot unzip in a hurry at Security.
4 You scratch your hand on the broken part.
5 You might yank the zip and break it.
6 You cannot padlock together the two zip pulls which meet in the middle or pull to both ends of a double ended zip.
What can you do?

Answer
1 Swap Pull from same suitcase.
In theory you could remove the one from the outside pocket, if you use that less often. Use it to replace the missing or broken zip pull on the main zip.

You would have to be very careful not to break, lose, or be unable to reattach the replacement zip pull it to the main zip.

2 Twist Ties
Use a twist tie to extend the zip pull. Where do you find a twist tie? Look around your possessions and everybody else's. Even the bin in a shop - ask if you may look in a bin. They will probably save you the trouble and just hand you one.Even a grocery store may have twist ties or plastic piece you can glue onto the old broken key.

3 Add An Additional Zip
Glue on another zip. You can leave the old one inside. Or cut it out - after you've checked that the new one works.

You need a heavy duty zip. Most long zips in shops are for dresses and are light weight.

You can probably find heavy duty tips on old items in your attic or basement. Look in the spare room or the unused shelves overhead in your spare room or your own bedroom.

Yes, it's a shame to destroy an old bag. But you weren't using it.

What are you saving it for? In case the whole thing or part of it is one day needed? Today is the day that it is needed!

I've even found discarded shoulder bags, kiddie rucksacks with stains or crayon marks, and abandoned old suitcases, outside a block of flats in Singapore. They appeared on a regular basis. Old or dirty. Torn. But all had working large heavy duty zips.

3 Repair Shop
Go to a suitcase repair shop. You run the risk that they will tell you it cannot be fixed, or must be left for a week, or will cost more than a new case. They may try to sell you a new case and ask you to leave behind the old one which they will dispose of.

This happened to me once. I suspect they will either repair and re-sell or use it for spares and save the zips and handles and inner pockets and wheels and elastic inside clothes ties.

If you leave it behind, to be thrown away, make sure you save any attached keys and padlock. Also check the inside and outside pockets for items such as your passport, toothbrush, whatever.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on zips, repairs and suitcases. Please share links to your favourite posts.