Updates on the birthday gift, olive tree, sent from overseas to the UK, and alternative orange trees

Olive tree delivered in the UK by Marks & Spencer. Photo from Sharot family. Copyright.

My family didn't seem too thrilled with the olive tree I sent as a potted plant. It was from Marks & Spencer. I clicked on as a gift but the next box as message didn't operate and I didn't know if it was saved.

The item did not appear to arrive with a red ribbon or card or growing instructions. 

Size

However, my family member gasped, "It grows to eight foot!"

It wasn't shiny leaved or prettily arranged like a bouquet or brightly coloured like a potted orchid it a much lower price.

Fruit

I was a bit worried about the olives having stones which could be dangerous for my grand-daughter aged under two years. But it does not fruit until five years. By then she will be six. Besides, my family member admitted, "Most of my plants don't last beyond three months." 

Learning Experience

At least they get to learn about olive trees.

At last I found the supplier of what I really wanted, a miniature orange tree for the UK. The cost is

Useful Websites

UK olive tree and add on chocolates. Another option is add Prosecco.

Marks and Spencer

UK orange tree

https://www.marksandspencer.com/olive-tree/p/flp60178572

glut.co.uk

https://www.glut.co.uk/products/the-orange-gift-crate 

Singapore olive tree

https://leafmeupsg.com/olive-tree-singapore/

Delivery from May 5th

https://www.marksandspencer.com/royal-afternoon-tea/p/hpp60625094

Singapore

Good enough, from thirty or forty dollars. (You could send chocolates from a supermarket separately.)

https://floralgaragesg.com/product-category/under-50/page/2/

Better but more expensive, from 60 or 70 singapore dollars, adds mug with your photo, or chocolates.

https://www.fnp.sg/gift/picture-mug-money-plant-combo?OCCASION_TAGS=birthday&pos=10

Crocs - Why I Love Them

  I love Crocs. They look ugly and clumpy but they are so practical. 

Firstly, they do not cramp your toes and deform your feet like fashion shoes.

Secondly, they fit. The rotating strap is slightly tighter in one direction than the other.

They are quick to put on. If you have the rotating strap facing forwards, they are slip ons. Pull the strap back and they are secure around your heel.

You can wear them in the rain.

They protect your toes from hitting against objects. They cover your whole front foot from sun to prevent cancer of the upper foot.

If you get them wet, they are quick to dry. 

If you get them muddy, you can wash them off.

If you want real Crocs, look for the Crocs logo, the crocodile.

If you can't afford them, you can get cheap imitations.

I don't care about the add on charms.  But if you like them, you can individualize your shoes.

I like only one style, the flat ones with the rotating strap. Definitely the flat ones, not the silly heels.

I find them pricey. I also like the cheaper imitations.

Useful Websites

DAILY MAIL 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11354739/Crocs-rock-worlds-ugliest-footwear-spent-20-years-winning-fashions-shoe-snobs.html#newcomment

UK

https://www.crocs.co.uk/on/demandware.store

SINGAPORE

https://www.amazon.sg/s?k=crocs+usa

WIKI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocs

USA

https://www.crocs.com/

Eastern Europe Phrasebooks in 12 languages - Which book do I need to buy and why?

When I was planning a walking tour of Bulgaria with a group of friends, I looked for a Bulgarian phrase book. I could not find one but made a happy discovery, a 12 language phrase book from Thomas Cook called Eastern European, which started with Bulgarian and ended with Ukrainian. that saved buying and carrying 3 or more books for a trip, and space on my bookshelves.

I ordered it through Ebay but suspected the book would not arrive in time for the holiday in Bulgaria. Meanwhile, my husband took a trip to Stanford's Map shop in London, England, and bought the Lonely Planet phrasebooks Eastern European. It started with Albanian and Bulgarian and ended with Slovak and Slovene. (Who knew!)

I was right. The Ebay second hand copy of  the Thomas Cook book did not arrive in time.

The Lonely Planet book was small and bulky, so most of the time I left it behind in the hotel bedroom, because my backpack was already heavy with a bottle of water and an umbrella, and food for the day.

When I arrived home in London the small thick postal package was on the mat. Was it a duplicate phrasebook. No. A different publisher, different languages, and different layout and information and size.

Now that I have both I can compare them.

LANGUAGES
Both books, from Lonely Planet and Thomas Cook, cover these languages:

Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Hungarian
Polish
Romanian
Russian
Slovenian

The Eastern Europe book by Lonely Planet also covers
Albanian
Macedonian
Slovak

The Thomas Cook book also covered
Estonian
Latvian
Lithuanian
Ukrainian

So, if you were doing a one country trip to Albania, the Eastern Europe book by Lonely Planet looks more helpful. Also a driving or multi-country trip around Eastern Europe.

However, if you are going to Ukraine, or north of The Netherlands around Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, countries which are close together, you might opt for the Thomas Cook guide.

Dictionary
The Lonely Planet book has a mini-dictionary for each language. In very tiny print.

Colours
The Lonely Planet book's pronunciation sections are in colours, a different colour for each language, which makes it hard to read late at night or early morning at home, though perhaps less of a problem when you are aout and about in sunlight.

Maps
The Lonely Planet book also includes a map of each country.

Readability
The Thomas Cook book is easier to read, larger print, black on white.

Solving The Weight Problem
If you are visitng only one country, such as Bulgaria, as I did, you might need only the Bulgarian section. I thought, what is more important to me, a lightweight language section to carry with me, or a pristine book which I do not use? I decided to try to cut the Bulgarian section out of the book. However, we did not have a Swiss army knife because we had travelled to Bulgarian by phane and knives are not allowed on planes for security reasons.

I thought of trying to bend and break the book. I was astonished how tough it was and how securely the pages were fixed. No luck with breaking open the book by hand.

Removing Pages
I considered trying to tear out the pages one by one, but without a knife or scissors that would be messy. You can make a neat tear in newspaper by folding paper back and forwards over the same spot
If I had tried this at home before leaving, I might have been able to cut the pages neatly, cover the front and back with protective white card to stop it getting creased in my backpack or packet or handbag out in restaruants in the evening, and stapled the pages together.

Photocopy?
The other option was to photocopy just the section I needed for that trip. Getting the book to lie flat was a challenge and creased the spine.

Now I have two books. The Thomas Cook book arrived too late for my Bulgaria trip but will be useful when I go to Ukraine to visit my ancestral city called Lvov,Lviv, Lemberg - my great grandfather on my father's side was named Lemberger.

Ukraine Trip?
The group will not plan a trip next year in 2020 because the political situation in Ukraine seems uncertain. In addition to the possible danger, some people might decline to book for fear or losing their holiday or their money and the orgnizer does not wish to waste time organizind a trip which might get cancelled.

Multi-Language Comparison
A surprise bonus was that I decided to read the brief introductions to all twelve languages in the easier to read Thomas Cook book. I found that they are so similar. First the alphabet, once you are even half way to reading Cyrillic for either Russian or Bulgarian, means you are no longer afraid of the other languages.

What also became clear is that Romanian is the easiest language, with lots of borrowed words from French and Italian or Latin. For example, in the pharmacy, from the Thomas Cook book I read that stomach is stomac, diaree in Romanian is diarrhoea.

Humour For Language Learners
I enjoyed the Thomas Cook introduction to Estonian, which sounds easy, no a or the and no use of gender for nouns, so no trouble matching adjectives to nouns either. The Thomas Cook book added:
There are only four tenses, one present and three past. Estonians do not believe in the future!

I got a lot of fun reading a selection of phrases creating an imaginary nightmare trip for the hapless traveller, growing increasingly desperate as one problem piles on another:
I am waiting for my husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend. ... What time is it? .. What is the time for my flight? How long is the delay likely to be?  Is my rail pass valid on this train/ferry/bus?

(The poor traveller is getting increasinly anxious, trying every possiblibilty. We would like to sit together. (Sorry, mate, not on Ryan Air. However, we were able to switch seats to be together in June 2019.)

Back to the things that Thomas Cook 12 language phrase book will help you to say:
Where are the lockers? I have lost my locker key.

I must direct them to my book How To Get Out Of The Mess You Are In. Have a decicated small pcoket for keys. Attach Velcro or a button and loop or ribbon so nothing falls out of jacket paockets. Check all your jackets for inside pockets and keep your valuable passport and key there.

However, for emergencies, use the 12 language book.

Losing and Finding The Essential 12-language Phrasebook
What happened to me? Of course, in an emergency in Bulgaria I could not find the Lonely Planet Eastern Europe phrasebook which was somethere in my luggage. The book was too bulky and heavy to carry and not needed in transit to the destination. Was it in the carry on bag outside pocket, the inside pocket, the corner of the suitcase. If not in the suitcase, it must be in the the outside pocket of the backpack, You need to have your phrase book in your jacket in a pocket on your right, if you are right-handed, not lost in a pile of other necessary or vital items, but in one pocket dedicated to nothing but the book.

BOOKLIST
Thomas Cook Eastern European 12-Language Phrasebook. UK price 6.99. ISBN 1-900341-77-8
Lonely Planet phrasebooks Eastern Europe 4th edition USA $10.99 UK 5.99 ISBN 978-1-74104-056-2

Free internet courses:
Duolingo.com

Memrise.com

I also use Duolingo - although despite finishing the German course I had trouble understanding my German-speaking friends.

I said proudly to my husband, "I am a polyglot. I read books on 12 languages."

My husband retorted, "No. A polyglot is a person who writes books on 12 languages."

Look on the bright side. At least I have writte a blog post on twelve languages - and you have read a blog post on twelve languages.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages, home tutor, workshops for colleges and businesses, online teacher.

Mobile Phone tripods - price, flexibility and size

You can record yourself giving a speech as a practise run, and on the occasion of an event.

Use
I saw a mobile phone tripod used by others on a desk to record speeches. It could be used by the phone owner and by others.

The tripod can be used for your phone, or loaned to a friend, or kept in the club box or suitcase for use by whoever is speaking at each point in the next meeting.

Size
A small tripod is usually adequate on a desk, but needs to be tipped upwards quickly to get in the head of a tall person. Fiddling with rotating screws is a nuisance. They can't be changed in a hurry. You might dis-assemble the whole thing. You could drop the phone and make a noise and risk damaging the phone. Your discussion, (such as, "Does this knob turn clockwise?") comes out on the video.

I like the idea of the flexible legs. Especially in jolly red.

The one sold on line cost about nine dollars.

Singapore Market
In a Singapore market (at Chong Pang for Chinese New Year) I saw one for 7 and another for 12. (Yes, it might be Singapore dollars, or American dollars or Euros - or a marked price - or a market seller might jack up the price hearing my foreign accent).

Online
When the one ordered on one arrived, it was a Rollei Monkey Pod, twice the height I expected, twice finger to thumb outspread, instead of once finger to thumb outspread. That's too big for a jacket pocket, bulky in a handbag.

Savvy Shopper
But worth keeping. I shall now go back and look at the market and see if they have a smaller one.
You could consider these points when browsing or buying.

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

How To Choose A Cut Out Card in Vietnam And Elsewhere

Flag of Vietnam.

I loved the Vietnamese cut out cards. They are everywhere in Hanoi, north Vietnam. Street hawkers display them on trays. Shops in museums have them. 

Xmas and holiday souvenirs

Creative types and collectors would like to buy and give one showing Vietnam scenes, or receive it or keep it as a souvenir. The green trees and parcels designs would be good to keep in your box of leftover Xmas cards for next year.

Birthdays and Weddings

You can find cards for birthdays showing a cake; or weddings with a couple embracing. If you don't see what you want, just ask. 

Ask

I did that out of desperation at Hanoi's airport. It was my last opportunity. What do you know - the seller had a stack of them under the counter and hunted through until he found what I had requested.

Transporting Cards When Travelling

The cards are small and fold flat, easy to pack. 

How can you protect it from getting dirty and creased? Cards are usually sold in a protective transparent envelope which keeps the card clean. You can keep one safely flat between the pages of your holiday reading, a folding map or guidebook in your bag.

Size?

I once took a small but exquisite card to a friend's birthday lunch. My card looked a bit small next to the other large cards standing in a row on display.

My family consoled me: 'The other cards are big and bold and plain. Yours is different, like you, small and cute.'

For posting, small is sometimes better and cheaper.

However, if you want a card to compete with other cards, it may be worthwhile paying extra for a larger card. If they are all the same price, pick a bigger or taller card which, in a crowd of cards, looks impressive.

For hotels
booking.com
Comparison site:
https://www.clicktripz.com/rates/search/index
For airlines
travelok.com
vietJetair.com (Comprehensive list of budget airlines in Wikivoyage.)
For transport
https://www.grab.com/vn/en/

Language
Duolingo.com 
(Remember to click on the sound symbol to hear how words are pronounced.) 

Author

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

Toilets? Can't find them? Airport's super size signs

Airport toilet sign, Terminal 4.Changi airport.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Can't find a toilet in the airport or shopping mall? terminal 4 at Changi Airport in Singapore has the answer. It's these new super size illuminated toilet signs. Other airports and shopping malls, please copy.

Travel Tips

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

australia.com

visitbritain.com

visitbritain.shop.com

visitbritain.org

visittheusa.co.uk

visitsingapore.com

Singapore Airlines: 

singaporeair.com

Author

Travel writer and photographer, Angela Lansbury.  

Teacher and tutor of English and other languages.Please bookmark and share your favourite posts and websites.

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/?

Ordering a taxi to the airport

Problem
What will it cost? Will it arrive on time: What could go wrong?

Answers
Preparation is key.

NAMES
You need to know the name of the person being met, the name and phone number of the taxi company, and the name and phone number of the hotel.

The taxi company needs to know name of person being met (especially if your name or company is different or unknown to your visitor). For privacy reasons the customer might not want their name shown. To prevent rival taxi firms claiming a customer, some taxi firms display the name of the hotel instead.

HOTEL NAMES
For this reason you want to remember the name of your hotel, especially if it sounds similar to others. You don't want to end up at the wrong Holiday Inn in Phoenix, as we did. Phoenix had two holiday inns, and I think at the time of writing in 2107 Phoenix has five holiday inns and if you or I read this years later the city may have more. I have also ended up at reception at the castle hotel in a city in Wales, when I was staying at the more modest Castle View hotel.

FLIGHT NUMBER AND ETA
You need to give the airline, flight number, city the flight is coming from, and estimated time of arrival. Most taxi companies will be watching to see which flights are cancelled or delayed. You could have a problem at either end, with the plane, the mechanics, an accident, a bomb scare, the airline, the weather, the politics, the country, the airline staff, pilot sickness, a drunk pilot, the air traffic controllers, delays offloading luggage.

TRAIN AND BUS ALTERNATIVES
Know the alternatives. If the shuttle buses or trains stop at midnight, or there's an accident stopping all traffic on the motorway, you might need an Uber cab or grab cab (Singapore) or the all night bus (UK).

BOOKING DETAILS
The taxi company will want to know which terminal. They will probably expect to pick up at arrivals.

However, you might be at Departures. If you take a different lift or shuttle bus. If you have gone with family of colleagues to their airport and are coming back, or went to do plane spotting, or sit in cafes. People used to visit Singapore's Changi airport, before the advent of the numerous large shopping malls. Changi is a state of the art airport with shopping malls, an orchid garden, and a free butterfly garden.

Taxi or M a x i
I typed m a x i and spell checker turned it into taxi. Watch out for this if ordering a cab using fax or email or text. You might need a m a x i size if you have skis, several passengers plus their luggage, are urging back a large object, or are relocating overseas.

MEETING POINT
Establish a meeting point. The taxi might meet you with a sign as you walk out of the arrivals hall. Or at a meeting point inside. Or outside in a car park. He might meet you inside the airpot on foot and take you on a long walk to the car park.  You may wish to designate meeting by seating, or a recognisable shop or cafe or the luggage.  (Eg, we will be sitting inside Costa, a man and woman with two babies and a pushchair and an elderly lady in a wheelchair, skis and four purple suitcases. )

Signs vary. Your driver might be wearing a green turban and carrying a green frame sign with the hotel name printed in large typeface. He could have a hand written name on a piece of A4 white paper. Or he could be holding the hotel's address card. Or wearing a tee-shirt with the taxi company name.

You might also be told to look for a large white taxi.

Story
This year, 2017, in Cambodia, we were surprised when our hotel sent us a driver who raced two of us dragging our wheelie bags across three car parks to the main street where he had parked his tuk-tuk - a motorbike pulling a small contraption with a canopy, like a doll size four poster bed! I had to hold onto my hat to stop it blowing off in the breeze. Air con? It was open sided. Seat belts. Nope. Just cling on. I laughed hysterically all forty minutes of the drive. I am still laughing hysterically thinking about it.

Enjoy your flight, and the journey.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several posts on packing and all aspects of travel and designations including Italy and Cambodia. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Anti-chafing lace bands for thighs?

Problem
It's too hot to wear tights, but when you go bare-legged your thighs rub together. What can you do?

Answer
I thought it was just me, that I was overweight. But judging by the reviews on Amazon, lots of people have this problem. On Amazon I found two sets of products in the lower price range which I consider affordable. But I also looked at the dearer ones.

The reviews seems to say of some products:

SIZE
They are too large.
Therefore they soon fall down.
You could sew them tighter.
Or send them back and ask for a refund.
Or ask them to send the smaller size.

I was surprised at this, Usually I find items ordered from the internet, especially from Asia, are too small. Lots of websites from Asia carry warnings Asian sizes. To me this suggests that they have had lots of complaints from people in the West or Western body shapes which are larger.

HOLDING UP OR FALLING DOWN
The anti chafing bands with only one band of silicone will hold either top or bottom but not stay in place. Moral buy the dearer ones with two bands of grip.
One customer warns that if you have problems with hold up stockings you are likely to have problems with these.
Other customer implies that you could hold them up with the use of a suspender belt.

DO THEY WORK?
One customer said they worked well. Another said her pair caused chafing, being of stiff lace?

Any other alternatives?

DIY
Shave daily so that you don't have unshaven legs rubbing each other.

Wear leggings.
Buy leg warmers. Roll them up from the ankle. Of cut off the lower half.

Cut down old trousers which have frayed at the cuff or worn at the knees and wear them as an extra undergarment. Cut to above the knee, or to the length which suits the garment you are wearing on top.

take a long slip and sew it up the middle.

Wear fishermen's pants / trousers (wrap around pants or trousers). In the Uk we say trousers; pants is the word used in the UK for what Americans call underpants.)

Buy short johns or pantalettes or p a n t e l e t t e s or culotte shape underwear.

Wear thin silk shorts under your skirt or dress.

I found the sort without an extra inside gusset piece rub you with the seam, or split at the seam. I have resolved to sew in an extra gusset on new garments. Where do you get an extra gusset? Cut the thongs off a pair of thong type underwear which is too small or never gets worn.

Cut short a pair of old tights. Edge with ribbon or lace to prevent fraying and look elegant.

If tights are too hot on summer holidays, or business travel or living in the tropics, or give you thrush, you can order ope crotch tights.

Buy a band of street lace to make your own. Or sew the lace band onto French knickers.

Lanacane anti-chafing cream.
Vaseline.
Baby powder talc.
Big underwear from plus size shops.
Cycling shorts from cycling shops and websites.
Chafe ese.

Tips
I wish I'd found the word chafing before. I did a google search using the word chafing and found anti chafing gel from Tesco, costing £6.

From ebay I found Jasmine bandelettes.
I even found Lady Lace Pocket Anti-Chafing Thigh Bands for keeping your mobile phone or other items.
From about £5.
Lace pockets in three colours, black white and neutral, from about £2.
I ordered a pair in red, and black with a pocket, from two different suppliers. I'll let you know the results.

Bandelettes Elastic Anti-Chafing Thigh Bands – Prevent Thigh Chafing
https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B014MIBRKM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_paging_btm_5?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews
https://www.amazon.co.uk/xhorizon-Elastic-Anti-Chafing-Prevent-Silicone/ When I looked they were only £5.99 with free postage.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2648922/Can-end-curse-summer-thigh-chafing-FEMAIL-tests-products-DIY-remedies.html

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

Storing Travel Notebooks

Problem
Where to find your notes from your last trip?

Answer
Typed and printed pages from your computer and hand written notebooks with your maps and travel items in one shoe box. Some items will be too large. Include an index of items and directions to the larger items. Label shoe box on all sides.

Label the front and back of each notebook with the date and location.
Number every page in the notebook.
List the details of hotels and museums in an index in the cover.

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and author

Having Trouble Emailing Your Trip Videos?

Problem
I have been taking videos at Toastmasters International meetings but I've had trouble emailing the videos, although I can usually email about three or four photos through Gmail.

Answers
Dropbox. You have to join it, which is free. Then you upload your photos and somebody else down loads them. The videos are kept on the website for about 30 days. By this time you should both have a copy.

Story
Thumb Drive
Our first solution was a techie member of my family decided to copy the photos onto a thumb drive. If you don't know how to do it, ask somebody else and video them telling you what to do. If you know what to do and you are teaching somebody else who doesn't get it first time, make them a video of the instructions.

Shorter Videos
I was having rouble sending videos by email. This week I tried videoing shorter chunks, each about one minute. The very shortest one of about 45 seconds went through by email. How long is the video? How big? The message telling you that the video can't be sent will tell you.

What's WhatsApp?
Then somebody I videoed suggested that I send photos using WhatsApp. You down
load WhatsApp for free. If you are looking for the symbol on your phone later, it is green.

Tips
How big is too big? Your rejection message will tell you. I received this message:
Your message has size 116.5 MB, which exceeds 35.9 MB, the maximum allowed by the server.


Using What's Ap to send a photo when you are still in a group is much quicker than my previous method, which was copying photos from my phone onto a lap top and then emailing them from home. You can send the videos to somebody whilst you are out and about taking photos. Much quicker than trying to find photos of a particular date and person later.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Follow me and see my profiles and posts on Blogger.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. My books are on Amazon.com and Lulu.com . Please like my posts and share them.

How to shower after an accident

In Cyprus on a travel press trip I and fellow travel writers were being shown around the nearby landmarks before rushing to lunch. I asked to take a photo of something we passed. The driver said he couldn't stop because there was no parking. He double parked and I opened the car door to get out and take a photo. he then saw a car pull out just ahead creating a space and keen to capture the opportunity accelerated. My foot dragged on the ground. I shouted. He stopped. My foot was bleeding.

He insisted we went to hospital, which was the right decision. When we reached hospital I was told I needed a Tetanus jab. When did I last have one? Within the last year, the last ten years? I could not remember.

It's a good idea to list all the jabs and illnesses you have had and keep the record on your computer and/or in a printed out list in the folder of vital information in which you keep your passport which travels with you on every trip.

Because I could not be sure, the hospital decided to give me another jab, since having two was no harm, they said, just costing me time and money, whilst not having the jab if I needed it, they said, would be a health risk.

They bandaged me up and told me not to shower or swim for three days because I had to keep the bandage dry. I had a three day business trip in a grand hotel with a swimming pool.

When I got back to the UK, I went into my local chemist (with a pharmacy - in the USA known as a drug store) stocked a First aid Microporous tape, asking for a bandage or better still a smaller Elastoplast (the brand name used universally in the UK - known in the USA and elsewhere as a sticking plaster). The assistant offered me a choice of plain or waterproof plaster, but as the sticking plasters were too small, sterile wound covering, a roll of (sterile?) bandage and waterproof tape.

I later asked a hospital worker why they did not issue this as standard. Was it because they could not be sure the tape would adhere in water and they wanted to avoid complications or being sued? No. The reason was cost.

However, if I took in my own supply, the hospital nurse would use it. The cost was minimal. It was certainly worth my while spending under ten dollars to be sure I could swim - and shower, on holiday after a minor accident and skin abrasion.

The cost is small and the item is so small that it is easy to carry and store. You may never need it. I hope you and I don't. But that's the joy of first aid kits. If you don't need them, great. But if you do, you are prepared.

For several months afterwards I traveled with the small box of Microporous tape, for my own use; also to offer to a hospital if they needed to bandage me. I added it to my first aid kits in the car and kitchen.

In theory, if a hospital or first aid post or doctor gives you a bandage that is not waterproof, you could cover it afterwards with waterproofing. Check first with them that it is safe to do so, because your skin cannot breathe after you add the tape.

But even if you put the tape on during a shower or wash, to protect your wound from splashes when doing household chores such as washing dishes or clothes, or even outdoors, on a boat, or in a downpour of rain, or walking in sandals through puddles, you might find it useful.

If you are poor and obsessive, as I was at that time, you could buy just one and carry it in your bag or move it from place to place. If you are a control freak and want to look after the world, more like my situation now, you could get yourself a business name and cards, buy a dozen wholesale, place them in three or four places, one in each bathroom, in the kitchen and car, with a second set for your granny or grandad or son or daughter, and another set for any accident prone family member, friend, or your workplace.

Packing List
First aid kit
Waterproof plasters
Waterproof tape
List of dates of jabs and inoculations especially tetanus jab

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microporous_material

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author speaker.