Travel with Angela Lansbury: snow shoes

Showing posts with label snow shoes. Show all posts

Sunday, January 24, 2021

It is snowing hard in London. London needs ... Singapore needs ... The world needs ... what Canada has and what America and Israel know

I spoke to family in North West London. England. UK. It is snowing hard.

They are in lockdown and can go out only for food. We did a video call on mobile phones. It was just like being in the room with them.

I said, "What you need is snow shoes, like in Newfoundland, Canada".

They can go to hospitals for maternity checkups, or giving birth. If they can get there. What about the family in Singapore? They are enjoying tropical heat. Aren't they?

Singapore

Meanwhile, over in Singapore it has rainy periods on an off in the afternoons. It is pleasantly cool. Not the dreadful humidity and oppressive heat of summer.

The vaccinations for seniors are scheduled to start mid-February.

Many of the older blocks of flats have a maid's room with a toilet, shower and sink. Some people have converted this into a kitchen, and the kitchen into a larger living area or second living room or dining room. I am wondering if lockdown continues worldwide, will we start converting rooms into study bedrooms to let out. Or turn all bedrooms into study bedrooms.

If you are over fifty, you can set up separate bedrooms and separate study areas, whilst you are still healthy, so that if one person is sick or isolated, you can have desks in separate rooms and separate sleeping areas.

What does Singapore need/ What does the world need, if people are going to work from home?

Converting Homes

Homes need a balcony so people can have fresh air, get vitamin D from sunlight. and grow fruit and vegetables.

Corridors need one way systems or dividers.

Store rooms need to be converted into office spaces or meeting rooms, or broadcasting rooms, like one person offices, to protect workers' privacy.

Converting Offices

With so many offices and businesses and shops closing down or having people working from home, will the opposite happen? Offices will have to be converted into dwellings, with kitchens and bathrooms. And a convenience store for food and cleaning materials on the ground floor. Maybe a doctor's office, testing centere and drug dispensary on the ground floor. Maybe a teacher's room, so the teacher can work online and does not have to reveal her home.

But will Covid go on, where, and for how long? Who is looking at the problem, worldwide?

John Hopkins Univerity in the USA has Covid statistics and forums.

Useful Websites

USA

coronavirus.jhu.edu

SINGAPORE

go.gov.sg/gov.sg-220121

vaccine.gov.sg

ISRAEL

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9179677/Israeli-healthcare-group-says-coronavirus-infections-plunged-vaccinated-60s.html

In Singapore 1800-333-9999

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore.

She has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

What's the Weather, Where's My Winter Coat and What's the Time Around the World?

Winter coat from Wish for the British and Northern Hemisphere winter

The joy of the phone and the interent is that you can isntantly connect with family and friends around the world. And aquqintances and colleagues and people in the same field and potential business contacts. You just have to be sure of the time and date and weather.

UK January Cold

For example, last weekend I heard that a relative in the UK needed a new winter coat. She was prepnant and her old coat would no longer fit. I pointed out that you could keep the front the same, but let out the side seams, or keep the side seams the same, and move the buttons. Or leave the buttons for decoration and add ribbons to tie together the two sides. Perhaps with a strip from the hem to decorate a piece of heavy cloth to fill the middle gap, attaching one side to the underside of thebutton side. Nope. She wanted a new coat. The important point was, I now had a memory aid for the fact that it was cold in London, England. Northern hemisphere.

The weather is even colder over in Canada. However, they are not taken by surprise but always prepared.

Canadian Cold

Similarly, in Newfoundland, Canada, in January, they were suffering from cold - not just cold, snowy weather. They mentioned snowshoes in a question in the Toastmasters International speakers' training club impromptu speaking.

Snow Shoes

Snowshoes by Josh from article on Snowshoes in Wiki.

I asked, "What are snowshoes?"

They fetched and held up showshoes.

As I suspected, snowshoes were like skis, but shorter. My Newfoundland friends pointed out, 'also wider'. Snowshoes, as you might imagine, are 'designed to enable you to walk across the top of snow, without sinking in, by spreading your weight'.

What about the time and day differences?

The Sunday evening meeting in Newfoundland was first thing on Monday morning in Singapore. So the acting President in Newfoundland and guests worldwide were greeting each other with, Thank you for joining us this snowy evening in Newfoundland, and sunny morning in singapore, or wherever you are.

In Singapore the weather was pleasantly cool with afternoon showers. Overcast and sunny alternating. Blowy.

If you want to join a club, the club in Newfoundland, Canada, is looking for new members, with a reduced price in January for new members, and the Braddell Heights club in Singapore would like new members or dual members to join a second club and a new committee member, and in Singapore Nee Soon South also welcomes completely new members.

Useful Websites

https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_(platform)

wish.com (for maternity coat)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=buy+snowshoes

toastmastersinternational.org/find_a_club