Kiwi Toys at Auckland Airport, North Island, New Zealand

 

Kiwi soft toys with long beaks at Auckland airport, North Island, New Zealand. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

How to Show Better Online Meeting Photos Using Zoom

 What do I learn from this photo at Braddell Heights Advanced online meeting? 

Angela, the President, top left, is holding her bee soft toy to remind you that she is busy as a bee. 

She is wearing a collared white shirt to frame her face (or a dickey, or false shirt front) and must remember to look in the mirror she keeps beside the laptop at online meetings to be sure the collar is straight. 

Ban Peng is up close. I see the chat box hand. I had not realised how the hand was visible to sit beside your photo in the mosaic picture of a group. Another discovery which I have learned from him is that you can raise the hand for a photo which draws attention to your picture, identify yourself in a crowd, and show support for the meeting and organizers. 

Next we have Sam. Thank you to Sam for supporting our club meeting.

The person taking the photo must shout 'one two three so that you know when the picture is being taken. That ensures the audience can sit still to prevent photo blur and keep your hands away from the screen. 

Kin Ng - beaming. If you have big teeth show them. 

Yudi, of learncool.sg. thanks for supporting up. Typically Singaporean, wearing glasses, looks academic. 

Mike, despite being from China, has a photo of San Francisco, which reflects either the developers of Zoom and Manycam or their audience or the best photo they had at the time. 

Jun Xian is making a hand sign, and has his books on display and some photos. His tee shirt matches the wall. Emphasizes his face. 

Lim Tong Lee gives us a double thumbs up but wears a mask to look mysterious. 

Jeff is hidden. Doing what?
1 He could be eavesdropping our meeting whilst being active at a work or social meeting.
2 Having dinner alone or with family. watching us surreptitiously on a mobile.
3 Popped out to the toilet, or doing something even more exciting which I will leave to your vivid imagination. 

We have only 9 in this photo although 13 were at the meeting. You can make a meeting look small or large by getting your family of four to all log on from different mobiles during a meeting.

You might miss out if you let people go for a break and then try to take a photo.

What a lot you learn from just a photo and our analysis. 

Come back to Braddell Heights every Wednesday evening. 
Learn more. On learncool.sg
Bring non-Toastmasters who could benefit from joining, your spouses, family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, people you speak to on the internet. All can benefit. All welcome to join our club. See you next week

Useful Wbsites
Ministry of Health Government Singapore
https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
The Author
Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, London.
Tiarel, Singapore.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product-21713991
learncool.sg

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Hamleys Toys at Heathrow Airport: bus and taxi toys, drawing or drumming

Problem
What can I buy?

Answers
If you have a child in tow, or expect to see one over Christmas, you can pick up some nifty toys at Heathrow airport.

Hamleys
If you missed out on shopping in London's department stores, you have another chance to buy at Heathrow airport.

 What's moving? Happily hop. Mesmerising.

Ok, but how much?

I saw a delightful variety of London and UK souvenirs. I loved the toy taxis and buses.

Christmas stockings, of course. They used to be red. Now you can get green. Where's the blue?

Drum Kit
Right at the front, ready for you to try them out, the drum kit and drawing board. somebody else drumming attracted my attention.

I already have the electronic fold up horizontalI bought one along with a fold up piano for my humorous stand up comedy act. A drum kit would be great for a child, or teenage, a composer of music or songs, an adult wanting to relieve stress. On the other hand, if you want to sleep, do yoga, or even cook without distraction, somebody else drumming away could be a nuisance. No point in giving children or adults, whistles and musical instruments and drum kits unless you are happy to hear them playing away day or night, and you are confident it won't annoy the neighbours. If so, go ahead.

To good an opportunity to miss. I must say that about £20 seems a reasonable price.

Drawing Board With Concealed and Revealed Colours
Their other try out kit was cheaper, about twelve pounds something. A children can draw on an black plastic imitation slate and reveal the colours underneath. If that stops them drawing on the walls and keeps the sitting on one place, it has to be good. Whatever is drawn on the board can be erased, corrected, replaces. No mess.

That's just four toys which caught my eyes. soft toys, taxi toys, bus toys, sound toys, jumping toys, a drum kit, a drawing board, a Christmas stocking. There's lots more. Just the thing for last minute shopping.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Service Station Entertainment: Sculptures and soft toys

I stopped at a motorway service station on the M1. Here's my picture of the entrance. Which services was I at? First I checked in Wikipedia.  The list gave two successive Moto services, both of which had Costa and M & S. Then I remembered that I had made a purchase and kept my receipt. I was at Moto Hospitality Ltd, MI, Toddington, Beds LU5 6 QG.

I went into the Services and headed for the toilets. On my way out I stopped to browse in the shops. They were still selling the scarecrow I had bought the previous year and used in my humorous speech in a humorous speech competition for Toastmasters International. 

I was looking in W H Smith for a toy which made a noise. I could not find one. However, I saw an emoji in bright yellow with a smile and hearts. Brilliant. I could use that to illustrate a talk on computing, or the importance of smiling, or Emojis, or Valentine's Day, or Love, or Symbolism, or Emailing. I hummed and thought about the price. 

Then I saw a badger. Larger. Perfect for a talk about wild life, and badgers, or childhood and toys. Nearly £10. I could save money by buying the smaller stuffed toy. No. I had to have the badger. I bought both. 

In a shopping mall or your local high street, you might go away and come back later. No good changing my mind later when I am an hour down the motorway. Besides, I had never regretted nay previous motorway purchases.

I passed the shop selling phone covers. I didn't need one. But I stopped to look and the assistant stepped forward to ask if I wanted any help. Yes, I wanted to know if he sold a red mobile phone cover, like my black one.  Mine stood up like a triangle on the desk so you could watch a film on your phone, look at a photo, or see instantly where you had put your phone. But mine was black and I wanted red. 

The price he quoted was too high for me. It was either £16.99 or £14.99, depending which model. The one I wanted was £14.99, but still double what I wanted to pay. I asked if he had something similar cheaper. He reduced the price by £2 to £12.99.

He opened three different packets to show me. He did not know what was inside. I suppose there are many kinds of phones and several kinds of covers for each. He seemed quite surprised by the different features and was as interested as I was comparing the different brands.

I said I didn't want to buy as they didn't suit and thanked him for showing me.

I glanced around and caught sight of a spiral collapsible car bin. At about £5, or £5.99 or £6.99, it was tempting.

Sculptures

I was leaving the building, pretty happy with myself, when I stopped in the front area to look back at what seemed like a modern version of Stone henge. When I looked closer, walking around, I discovered what looked like a group of stones was a couple of sculptures resembling tree trunks carved into goblins.

An interesting stop on the journey, part of the pleasure enhancing the holiday. Sculptures. Soft toy souvenirs.

All photos by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

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