Easy German and Immersive German and hotel requiests.

 I and two friends are all learning German. I am using Duolingo. One of my friend who has a German speaking parent has his laptop and phone set to German.

Some easy new words I have learned

German - English

altmodisch - old fashioned

modern - modern

More Challenging German - English

Anzug - suit

eng - tight / close (for clothes, think engaging)

More Challenging English - German

English - German

modern - modern

old-fashioned - altmodisch (remember to use s c h  not sh nor ch)

suit - Anzug

Words which I might find useful in a hotel

der Teppich - carpet

der Boden the floor die Decke the ceiling das Fenster - the window lautes Zimmer noisy room ruhiges Zimmer quiet room größeres Zimmer big room kleines Zimmer small room Zimmer mit Doppelbett Room with a double bed Zimmer mit zwei Einzelbetten room with twin beds

Fleck auf dem Teppich - stain on the carpet Kakerlake im Badezimmer cockroach in the bathroom Spinnwebe an der Decke cobweb on the ceiling Spinne am Fenster - spider on the window eine Fliege - a fly eine Mücke - a mosquito Ich brauche Fliegenspray - I need a flyspray Haben Sie etwas gegen Insektenstiche? - do you have sting relief

Ein Zimmer mit schöner Aussicht - a room with a better view Blick auf den Swimming pool - a view of the swimming pool Weniger Verkehrslärm - less traffic noise

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

translate Google

  Where can you learn and practise speaking German? 

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You can use German in Germany, Austria and German-speaking parts of Switzerland.  Also Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and parts of Belgium and Italy.

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Flag of Liechtenstein.

-ends-

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Indoor Swimming Pool At Mayfield Club flats to Buy in Watford and Brent Cross

 I have been on the mailing list for Mayfield Club for some time. They invited me to see their property. I had been avoiding it, thinking it was a hard sell for a care home. We are not yet old enough for care homes. But its a good idea to know them before you are too gaga to make the effort to visit and to express an opinion.

No, Mayfield is not a care home, it is a retirement complex, which is for people over 55, but it is an American style or Singapore style complex with a building containing a small mini supermarket for food and toiletries and a swimming pool, and activities such as aqua lessons.

Indoor swimming pool at Mayfield.

 As we drove into the what seemed to us remote and isolated area we were initially disappointed by the building sites surrounding the area, and the complex itself, of dull straight line looming tower blocks, and the full parking area. 

We eventually found a parking spot when somebody left. The complex was holding a Christmas Fair. The stalls had hats, shoes and jewellery and Xmas themed decorations. We had arrived too early for the event of mince pies, though there was a cafeteria where we could have bought food, but we had a dinner to attend the other side of London,, so we had a quick look around before leaving.

I managed to see the little supermarket or minimarket, which had the basics you might need, as well as the swimming pool, the long thin type. Not to deep, to my relif. In Singapore many apartment complexes and hotels and public pools had scary deep ends. I am not a strong swimmer and want to be in a pool where any passer by who does not swim could step in and pull me out in a hurry if necessary. Equally, if somebody else got into trouble, I would like to be able to reach them. )(In Singapore I had to call the guard to throw in a heavy lifebelt, and get another child to swim to it and push it to a drowning boy in the deep end.)

 What does all this cost? With a search you can find the prices online, for a one bed flat or a two bed flat. The one beds have all sold out in Watford. I don't know whether they are more popular or whether there are fewer of those. We would like a bigger property with room for a study for each of us for laptops and shelving for books.

At the Christmas Fair I got talking to Christine who makes lovely handbags. She enthused about the complex and said she and her husband had never previously had such a busy social life. There are activities every day. Such as a bridge club which presumably meets once a week or once a month. There is a residents room which suggests that other rooms are open to family and friend who are visiting, or peopel who are staying in the hotel style accommodation for visitng family to rent for a night or a week, I'm not sure the terms.

They have a daily bus or twice a day, which takes you to a local supermarket. 

The club includes more than just a swimming pool. You also get a gym and other facilities.

I have family nearer into central London, so I am more interested in the complex being built in the Brent Cross area, which is nearer to central London.

Of course all this programme of activities and shuttle buses is not free. Like membership of a country or town club, there is a monthly fee, a commitment. But you would not need to join a gym outside your own complex. The other residents would be in your age group. It is for the healthy over fifties, not a care home for people in wheelchairs, who are likely to develop Alzheimers, and keep talking, singing, shouting or sit staring into space, which was the situation when we visited some of my extended family by marriage. My parents never ended up like that, so I hope I will remain able to talk coherently right through my life.

This organization seems to have only one functioning property and one being built. However, I hope it will inspire many more.

I shall want to go back to see a show flat, its size, and get a better grip on the terms of the financial commitment. In a normal block you would probably be paying a maintenance charge for porterage, upkeep of grounds, repairs and upgrading to the buildings, and common parts such as the electrics, plumbing, gardening, insurance, and so on. Is that part of the club or is the monthly club fee for the acitivies and is the mainteance of the building a separate charge? Other expenses might be your garaging, for one or two cars? What about cleaning and laundry? Eating out? Some blocks in London have a restaurant in the building, a fine dining restaurant. Singapore builds complexes with a row of shops and services, so there is a children's playground , for grandchildren visiting, to keep them away, but could be noisy for nearby flats. 

Singapore complexes are mini cities around a central green. But the private complexes hae swimming pools. The public blocks, you are expected to take out membership of the nearby public pool, which might be huge. A swimming pool in your complex is usually open all day every day, except when shut for holidays, events, such as Chinese New Year dinners around the pool, and maintenance., and fogging  which is anti mosquito spraying.

UK properties are at risk of rats and foxes and squirrels and in your attics birds or squirrels. If you want to know the risks to your property, check advertisements for local pest control firms. 

The Singapore complexes will have a doctor or dentist or clinic as well on the ground floor. In the good old days, in private blocks, the porter would note the identity of all visitors, and take in parcels and deliveries if you were out when the delivery came. Later that was stopped. 

Singapore had laws about putting bars on balconies to stop people falling, and to stop animals jumping or falling on people below. In the early days, people moving in from the village kampongs, would bring their rabbits and chickens and keep them on the open to the air indoor and exterior corridors. I imagine this is gradually being phased out. Some blocks ban cats and dogs. However, the latest legislation coming in 2006, will protect the tenants right to keep pets unless there is a good reason not to. I understand that good reasons could be that the leaseholder is already banned from allowing renters from owning pets, or that the flat owner has allergies. I wonder whether you could ban cats and birds if the building had a pond with goldfish. In Singapore we had fish in outdoor ponds on the complexes where we lived at Cashew Heights. People with birds and dogs kept them on leads when walking. The modern idea is to put cats on leads. 

In Singapore we experienced invasion of cockroaches, monkeys, and otters at the swimming pool.

What about the building itself. Is it liable to flooding from the nearby river? Is the flat roof likely to end up a source of leaks, and ripping down the outside walls from gutters causing mould, and a horrendous cost of scaffolding to replace or repair gutters. Window cleaning for the block? Part of maintenance? Fire escapes? 

Pets. I prefer not to be annoyed by barking dogs left home alone, or barking at visitors, and wandering cats which urinate and scratch furniture not rarely but on a daily basis to sharpen their claws .

Main Advantages Of Mayfield

Main Disadvantages of Mayfield

Perfect Place For Parrot Lovers, Hotel Hana Lodge near Rotorua, New Zealand

 We had arrived in Auckland, a major seaside city on New Zealand's North Island. We slept off jetlag staying with friends for a couple of nights before driving south. Hotel Hana was our first hotel stop  near Rotorua, famous for its erupting hot springs.

As we drove up the drive to our hotel, a rabbit scampered across into the grass.

Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

An impressive, imposing, fun and friendly hotel, isolated at the end of a long drive through trees and bamboo, to a building with a grand staircase. 

To the side of the hotel is an outdoor pool. It was cold and some insects had settled, but we enjoyed the outdoor spa bath.having lifted off the lid, and the two person sauna, having switched it on during the guided tour from the manager. 

The outdoor area had towels. No shower but the compact house hotel was conveniently alongside. 

Our bedroom's en suite bathroom had amazing tiled floors. The hotel was full of colourful paintings by an artist inspired by Chagall. If you had a large holiday or investment budget you could buy one. The paintings were for sale

Sculptures were scattered through the grounds giving the whole place a surreal feeling. 

Best of all were the parrots in human high cages on the front slope.

The rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Sculpture at Hana Hotel. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Anything the hotel could or should add? Maybe showers by the sauna. And the outdoor pool could do with heating and daily cleaning with suction hoses or a greenhouse style cover with anti insect doors. 

The food was fabulous. Except for soup being too salty, but that was instantly replaced with an alternative starter. The croissants at breakfast were dry. 

However, you can forgive a couple of little glitches with a quirky hotel, obliging, chatty, friendly, informative staff - and those wonderful, beautiful parrots!

Waterside Hotel, Trinity Wharf, Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand - water view delights and swimming safety

 

 

Infinity pool with ladder at the deep end. Photo by Angela Lansbury.  Copyright. 

We loved our bedroom at the Trinity Wharf Hotel, Tauranga, on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

We were on the second floor (the ground floor being called first floor), of the three storey hotel on the waterfront. The name Trinity Wharf is named after the three wharves.

Sea water means you will see boats and birds. The boats are static. But the birds are constantly moving.

Best birds

Three birds trotted along the ledge outside our balcony.

New Zealand farmers don't like birds which demolish the crops voraciously and have to be scared off with noise machines and lasers and restricted by nets. 

However, we tourists are entranced, mesmerised by birds. Watching them is better than TV. As the birds stroll left and right, it's as engaging as watching tennis at Wimbledon.

They even drank the pool water. I searched online and managed to identify black backed gulls.

The only disappointment for me at the hotel was the swimming pool. 

Lovely for strong swimmers.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

We always try to book at hotel with a pool so that I can get my daily swim. At this hotel, I didn't.

The pool looked good. But it was small, with a deep end and the only ladder was at the deep end. My husband said, "It is just round rungs, not flat steps, so don't risk it."

I could not see a convenient overhang enabling me to pull myself along to the shallow end after letting go of the ladder, or getting puffed out or panicking half way along.

Besides, I am the feet and inches generation. I could have mistaken 1.5 metres for being shallow enough for me. I am the wrong side of five feet. 

Even if I survived, it would have been stressful.

I told another guest. 

He commented, "It's a safety issue."

I mentioned it to the front desk. They said, "There is nothing we can do."

There are five things they can do. 

1 Call a contractor to add a ladder at the shallow end.

Move the ladder from the deep end to the shallow end.

2 Install two ledges or steps, semi-circular, around the corner of the pool.

3 Make a spa bath with a step and barrier in the shallow corner nearest the hotel.

4 Mark the base of the pool to separate the deep end from the shallow end.

5 Put a rope along the edges so you can pull yourself up at the shallow and deep ends, all pull yourself along. 

6 Put a rope across the middle of the pool separating the shallow end from the deep end, and/or paint the base a different colour.

7 Raise the pool so it is all shallow.

8 Have a life guard and assistant in attendance to help people in and out and ensure their safety.

9 Install a video camera.

10 Have a lifeguard in the hotel on call for an emergency.

11Display the number to call for assistance displayed. (All pools in Singapore have the numbers of ambulance displayed by private pools. I think it must be a requirement or insurance or government regulation or both.)

12 Have a life ring on the wall. 

13 Have resuscitation instructions on the wall.

14 If guests complain, send a note of apology, a voucher for a free cocktail, or champagne and chocolates or more biscuits

Biscuits

That reminds me. A plus point. Biscuits on arrival. One for each of us two guests.

Buffet Breakfast

The buffet breakfast was great. Perfect scrambled eggs. Danish pastries which looked dry had a moist apple puree centre.

In conclusion, if you wanted to swim in the hotel pool from the shallow end, like me, a total disappointment. If you are a strong swimmer like my husband, a great hotel.

However, after using the bedroom's bath which had spouts I felt mollified. The hotel has many types of room. We had chosen a room with a sea view.

On balance, a lovely hotel with great water views of passing boats from the dining room.

We had booked through booking.com where my husband leaves reviews.

Floating Tram in Wuppertal, Germany and Visit Engels House Museum, Communist Manifesto Creation

 The floating tram is in Wuppertal, Germany, on the north coast of the country.

The name Wuppertal comes from the river Wupper. Tal means dale.

Let's start with where is it. North Germany.

The city has steep streets, green parks including a sculpture park, and several architecturally interesting modern buildings.

Steep Streets

Green Parks - Sculpture

A memorable landmark in the colourful figure of eight, flat roof, junior university building. 

The orange tower.

The Lawrence Church

Church, Germany.

The swimming pool

Swimming pool, Germany.

Ilisenturm

Elisenturm, Wuppertal, Germany.

Engel's House

Photo and caption from Manos in Wikipedia.

A museum you can visit. Very opulent, capitalist looking house. 

Family home, of Friedrich Engels, who jointly with Marx wrote the Communist manifesto in the swan restaurant in Brussels, Belgium.

Another modern building, the New Burgische Synagogue.

The city is twinned with the Shonan monoril in Japan.

Shonan monorail, Japan. 

You can find monorails worldwide, in Singapore, and East London in England. But the suspended monorails look more challenging for the builders - and nervous  passengers!

Pina Bauch Dance Theatre

Pina Bausch was famous for her dance groups which improvised and did unusual theatre. One well-known performance had the dancers with blindfolds. Dancers served tea from trays to the front row of the audience. 

Her groups performed worldwide, including ain the cultural Olympics fbefore the Olypic games. Other danced in a forest of leaves falling about them, or on soil underfoot. After she died, the group continued.

More information from

Useful Websties

Suspended railway in Wuppertal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn?

Visit Engels House in Wuppertal, Germany

https://www.mi-wuppertal.de/en/news/guided-tour-engels-garden#:~:text=After%20the%20guided%20tour%2C%20you,is%20included%20in%20the%20price.

Wikipedia Wuppertal

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

Monorail in Japan

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Shonan_Monorail

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Somerset Bencoolen serviced apartments, Singapore

Rooftop pool. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

We stayed in three different rooms in the serviced apartments. We wanted a kitchenette rather than restaurants serving meals at hotel prices. We also wanted the space of a lounge as we were busy working rather than holidaymaking. We had one work station space with a dining chair in the bedroom and a round dining table and phone sockets by the bed.

Walk in closet. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Room 1

Our first room had no balcony and was too small for entertaining.

Room 2

So we moved to a larger more expensive room with two bedrooms and lots of space. We had breakfast on the balcony.

The location is brilliant, across the road from exit A of Bencoolen Station. If traffic is busy or it is raining exit B is a few yards away on the same side. 

Room 3

After a side trip to Thailand for a long weekend seeing family, we returned to a small regular size room with no balcony

 Room 1204 A did not have an en suite shower room but instead had an entire walk in clothes closet.

Reception

Newspapers are on the central table. You can amke yourself tea or coffee.

Plenty of seating while waiting or if somebody drops in to see you.

Lift Lobby,Somerset Bencoolen. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Security

Very secure. The lift operates only after you swipe a card. So your visitors must be accompanied to the lift. Strangers can't just hop in alone.

Swimming Pool

The swimming pool is shallow enough for you to stand. A separate Spa pool operates with the touch of a button. Towels for the area are provided. (Rooms don't have robes. Take your own, or wrap yourself in the hotel's bedroom towel.)

Parking

There is a taxi and drop off parking place marked outside with seats next to it. A parking area at the back has free spaces for motorbikes.

Service

They have 24 hour reception. When I phoned down for a sewing kit, it came up quickly. You can leave luggage in their secure room opposite the reception desk.

Useful Website

https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en-gb.html?aid=311984&label=somerset-bencoolen

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The modern hotel at Theth - and our hiking base in Albania

I loved our hotel at Theth. Theth is tiny.  Hotel Kulla e Bajraktarit is isolated on a mountain road. An oasis. The name means castle of Mr Bajraktarit. 

I had trouble remembering the name. First, I got, castle, how cool is that, K as in German Cassel for castle. Then I remembered a badge, and rack up a bill (for raki, the local brandy strength drink), finally tarith, or tar (gravel) road (w)ith ..." Baj- rak-tar-it. i put the hotel room key and address card in a conference name card holder on a lanyard around my neck.   

Let's start with what I liked most. 

The Spa

The hotel was isolated, but with an indoor spa, open from 10 am until 10 at night.  The swimming pool water was cold for some. The pool had a Jacuzzi in the corner and once you worked out that you had to tread on the blue light on the floor to activate it, that was great. The sauna was downstairs, and a steam room. I loved the refrigerated cabinet of water, all with herbs in the large water jars. Also, while using the spa, we got chatting to other hotel visitors from overseas who were users of the spa pool area or sauna.

Reading Corner

Upstairs by the window are a couple of sofas. And a sideboard supporting books to read. I read through most of a novel (the start and end).  Then I read most of a book of short stories. 

Big Breakfast With Honey Yogurt

Breakfast included yogurt and honey and fresh fruit and fried eggs and boiled eggs, sausages, and domed pancakes to which you could add the runny honey. And freshly squeezed orange juice. On a couple of occasions, latecomers found the yogurt in served in drinking glasses had run out. One member asked and got a spare one. I didn't. The next day, I was earlier.

Delicious Chocolate Birthday Cake

My husband had a birthday and we asked for a birthday cake. The cost was 40 euros. The cake was large enough for 30 pieces for our group. We were all delighted with the chocolate and cream cake. 

Beautiful Beds With Perfect Pillows

The beds were so comfortable, and the pillows were perfect.  

We took Wizzair from Luton to Tirana, the capital of Albania. The early morning start meant losing a lot of sleep. So we really appreciated relaxing and supportive beds. Thick mattresses. Soft overlay. 

Tip One For Travellers - Pack Hangers

A couple of warnings to other travellers, or a return visit. They provided bath robes and slippers and shampoo etc, but only two hangers per person. So do take a stack of wire hangers from dry cleaners. We thought of buying hangers. No supermarkets for miles and only the sorts selling bottles of drink and crisps. Sometimes I pack all my clothes on wire hangers for quick unpacking and repacking.

Tip Two - Toilet Roll Holder

 The other lack was a toilet roll holder. The lovely Fiona on the desk, whose family run the hotel, assured me that toilet roll holders were on order. But the hotel has been open 18 months and still no toilet roll holders. 

If I returned for an extended stay, I would pack one of those wooden racks which hold a kitchen roll. The sort which flatpack into a dsic of wood or plastic as a base, and a screw in vertical stick. Actually, I got used to reaching forward for the toilet paper. Or taking a piece of paper from the roll first (like in many Singapore public train station toilets where the toilet roll is outside the cubicle. But other guests were upset. One friend kept telling me how she had knocked toilet rolls off the shelf under the basin onto the floor and sent them rolling in the watery floor.

Front or back room, and is a balcony helpful?

The front rooms overlook the car park and the road.  Could be jollier. Less claustrophobic. The back rooms overlook the mountain. Can be quieter.

Balcony - we paid extra for a room with a balcony. The balcony is not big enough to sit, only to stand. All the same, it is less claustrophobic to be able to step out for a moment. 

All in all, we were happy with the hotel. More about the hiking in another post.

 

Sunny Singapore - has cool pools, cool drinks and cool restaurants. Why visit, what to eat, see and do?

 

Skyscrapers, palm trees, cool swimming pools in a condo, Cashew Heights. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

What to see

If you don't get beyond the airport, try to see the multi-story waterfall in Jewel, a shopping mall in a former airport car park, now a dome.

Staying airside, you can visit the airport's free multi-level butterfly park.

 

One train stop away from the airport is Expo for exhibitions. Coming up, travel, hospitality, food and drink. 

Further into the city is the best known pool, the infinity pool on the top of landmark triple tower Marina Bay Sands.

You can pay to go up to the observation deck or one storey higher for a little more the price includes a discount on your first slice of pizza or a cocktail. 

You can book a hotel bedroom and residents are allowed to use the infinity pool.

A tourist in the infinity pool overlooking Singapore from landmark Marina Bay Sands. Photo Sharot family. 

Why visit Singapore? It has warm, mostly sunny weather, cool pools and cool drinks.

Local drinks include coffee from coffee shops and canned coffee, Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The drinks in this vending machine include Groovy Grape, chrysanthemum tea, Nescafe Original coffee, Nescafe mocha, Milo, young coconut juice,and  soya bean.

Milo is Nestle's chocolate drink, originally made healthy with added vitamins to a syrup and cocoa.

Another vending machine sells snacks include Gardenia breads. Singapore has four official languages, English, widely spoken as a first or second language, with the added amusement of Singlish, They say that eating is the chief Singapore hobby or pastime.

You can find food and drink at all prices from multiple nationalities. Sample some of each in a food court, usually in the basement and sometimes on the top floor with a fine view. Singaporean specialities include kaya toast for breakfast - kaya being a sweet, tasty yellow jam which looks like lemon curd. 

Valentine's Day is a big thing in Singapore. Chinese and other local shops and malls don't miss an opportunity to decorate and run special events and promotions.

Every season there's a special festival and lots of food and drink events. When the Christmas lights come down, up go the decorations for Chinese New Year or lunar new year  From Spring Festival or Chinese New Year in January or February (See my previous posts), Valentine's Day, to the Autumn Festival it's non stop decorations, dances and dramas. Chinatown has a series of Chinese celebrations, which are also seen all over the city because the Chinese or those of Chinese descent are the majority of shop owners, shoppers, as well as the visitors from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Japanese Sushi

The Japanese use the same symbolic writing. You'll find a large sushi counter in supermarkets such as Fairprice,. Also look for Japanese restaurants with carousels like a miniature model train track taking plates around the restaurant for you to grab your selection as you sit alongside. 

You can eat all hours of the day and night. Late at night you can book an open air dinner in the Night Safari, then walk or take a train past the places where nocturnal animals are eating and drinking on cliffsides beyond a safety ditch. If your budget is smaller or you need a quick bite, there are 24 hour branches of McDonalds. They often have a seasonal Asian flavour drink or food.

Little India

Little India has an assortment of restaurants, including those serving the Singaporean speciality (Americans spell it secialty), fish head curry, served with rice an vegetables on a green oblong or cut out circle of disposable banana leaf. 

Vegetarians will find lots of options and vegetarian only restaurants, snack bars and stalls in food courts. Watch out for fish such as prawns in the rich and casseroles of the Malay stalls. Read the captions on the pictures or politely ask the stall holder to translate, or any passer-by.

The Indians in Little India, and the Muslims, have night markets with food from stalls and souvenirs and street decoration. Chinatown and Little India are easily reached on the ever expanding MRT underground train system which also goes to Marina Bay Sands and the airport.

Chinatown

Visitors go to Chinatown. If you are short of time, every food court has Chinese specialities you can try at low cost. 

Look for seasonal durian. It smells of sulphur when fresh fruit, in the markets, but tastes lovely when turned into a paste which tastes like a cross between egg and banana in cakes and on desserts.

Even if you do nothing except get a layover at the airport, you will find the airport shops, and supermarkets in town have jars of Kaya and other specialities. 

In Chinatown I was shocked to see snakes bottled in giant jars of wine or alcohol. Snakes are seasonal if you want to try snakes in Asian restaurants. I had snake in Shanghai. It came up chopped into a small circle the size of a fist, with a bone in the centre, a bit like fresh salmon cutlet. 

2023 Event Dates

Chinese New Year is over but you can read my posts and see the lion dance on the Facebook page of Expo.

Feb 14 Valentine's Day. (See previous post.)

Feb 24-26 Expo NATAS travel fair. Friday to Sunday. 10 am to 9.30. Free admission. Hall 5. (Hall 6 is near the MRT train station Expo. Allow time to walk from the underground and up escalators if you have a business appointment or breakfast event. Also look for free shuttle buses. A food court is across the green.

Feb 24-6  Artbox - Dining, crafts, shopping. Entry Fee 6 dollars single admission, one day, no readmission, so you have to buy your food and drink at the show. Seasonal pass 36 dollars. From 12pm (noon) to 11 pm. Last time I went there were great photo opportunities. Some of the craft stalls had sold out of their best or cheaper goods by late on day one or day two.

Mar 3-5. Artbox.

Singapore food Festival

July. Organized by the tourist board.

Useful websites

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

https://www.singaporeexpo.com.sg/events-calendar

Facebook Expo post for Chinese New Year Singapore style with lion dance and lo hei (food tossing for luck dinner dish)

https://www.facebook.com/reel/857227642202738/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Food_and_drink_festival_stubs

See later post on events in 2023

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Swimming Safely & Life Saving Using A Lifebouy and Rope

For the second time I was swimming in the shallow end of the pool and saw somebody in trouble in the deep end. She was in one spot, waving, gasping for breath.

I called to the security guard. He did not answer. 

Later I saw the guard returning to his desk. I realised why he never answered. He had not heard. He had been away patrolling or on a (toilet) break.

Singapore

Afterwards, I told the guard about the incident. The guard speculated: "It's usually caused by cramp."

I swim before meals, not after meals. I drink water before swimming to lubricate my muscles.

I knew not to swim into the deep end, without a flotation device. I tried saving my mother as a teenager in a pool in Spain. 

Spain

I learned that if you cannot life save, you are grabbed around the neck by the other person and within a second both of you go under water.

The Spanish Swimming Pool

The Spanish pool had two incidents in the week or fortnight we stayed there. Afterwards, before we left, they installed a brightly coloured rope just above the water across the point where the shallow end suddenly shelves into the deep end.

Lifebelts

Lifebelts can be very heavy.

I asked the guard to report that the life belts were obstructed and obscured by growing vegetation. He promised to pass on my message.

The life belts are also too high to reach. Too far from the edge of the pool. Too heavy for an elderly person or child to carry. When thrown they don't go far enough because they are so heavy you can only throw them about ten feet, no use to somebody who is twenty feet away.

Looking at the photo again, I notice the handy rope above. Can you throw that, or pull it across the pool? or us it to pull in the lifebuoy when the person has grabbed it?

If the life buy falls short of the exhausted swimmer, you can pull the lifebouy back, and throw it again.

Top Ten Tips - and Lucky 13

1 Fence deep pools in homes and condos and public places. 

Australia and New Zealand

When I was in New Zealand, I visited the post office and read about the postage stamps about fencing pools. Australia had investigated the cause of accidental deaths to children. A big culprit was water accidents, drowning. 

Fencing

To their surprise, the number showed that more accidents happened in unfenced home pools than in the sea. They introduced a publicity campaign about fencing pools and the drowning numbers went down. Whether ponds or swimming pools, or inflatable paddling pools or Jacuzzis, keep them fenced, and escort and watch children. Don't turn your back on them. 

USA

In the USA a fatal accident affected an Indian family who had just moved into a new home they bought. They had planned to fence in the swimming pool. But the accident happened in their first week or two.

Singapore

In Singapore a child drowned in a public pool during a swimming lesson. The instructor was at one side of the pool, checking on one child, back to the other child who was far away swimming to the other side. I noticed that mostly the swimming instructor in our pool gets all the children to swim together whilst he swims behind the last, slowest one. When they are swimming the length of the pool towards the deep end, they swim parallel to and near the wall which they can grab if they feel tired.

2 Arrange rotas of two life guards

3 Install life belts near the water's edge

4 Issue life saving instructions

5 Have resuscitation equipment nearby

6 Train all in your house to swim and life save

7 Learn what to do in a rip tide

8 Understand local warning flags on holiday beaches

9 Recognize sea tsunamis and escape routes signs and directions

10 Keep light flotation devices or anchored ropes nearby

11 mark the change from shallow end to deep end on the pool base when it is empty

12 Cover pools in winter to stop wildlife and pets falling in un-noticed

13 Cover empty pools (so drunks don't dive into empty pools)

14 Display emergency ambulance phone numbers (and nearby life guards' phone numbers)

15 Learn vital words such as 'help', 'swim to the side' in several languages and display them on notice boards

In the USA some states (eg Washington State) have rules about when you should have ropes and float lines. 

For example, this depends marking the change from on the depth of the shallow and deep ends. In order to separate activity areas, as well as warning swimmers. (And divers also need to know not to dive into shallow water where they might hit other swimmers or hit their head on the bottom of the pool.)

"Where a pool has a water depth ranging from less than 5 feet (1524 mm) to greater than 5 feet (1524 mm), a rope and float line shall be located 1 foot (305 mm) horizontally from the 5-foot (1524 mm) depth location, toward the shallow end of the pool."

Words for help:

English

Help

Someone's drowning

Throw the lifebelt

Push the lifebelt

French

Aidez-moi (aid or help me)

Au secours (help/for safety)

German (and Swiss German)

Hilfe

Spanish/Portuguese

Socorro (like succour)

Italian

Aiuto (think of aid, but with a t)

Dutch

Help/Hulp

Indonesian/Malay

Tolong

Welsh

Helpa fi

Esperanto

Helpon

Chinese (Mandarin)	救命啊! (jìumìng ā!)
Chinese (Shanghainese)	救命啊! (qiuming a!)
Chinese (Taiwanese)	救命！ (kiù-miā!)

From Collins Dictionary

British English: lifebelt  /ˈlaɪfˌbɛlt/ noun

A lifebelt is a large ring, usually made of a light substance such as cork, which someone who has fallen into deep water can use to float.

• 
  

British English: lifebelt  /ˈlaɪfˌbɛlt/ noun

A lifebelt is a large ring, usually made of a light substance such as cork, which someone who has fallen into deep water can use to float.

• American English: life preserver  /ˈlaɪf prəˌzɜrvər/
• Arabic: طَوْقُ النَّجَاة مِنَ الغَرَقِ 
• Brazilian Portuguese: cinto salva-vidas 
• Chinese: 救生圈 
• Croatian: pojas za spašavanje 
• Czech: záchranný pás 
• Danish: redningsbælte 
• Dutch: zwemband 
• European Spanish: salvavidas 
• Finnish: pelastusrengas 
• French: bouée de sauvetage 
• German: Rettungsgürtel 
• Greek: ζώνη ασφαλείας 
• Italian: cintura di sicurezza 
• Japanese: 救命ベルト 
• Korean: 구명띠 
• Norwegian: livbelte 
• Polish: pas ratunkowy 
• European Portuguese: cinto salva-vidas 
• Romanian: colac de salvare
• Russian: спасательный пояс 
• Latin American Spanish: salvavidas 

• European Spanish: salvavidas 
• Finnish: pelastusrengas 
• French: bouée de sauvetage 
• German: Rettungsgürtel 
• Greek: ζώνη ασφαλείας 
• Italian: cintura di sicurezza 
• Japanese: 救命ベルト 
• Korean: 구명띠 
• Norwegian: livbelte 
• Polish: pas ratunkowy 

• European Portuguese: cinto salva-vidas 
• Romanian: colac de salvare
• Russian: спасательный пояс 
• Latin American Spanish: salvavidas 
• Swedish: livbälte 
• Thai: ห่วงชูชีพ
• Turkish: cankurtaran simidi 
• Ukrainian: рятувальний пояс
• Vietnamese: đai cứu đắm 

Useful Websites

https://omniglot.com/language/phrases/help.htm

https://lifesaving.com.au/about/what-we-do/lifesavers-lifeguards

https://www.surfsportsforum.com/hand-signals.html

To buy

https://bestpoolshop.com/product/valterra-pool-sign-emergency-life-saving-techniques-cpr-24-x-18-b8710/

https://www.lazada.sg/products/portable-anti-drowning-lifesaving-celet-floating-swimming-safety-rescue-device-wristband-water-aid-lifesaver-for-water-sports-

https://up.codes/s/shallow-to-deep-end-rope-and-float-line

International Swimming Pool and Spa Code

https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/ISPSC2021P2

If you are buying a house or condo, or becoming a landlord or tenant, you might wish to check the code, if the pool complies with it, and the cost of adapting your pool. (Bearing in mind that apart from your reputation, you could be legally liable for accidents if you do not comply with building regulations.)