Your Favourite Photo? Pick your favourite from other people's. Sort your own photos by themes.

Fishguard Bay Hotel, Wales. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

A classic picture with a frame from trees meeting overhead. I had to run back along the road to the right spot to create this view.

A photo contest prompted me to look back at some of my favourite photos. What are your favourites? Can you make a montage? Or group the best ones?

Food and drink which tells a story. Madeira wine in Madeira. Photo by Angela Lansbury

I thought it was a British red postbox. But it is a Spanish or Portuguese one in bright red, known as pillar box red.
.

Snow. Andorra. Sharot Family.

Outside in the gardens of Singapore. Palm trees and fountains. Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Red carpet entrance and Christmas decorations. Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I like the way the musical instruments made of glass are celebrating on the gallery.

I know he is only a plastic blowup snowman, absurdly in the tropics, but he looks so jolly that he makes he smile.

The colours of the ceiling change in rotation. Singapore.

Madeira. Triangular traditional houses. Now shops.

The blue bridge. Singapore.

The delightful drink dominates.

At New Year, the universal new year, it is good to look back or forward. For Chinese New Year, to plan ahead. 

How to sort photos? I was shown how to do it by the head of the New Zealand national photographic club years ago. 

Logically, list chronologically in numerical order. Add lists which group photos by theme, such as countries, and/or cities, or subjects such as museums, nature, people, family. 

You find each picture using the generated numbers, which could include the year, perhaps after a decimal point. For example, if you went to Edinburgh for New Year's eve and took a photo, it might be listed under Edinburgh 1.31/12/2000. The second photo you took would be 2.31/12/2000. Or the year and then the number. Edinburgh: Year 2000. 1 Castle. 2 Scotsman in kilt.

 Another list might be Castles: 2000.2. Scotsman in kilt.   

Nowadays you can group photos on pages by theme on Instagram and in Pinterest. Or start blogs by subject. I have a blog on travel. Another blog covers myself in Dress of the Day.

Useful Websites 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-10473005/The-stunning-winning-images-2021-Travel-Photographer-Year-awards.html

 About the author of this blog post

Angela Lansbury

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

Some Singlish Sort Of English - to baffle Brits, amaze Americans and embarrass or enlighten English speakers

When I first arrived in Singapore I was often confused.

A lady on the Singapore airlines plane to Singapore told me, "I live in a house with a garden which is good because of have tree children." 

I wondered how many children she had, and if they were all tomboys who liked climbing trees. 

I asked, "Boys or girls?"

She replied, "Two boys, one girl."

I exclaimed, "Three children."

She agreed, "Yes. Tree children."

Then I understood. Three.

She told me, "My brother is in Australia. He has tree houses. He lives in one, rents out the other two."

For an instant I had visions of her brother building a tree house, very big, like Robinson Crusoe. Must be in construction. Building a tree house as a home or guest house. Then renting out two more. Interesting business developing. Then I realized he was the owner of three houses. He was probably well-to-do, but not the eccentric millionaire, the ecologically minded man I had imagined.

I phoned my other friend in Singapore and asked, "When can we meet?"  

He replied, "I'm having an off day." 

I said, "I'm a bit jet lagged, not feeling too good either, so we would only make each other miserable. Why don't we meet when you are feeling better. Tomorrow?"

I was really worried when he said, "I want to meet you to die."

He meant today.

I eventually heard, "I am not working to die. To die is my off die. I am working tomorrow."

 

Another friend met me at a shopping mall and called a taxi to take us elsewhere. She said to him, "Thank you, uncle."

Afterwards I said to her, "I didn't know your uncle was a taxi driver. Did you call him specially, or was it just luck that your uncle picked us up?"

She looked puzzled, "I don't have an uncle who is a taxi driver."

I said, "But you were chatting away to him and when we out, you said,'Thank you, uncle!"

She told me, "We say auntie or uncle to strangers of an older generation who are friendly."

"Ah," I answered, "In England we do that when we are children. But not from one adult to another."

Here are some phrases you may think you hear, and what the speaker means

Phrases and Pronunciation

Singlish - English

cannot = I can't / you can't / it can't be done / it's not possible/ no/ nope

drop off = drop out (of an online event)

even = even if

kampong = (Singapore) village (primitive - cleared by government upgrading, but friendly, remembered nostalgically by residents now living in modern skyscrapers)

Kiasu - competitive, getting ahead, pushy, fear of being left behind eg getting first into lift, overtaking and pulling ahead into your lane on the near empty motorway, determined to be first

la = (exclamation) yeah/ yup / really/ is that so/ definitely/aren't you/ isn't it/don't you think so/amazing/hilarious

loyal = royal

off day = day off

off the light = turn off the light

team = theme

tree = three

uncle = friendly person of an older generation, not related

English - Singlish

bad hair day = bad day

day off = off day

drop out = drop off

even if = even

I can't = cannot

off day = bad day

one-upmanship = kiasu

royal = loyal

team = theme

turn off the light = off the light

three = tree

uncle = brother of your mother or father

village = kampong

Useful Websites

https://singlishbible.fandom.com/wiki/Genesis_1

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is British and a Singapore Permanent Resident. 

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is Vice President Public Relations of Braddell Heights Advanced, and Tampines Changkat Advanced,  speakers training club which are part of Toastmasters International. The USA has several Spanish speaking as well as the English speaking clubs. You can pick up Spanish from buying or reading online their Spanish clubs welcome pages and manuals. 

In The USA, UK, Singapore and worldwide, there are many clubs which are English speaking, as well as Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Tamil, Malay.

The inauguration of Tampines Changkat Advanced was Tuesday 29 2021, online on  zoom. Their meetings are on the fourth Tuesday evening of the month. They hope to hold meetings with a few people meeting physically, the others online, as soon as the Covid-19 conditions allow.

You can find the club through their facebook page as well as through Toastmasters International find a club. 

https://www.facebook.com/tampineschangkatadvTMC

The meetings are free for visitors. Visitors can watch, and join in speaking by introducing themselves and volunteering to do a 2 minutes impromptu  speech in table topics.

If you wish to join for a year, it costs about 190 US dollars, to have monthly meetings online, a mentor, a magazine, and one of the 11  Pathways, consisting of 14 projects. Each project starts with 3 speeches of your choice of subject, lasting 4 to 6 minutes, then 5 to 7 minutes. The Pathways include the most popular Presentation Mastery. I chose  humorous speaking as my second Pathway, costing 20 dollars. Then my third was a leadership course. Come and see for free.

The club also has meetings in person in Singapore

You can also contact my other club, smaller Braddell Heights Advanced, which is a cosy little club with more chances to speak.

Login through bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha 

That will link you through to Zoom or googlemeet. 2 pm to 5 pm.

BHA meets the first Wednesday evening each month, starting at 7 pm Singapore time. 

Then an extra meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 pm Singapore time.

To check your time zone,  

https://24timezones.com/difference/singapore/ 

Meetings will be on Wed July 7th and  Saturday July 17th.

Contact either of these or other clubs through Toastmasters International Find a Club.

Correct British English - Especially Helpful for Speakers of Chinese (Mandarin) and Singlish

UK flag

I teach English to English speaking people and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

What's the difference between English as a Foreign Language and English as a second language?

If you teach English as a foreign language, you start from scratch with the grammar. And vocabulary.

If you teach English as a second language, the students can make them selves understood, sometimes misunderstood. They often cannot be bothered to read grammar which they did years ago in school. They want to correct their pronunciation and to work out why nobody understands their intonation, although their vocabulary can be huge. They may be translating word by word from another language such as Chinese which has a different sentence structure. lacks the a and the, and has fewer tenses.

What I hear - What I would say and you should say in Correct English

B
I am boring - I am bored (boring is active, what you are in the process of doing to others, and how they feel when listening to you, whilst bored is passive, how you feel when listening to them)
I am never boring - I am never bored

I
I would like to introduce you - I would like to introduce to you

N
Narrative (Emphasize the first syllable. The middle a is short, like in a man, not ay as in pay.)

O
Off the light (Singlish) - turn off the light (the verb is required in English)

S
sword (the w is silent)

T
(the) team of the evening - (the) theme of the evening

This my first time - this is my first time
(a) Toemaster - (a) toastmaster

Tortoise (pronounced taught-us, short u like er, not taught-iss)

Useful Websites
Menti.com
Zoom
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
learncool.sg
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8262085/College-student-shocked-professor-read-private-conversations-Zoom.html

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.

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.

See other posts on speaking, singers, statues, languages and destinations.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Why Flowers and Colours Are Good Themes for a fancy dress at a conference, birthday or anniversary party

Flowers was the theme of the fancy dess night at Writers' Summer School. Flower dresses fitted the surroundings, full of flowers.


The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Best theme ever. In previous years we had themes relating to eras, and the same has happened at personal anniversary and birthday parties. To find a Fifties or Sixties dress or outfit requries lots of advance preparation, or spending on hiring a complete suitable outfit. But a theme such as flowers means people can select modern clothes on the theme, a man's shirt, too, and flower garlands, and headbands.

Other easy to follow themes are colours, such as red and white for Chinese National Day, Red and white or red, white and green for Christmas.

Another colour theme could be colours of the rainbow.

Useful Websites
https://www.facebook.com/pg/SwanwickWriters/posts/

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

Singlish and English Misunderstandings

Angela Lansbury with the Singapore flag. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Singlish Problems

Singaporeans often translate from Chinese (Mandarin) into English, word by word, instead of taking the meaning of a sentence or idiom. A British English speaker has to work hard to understand the meaning.

Singlish Solutions 

You can buy books on Singlish from book stores in Singapore and on line and probably find them in Singapore libraries.
Big dictionaries and Reference sections of libraries have books or chapters on English grammar and spelling and common errors.

Singlish Stories

White Here
A shop assistant directed the Chinese girls, all size 6 or 8, to small cubicles on the left and sent me, size 16, to a larger cubicle on the right. She said firmly, "White here."

I had heard that in Chinese foreigners were known as big noses. I wondered why white people, who wore larger clothes were sent to different cubicles. Maybe so they could find the person wanting the larger sizes. When she returned and thanked me for whiting, I realised she had meant, "Wait here".

Pronouncing L and R

Peasant Frights

On flights to and from Hong Kong the announcers really do say, Have a pleasant fright. Asians have trouble with the letters L and R. Just as I have trouble rolling the letter r in Italian, the Asians have trouble with the letter L in English.

Theme of the Day

At Toastmasters International speakers' meetings, I often hear: "I will now introduce you to the team." I expect to meet the members of the committee. Instead I hear that the team is Chinese New Year. The speaker means THEME.

TEETH and Tongue and English Pronunciation

When I am the Grammarian or Language Evaluator, I ask the audience to say TEETH. I demonstrate placing your tongue behind your top front teeth to say T, and putting out our tongue and pulling it back under your top teeth or touching your tongue three times with your top teeth while breathing out to say TH.

Similes and Metaphors

Similar to and Simile
You are very similar to your mother.
Your dress is like butterfly wings.
Your bride's dress was like a ship's sails.

Metaphor
You are your father.
Her dress was butterfly wings.
The bride was a ship in full sail.

Metaphor Wrap up
Let's wrap up the meeting.

Oxymorons

Howling Silence (title of a book by Catherine Lim).

Phrases
Raining cats and dogs. One of many phrases I had to explain when teaching English to Singaporeans in a school. They don't need to understand the origin of the phrase. They need to understand that it means raining very hard, torrential rain.

Why you should explain jargon
I am a Singapore Resident. I have lived in or visited Singapore every year for two decades. I recognize and understand:
Ni how? (Translation: How are you?)
Gong Xi Fa Chai (Happy New Year - not literally happiness but something about prosperity)
Hong Bao - red packet containing money for children and unmarried relatives or vouchers or discount coupons for customers.
Lo Hei (Chinese New Year Dish of mixed colourful shredded vegetables.)

But many foreigners won't understand Singlish. If you are a tour guide leading a group, a restaurant owner, taxi driver, or speaker in a speaking contest, one person in thirty in a room of people will not understand. They will appreciate a translation.

Anything anybody does not understand is a distraction. They might miss the next thing you say while trying to get the translation from they mobile phone. They might distract you, the speaker, and other members of the audience, by loudly whispering to the person next them: "What did he say?"

If you are in a speaking contest and the vote is divided, one extra judge is the pre-arranged tie-breaker. If the contest has a clear winner, that one person has no vote. But two speakers might get an equal number of votes. You can have as few as five judges and three speakers. The voting could be as low as two each for two speakers, one vote for the third speaker. The result of the competition is decided by the one vote of the tie breaker. If they cannot understand the punchline of your speech, the title, the joke, the dialogue, they are likely to give their vote to the other speaker.

Singlish Misunderstanding Of Lend and Borrow
Singaporeans often confuse lend and borrow. This is because Mandarin has one word for both, bi-directional, a bit like our English word exchange.

Singlish Tips

Use the grammar and spell checker on our computer to edit the draft of any speech or greeting you are planning when meeting people who speak English or Singlish. You can buy books on Singlish.

Author Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury, English language teacher and tutor. I visit Toastmasters Clubs in the UK and Singapore and have tight workshops in China and Singapore on public speaking and English grammar and pronunciation. I also teach individuals as a home tour and on Skype.

Badges At Hotels And Conferences - save them and re-use them

Many hotels and conferences give you a badge, sometimes on a free lanyard. They might ask you to return the badge or lanyard or both so that the organisers can use the items again. Often they cannot use the lanyard again because it has the date of the event, so next year's lanyard will be a different colour, for novelty, or to go with a new theme or venue, and with a different date.

If the badge is not collected, I save the badge in my suitcase for my next trip. But then, I am a hoarder and recycler. Many people are tidy minded and hate clutter and like to travel light and prefer to give back an unwanted badge. But I carefully keep mine.

At my next networking event, if I arrive before the badges are given out, or no badges are given out, I have one ready to wear. On a recent trip I was given a badge in the name I did not want to use. I was at a writing conference and wanted to use my writer's name which was on the books I was offering for sale in the book room. If your name is wrongly spelling, or the badge shows your married name instead of your maiden name or business name, you might find it handy to swap over the cards.

Swapping the cards is also a handy option if the new conference offers cards which are typed and in small writing and your previous card had bold felt tip pen writing which could be seen at a distance. You might also prefer a neat Italic script, rather than untidy handwriting.

If you don't like the writing on the card you have been given, sometimes you can reverse it. If it is double size and folded in half, turn it inside out.

Some lanyards and cards are designed with the name on both sides, so that if the lanyard is put on back to front or turns itself, the writing is still visible.

You could keep a stencil in your luggage or briefcase or the laptop bag if you are likely to want to add your name or company name to a badge.

Failing all else, you can insert your business card, or a return address sticker, on a blank card.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

What's New in Piccadilly: 'Believe It Or Not' Also 'Rainforest Restaurant' In London, by Piccadilly

Piccadilly
I first visited Ripley's believe it or not on a circular tour of the USA on a Greyhound bus in the Swinging Sixties when I stopped at San Francisco. Ripley was a souvenir collector who liked to save anything a little bit different.

Years later I can still remember the ghoulish shrunken skull and a bible the size of a pin. I am not even sure these are what I saw. I have a mental filing cabinet in which I add into empty drawers everything I see which either is or could be at Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

I must admit I have a penchant for the weird. I was thinking of adding to my blog a streamline, such as Angelic and Devilish sites and scenes. Or Angela's weird and wonderful travels.

Now, tourism is reversed. Americans and other tourists can come to London and see Ripley's Believe Or Not here. Everybody goes to Piccadilly and that's where you need sunglasses to see the sunny weather which may surprise you for five minutes in winter, all day in summer. On dull day's and nights Piccadilly is lit up at night like Times Square and you won't need sunglasses except to look at neon lights. I wear light sensitive trifocals. But if you are lucky enough to need glasses these would be just the thing. They symbolise you won't believe your eyes at Ripley's Believe It Or Not, London.

Believe it or not, these purple sunglasses, a souvenir from Ripley's Believe It or Not, don't do anything magic like the smart glasses, but they are actually practical, and have UV 400 protection CE marked on the front. If you are near Piccadilly in London, stop at Ripley's. At the very least make time to read their promotional pictures.

Would you rather see and read about fake skulls than real ones? Right opposite on the other side of Piccadilly is another surprise. Family fun and food. Rainforest Cafe. .Jungle theme, with birds and bits and bobs at every turn.

Peter Pan meets Toddler Tarzan meets Beatrix Potter meets Ripley's. It's what Hamlets toyshop should have for a kiddie cafe. Oddly enough, children seem more interested in the food. It's Mums like me more used to McDonalds which ceases to surprise who love Rainforest Cafe. Something to keep adults amused. Like a junior version of Trader Vics. More fun than Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas.

I first saw a Rainforest Cafe in Singapore and loved it so much I liked to walk past even when I had no time to go in. So I was devastated one day when redevelopment closed off the building and turned the area into a building site.

Now for the good news: It's in London. A themed restaurant full of animated parrots and amusing jungle scenes. Now in London, central point, central park for themed cafes.
www.therainforestcafe.co.uk
facebook rainforestcafelondon for a cafe

You can't remember everything, so if you haven't been to either or both of these for a while, it's time to go back. There's either something new to see or it will enchant you yet again.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.