Portuguese Words for football, garden, goodbye and how to remember a few words which sound similar to English, Spanish and French

 

Flag of Brazil

A few words of Portuguese, with my memory aids

English - Portuguese

and - e

beach - praia

club - clube (just add an e)

day - dia (like diary)

district - bairro

fish - peixe

football - futebol (change the two football letters o to U with two spikes, add an o, drop the l)

garden - jardim

goodbye - adeus (like the Spanish adios)

hello - olá

museum - museu (easy to remember, just drop the second m)

new - novo (like novelty)

old - velho (V like vintage)

or - ou (both start with letter o)

sea - mar

the - a

time - tempo (like temporary and tempo)

yes - sim (like Spanish si but add m)

Portuguese - English

a - the (confusingly!)

adeus - goodbye

bairro - district

clube - club

dia - day

e - and

futebol - football

jardim - garden

mar - sea (like the French word mer, and the Devonshire place name in the UK, Weston super mare, near Exeter, probably the influence of the Normans)

ou- or (both start with letter o)

novo - new

olá - hello (the same as the Spanish, like hello, but the o vowel is first, like holler hello)

peixe - fish

praia - beach

sim - yes

tempo - time

velho - old

Useful Websites

Duolingo

Duolingo.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santos,_S%C3%A3o_Paulo

For more on football and Sau Paulo, Pele's football club, museum and city, see my previous post.

Angela Lansbury

teacher of languages

Beginning a new language for polyglots and expats

Detroit USA - airport telling each passenger where to go

Misapplied sciences. Albert Ng's idea - a motion sensor. It recognizes you and your boarding pass. 

Up pops a message overhead which only you can see. It greets you by name. It tells you where to go at the airport. How long it will take in minutes. 

As you walk along, Lighted arrows guide you. 

Amazing. Wow.

Amazing

Useful Websites

 https://www.facebook.com/100000669517851/videos/1492067344628923

https://news.delta.com/delta-will-launch-parallel-realitytm-tech-serve-airport-messages-tailored-individual-travelers

https://news.delta.com/groundbreaking-parallel-realitytm-technology-coming-deltas-detroit-hub-0

https://news.delta.com/pack-pilot-fly-flight-attendant-holiday-travel-hacks-delta

How to appear at distant events with a time difference

How to appear at distant events with a time difference.

 The simple solution is to do a recording. If you prefer, have a photo of yourself on screen.

 I wrote this on Friday Jun 10th, on receiving the reminder from organizing chair Rahul Mehndiratta, about the Toastmasters International, District 80/ Div S, Achievers Day 2021, 10 am to 12 noon.

I checked time on timebie.com. The event is 3 am to 5 am UK time.

S For SUCCESS

S stands for Singapore, S stands for Success

And Division S, yes, yes, yes

In Toastmasters, we like to send

Great surprise starts and echoing ends 

Kipling said East and West could never meet

Poor Kipling had not heard of Zoom

We're busier than a crowded street

With screens in every country's room

I can't be with you, I'm fast asleep

But organizers don't frown and weep

Don't shake your head and tut and curse

I've sent my photo and written verse

I shall start with dear 'Chair' Rahul

A man who sees a glass half full

And organizes opportunity

For wakeful you and sleepy me 

(12.46 pm Friday)

How quickly can I be a poet

And help my fellow friends to do it?

How do you start, and end, and win it?

The secret, as always, is - just begin it

Just make sure that you can be heard

You can use a dictionary of rhyming words

Listen how the syllables are said

I link rhyme chains inside my head

I have blogspots on comic verse

I have a poetry workbook

I have blogspots on what I wear

Each day new colours, take a look

12.51 pm

And now I've told you what to do

I'd like to give some praise to you

We started with TMD Thomas Chen

He wins ribbons again and again

We also heard from winner Shuzen

Another notable DTM

Poh Kim Siong our honoured guest

Gave 3 Es and 3Cs in his (guest) address

We grew clubs with prize-giving Swarna Kalyan

Today, awards given by careful Koh Lee Siang

To make sure you don't go too far

You're timed by Ravindar Kumar

And zoom master Zeph Teo

A duo with Datta says, gosh - we must go.

Next Director will be our old friend Saddiq

Who always gets things done real quick

When I call up to ask Saddiq

He says, 'Yes, that was done last week'

Division S thinks we're the best

Yet there's much potential in the rest

By holding (out) hands we help do more

In District 80, Singapore.

(By Angela Lansbury PM5, EH5

VP PR of BHA and TCA

Former Area Director of S3)

Author of: Improve Your English 

Add Alliteration, assonance and rhyme (on Amazon)

Useful Websites

http://www.timebie.com/timezone/singaporelondon.php

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Improve-Your-English-alliteration-assonance-ebook/dp/

ebook and paperback plus postage (unless you are a paid up member of Amazon Prime which gives free postage included)

UK price ebook 15 pounds 21 pence, paperback 20 pounds sterling.  If you buy the paperback, when Angela is in the same country she can sign it for you and write a rhyming couplet on your name. If you buy the ebook, she can email or whatsapp a rhyming couplet on your name.

For BHA meetings I added an extra verse

Yenny is BHA's president

We and she agree her year was well spent 

She soothed our ills and taught new skills

A walking ad wherever she went.

Why & How To Speak To Time - In Your Local Club, Venues Away From Home Or Overseas

Why be early? You might find that people who arrive early are given a free drink. Or get first go at the buffet food.

You might miss the deadline for a contest. They might award a prize to those entering early.

Should you speak to time? Should a meeting start on time?

It helps to know the culture of a country. Some countries keep strictly to time. Eight a clock means start at eight and not one minute later. Eight means eight prompt, not after eight. 

In other countries time is elastic, rubber time, and eight means not before eight. Rubber time is also called Arabic time, Jewish time, and Polish time. 

In the USA, Californian cities are more relaxed, summer or holiday time. East coast USA, especially New York, is more businesslike, on time.

To clarify for attendees, it would help to say, doors open at 7.30, for a prompt start at 8. Alternatively, specify: doors open for 8, for a start around 8.30, when all speakers have arrived.

You also have to know whether proceedings will be delayed for latecomers. For having the majority present. To allow for the later arrival of an essential person, or VIP. 

Advantages Of being On Time

It is easier to list the disadvantages of running late. Some clubs and cultures start at the stated time. Why? For the benefit of those who are being collected on time, catching buses, last trains. Taxis might charge double after midnight, or be unobtainable. Other audience members need to get home because babysitters plan to leave on time. (The babysitter might charge double for an extra half hour, leave a baby or child alone in an empty house, or never work for you again). 

If you are a member of Toastmasters Internation fulfilling a 5-7 minute speech project, in theory it should be kept to time. However, occasionally the timing is absurd for the subject. Why is the speech on blogging only 3 minutes! You have to spend the first minute explaining what a blog is. After writing 8 posts, you are left with two minutes to talk about blogging.

However, as a general rule, the timing is a good discipline. In a contest if you are one minute over time, you get disqualified.

If a real life if a venue closes on the hour, you could upset the caretaker. You might be deliberately or accidentally locked in.

Outside Toastmasters, you have to know whether it is possible to go over time, or not. When I used to speak about travel on the radio, my section had to finish before the news which started on the hour. If I went over time, my microphone was cut off and the newsreader came on!

Solutions To Lateness & Absence

If you are running late, it is a courtesy to phone the organizer - also any others who might need to know.

If you fall ill, you could give a speech or slide show to somebody else to present.

Time Troubles - Timing Your Telephone Calls - eg Orders to Restaurants - Help - has my favourite restaurant gone out of Business! Is my friend dead, or sleeping?

Plaque about timezones on the Continental Bank Building in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Photo by JoeSmack in Wikipedia.

As a travel writer, I have literally had many ups and down. We have also had many mishaps changing time zones, catching flights, arriving at odd hours, delayed, losing our hotel booking, arriving the wrong day.

I was en route to South Africa on 9-11. Not only were flights to and from the USA grounded. But connected flights were affected. Travellers changed plans. Hotels changed plans. Hire cars and taxis worldwide were affected. 

Our flight from Singapore to South Africa was delayed by a bomb threat. It came from a scared passenger who did not want to fly. Luckily, the airline and passengers were able to call some hotels and connecting flights warn them that the passengers would be arriving late.

As you will know if you have followed my travel posts, I have family all over the world. We have a home in London occupied out to relatives as well as a family home rented to tenants in London as well as renting in Singapore, so we are whatsapping, as well as family or family by marriage in other countries such as the USA, South Africa and Israel, and more close colleagues in New Zealand, and business contacta all over, so we are whatsapping and sending photos to and from several countries. 

We used to take flights to Australia or New Zealand, with a stopover in Singapore, or to the UK via the USA.  You might think that I would be aware of times being important.

Restaurants, Meal Orders and Critical Time

In early November in 2020 on a Monday morning in London we were looking online for a lunch order and all our favourite restaurants had gone out of business. The different websites told different stories. Some of them said restaurant not delivery. Others said 'currently not delivery'. Were the restaurants closed, staff sent home, restaurants gone out of business, or stopped from having customers seated but serving take away, or delivery only? The lockdown news seemed to be varying by the hour. 

I eventually realised that some restaurants did not open until noon. So you could order from noon onwards. Other restaurants had the reverse policy. They were busy serving customers in person between noon and 2 pm, only dealing with phone queries after 2 pm.

Time Zones

Oh - so check the hour! Next thing, which time zone and country was the mobile phone set to, and the laptop or computer or tablet set to? We have to contend with summer and winter time in London, Singapore time, and Australian time, which is sometimes a day different, and algo their clocks are going forward for summer a different weekends from our clocks doing back.

Breakfast In America 

Once we took a flight from Washington D.C. west towards the west coast. We had breakfast at home, a long wait at the airport, with a brief announced delay, so we had a quick snack there. On our flight we received breakfast, Our cheap flight made two stops. So we were served two more breakfasts. Finally, we reached our hotel where we were offered another breakfast. 

I was speechless. My husband protested, "No, no thanks. We're already had five breakfasts.

I made a tragi-comic phone call from London to California. After my uncle Ronnie died were received a Christmas card and letter from the USA at his house. No address. Months later I went through one of his note books which was an address book and found an address in California, USA.

I phoned and said, in my plummy English voice, "You don't know me, and I'm sorry to have to give you bad news, but my uncle Ronnie has died." 

A sleepy American voice the other end, said, "I sure am sorry to hear about your uncle Ronnie, dear, but, I don't know anybody called Ronnie in England."

I sighed, "He played the violin and piano. Would you have known him by his stage name, Arthur?"

She gasped, "Oh, Arthur's passed? Sorry to be so slow to figure it out, but it's four in the morning in California."

America has different time zones. I remember one Friday when I was in Washington DC late Friday afternoon I phoned a friend in Australia. I was told, "He's out to lunch."

I replied, "Oh, he's having a very late Friday lunch."

My colleague replied, "No, more like an early Saturday lunch."

In Europe - Portugal and Spain

As for Europe, we crossed from Portugal to Spain at Christmas, and they told us what time the restaurant stopped serving evening dinner. We assured them we would be finished by the finishing time. We were slightly puzzled when the staff filed to clear up our dessert plates and sat down to eat their evening meal. Later we realised that we were still on Portuguese time, which was not the same, but an hour different. They must have been equally puzzled by our behaviour.

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of Harrovian Speakers Toastmasters International club in NW London; also VP PR for Braddell Heights Advanced club in Singapore.

See my other posts on Hatch End, restaurants, and destinations worldwide. Please share with family and friends and colleagues links to your favourite posts.

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Zoom and Conference Calls When You are Travelling

How to Set up a Zoom Meeting

People at both ends need a Zoom account. Both of you need the zoom app. You get 45 minutes free if you are on the free trial. 

A business can either afford to pay the premium for longer, or offset the cost against tax. 

How to cope with the time? Either the organizer/admin is a person who has a zoom account installed at work. If you find the system is a great help, you may wish to pay for the service, a monthly fee. 

If not, what can you do?

Shorten Meetings

Hold shorter meetings more often. Split the agenda by subject. Discuss this months meetings on the first Sunday of the month. Discuss the rest of the year on the second Sunday and by whatsapp and email.

Time Meetings

Or be more careful about keeping to time. Five minutes per agenda item. Chats about other matters after the formal meeting ends.

Schedule Following Meeting Soon
Consider logging in later the same day after a tea break on a different person's laptop or phone.
Or log in another day on a different person's account. 

Watch the time because:

1 If you are on the limited time system, it will cut out after flashing a warning message.

2 You can structure the meeting to end slightly earlier. 

3 Put the thanks to the host and the dates of the next meeting at the start instead of only at the end in case you run out of time.

Happy chatting, and a productive year.

What does zoom do that Skype does not do?
Zoom allows webinar. If you can share screens you can show slides.

Useful Websites

Zoom
https://www.zoom.us/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoom_Video_Communications

Skype

Google share
Toastmasters Find A Club

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club

Singapore Online Toastmasters

About The Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author of more than 20 books listed on Amazon and Lulu.com  Please share links to your favourite posts and useful posts.

How to get your share of the speaker's time after a speech?

In the old days I was always the one left waiting to speak to a speaker after a book-signing, at the end of the queue, whilst the last person but one insisted on telling their life story.  Then, after I paid my money to get the signed book, the organizer would pull the speaker away, saying peremptorily to me, "Mr So and so needs a drink and has to catch his train".

Recently I had the opposite experience. I was the speaker. A lady behind me, an acquaintance, engaged me in conversation. I was very happy to talk to her. I was chatting away. I gave my opinion and advice on how I prepare speeches.

Then up comes a VIP, who had just won the prize trophy for evaluating my speech, who is also a friend of mine.

He starts to speak to me  - but the lady says angrily, to him, "If you don't mind, I was in the middle of a conversation with Angela! You interrupted. Go away."

Maybe she did not use these exact words, but that was the implication.

I have been puzzling over what I should, or could I have done?

How do you interrupt politely? How do you accept an interruption?
Often, at the end of a meeting, somebody ask a speaker or bystander a question. Another person approaches with a question. Sometimes I have stood for twenty minutes waiting my turn, then the speaker has to rush off. 

Maybe the speaker, can say to the first conversationalist, "Is this a quick question? Or to the second interrupter, "Is this a quick question?" 

Or should you say, "I'm talking to such and such a person about (whatever). Do you want to talk about this or something else?" 

If I had planned better, I might have said, "Let's talk about this for five minutes, and I'll give x five minutes in case he's in a hurry, then come back to you."

 Is it fair to make a second speaker wait whilst the first person hogs the attention? Or is the second person bound to wait? How have you dealt with this in the past, badly or well?

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

Staying With Friends and family Overseas? How to make yourself welcome

Problem
What do you take the person who says they don't want anything?

You could take them something to eat and share, something which will keep.

OFFER TIME / SERVICE
Alternatively offer them your time. What would they like you to do? Drive them around? Accompany them to the doctor or hospital or dentist?

Clean the house? Clean the oven? Sort their books into alphabetical order?

Arrange flowers? Weed the garden? Plants seeds for fruit? Plant tomatoes or aloe vera in the window boxes?

There are two well-known sayings:
Fish and visitors stink after three days.
Always leave a room as you found it.

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

Translate into Spanish - words at the airport, hotel,

Problem
Next year I am taking a holiday with a group of ex-pats who speak English, Indonesian, German and Dutch. We will be in Bulgaria. So I need to brush up on the basics of sentences in four languages, enough to grasp what they are saying. I have chosen half a dozen vital sentence which I will learn in each of the three languages.

I also go to a Toastmasters group where two people speak Spanish, one from Spain, another from Venezuela. Although I can read Spanish, when I was asked, in Spanish, 'do you understand Spanish,' I was flummoxed because I could not immediately summon up the reply, only a little. So I am collecting the phrases one might need, which I habitually need, in three of four languages which I will be needing when checking into airports and accosting strangers who speak assorted languages. Here's the Spanish.

I started by spending ten minutes on the German, as I already know German. That is in another post. I need to practise saying these sentences so I can not only understand, but also speak!

Read the English, then the German / Spanish / other language. Come back to the English and see if you can remember the German / Spanish / other language.

ENGLISH
AIRPORT
Excuse me - do you speak English / German / Dutch / Indonesian / Malaysian?
No, sorry. / Yes, I do. I am English!
Only - a little. Slowly, please!
Can you write it down?
I have a dictionary - can you Google translate it?

1
Airport
Good morning / Good afternoon / Good evening
Welcome
Excuse me
Can you help me?

2
Where is the check-in? Where is the Lufthansa / KLM desk?
Where is the lounge?
Where is the toilet? The ladies / The gents /
Men / Women/ Boys / Girls/ male / female
And - What time is the shuttle bus?

3
It's due now /
in Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes,
in half an hour, every hour, on the hour
Sorry - it does not run on Sunday / the evening / bank holidays
If you can't wait, how about a taxi - over there

4
Where is the bus stop?
Where is the car park?
We are in a hurry. We are late!
You are late. You must hurry!
Calm down. You are in good time. You've plenty of time.

5
I don't know
I am also looking for it
No idea
I'm a stranger
Ask over there

6
Ask him / her / them
Come with me
I'll show you
Thanks
Bon voyage / have a safe journey

7
Mind out! Watch out!
Take care / Look after yourself
See you soon
See you later
Goodbye

AEROPUERTO
Disculpe, ¿usted habla inglés / hablas alemán / holandés / indonesio / hablas malayo?
No, lo siento / Sí, lo hago. ¡Soy Inglés! Soy alemán, soy indonesio, soy holandés
Solo un poco. ¡Lentamente por favor!
Puedes escribirlo?
Tengo un diccionario. ¿Puedes traducir Google?

1
aeropuerto
Buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas tardes
Bienvenido
lo siento
¿Me puedes ayudar?

2
¿Dónde está el check-in? ¿Dónde está el medidor Lufthansa / KLM?
¿Donde está la habitación?
¿Dónde está el baño? Las damas / caballeros /
Hombres / mujeres / niños / niñas / hombres / mujeres
Y, ¿a qué hora es el servicio de autobús?

3
Es debido /
en cinco minutos, diez minutos, quince minutos,
en media hora, cada hora, cada hora a cada hora
Lo sentimos, no se ejecuta los domingos / noches / días festivos
Si no puedes esperar, ¿qué piensas de un taxi?

4
¿Dónde esta la parada de autobus?
¿Dónde está el estacionamiento?
Estamos en apuros. ¡Llegamos tarde!
Llegas tarde ¡Tienes que darte prisa!
Cálmese. Usted está allí a tiempo. Tienes mucho tiempo.

5
No lo sé
También lo estoy buscando
Ni idea
Soy un extraño
Pregunta por allí

6
Pregunta pregunta
Ven conmigo
te mostrare
Muchas gracias
Buen viaje / viaje seguro

7
¡Cuidado! ¡Cuidado!
Cuídate)
Hasta pronto (Literalmente en español Adiós por hoy)
Nos vemos más tarde
Adios que Te Vaya Bien

GERMAN
FLUGHAFEN
Entschuldigung - Sprechen Sie Englisch / Sprechen Sie Deutsch / Niederländisch / Indonesisch / Sprechen Sie Malaysisch?
Nein Entschuldigung. / Ja, mache ich. Ich bin Engländer! Ich bin Deutsche. Ich bin Indonesisch. Ich bin Niederländisch.
Nur ein bisschen. Langsam Bitte!
Kannst du es aufschreiben?
Ich habe ein Wörterbuch - kannst du Google übersetzen?

1
Flughafen
Guten Morgen / guten Nachmittag / guten Abend
Herzlich willkommen
Entschuldigen Sie mich
Kannst du mir helfen?

2
Wo ist der Check-in? Wo ist der Lufthansa / KLM Schalter?
Wo ist die Lounge?
Wo ist die Toilette? Die Damen / Die Herren /
Männer / Frauen / Jungen / Mädchen / männlich / weiblich
Und - Um wie viel Uhr ist der Shuttlebus?

3
Wo ist die Bushaltestelle?
Wo ist der Parkplatz?
Wir sind in Eile. Wir sind spät!
Du bist spät. Du musst dich beeilen!
Beruhigen. Du bist rechtzeitig da. Du hast viel Zeit.

4
Ich weiß es nicht
Ich suche auch danach
Keine Ahnung
Ich bin ein Fremder
Frag dort drüben

5
Frag ihn / sie / sie
Komm mit mir
Ich werde Ihnen zeigen
Vielen Dank
Gute Reise / sichere Reise

6
Pass auf
Sich selbst versorgen
Bis bald
Bis später
Auf Wiedersehen

***

English - German
AIRPORT
Airport
Good morning / afternoon / evening
Welcome
Excuse me
Can you help me?

I don't know
I am also looking for it
No idea
I'm a stranger
Ask over there

Where do I check in?
Here / Just there / Over there
On the right / left
Upstairs / downstairs
Up the stairs / up the escalator

Through the doors
At the far end
Where is the exit?
Where are the taxis?
Is there a cheap bus /shuttle bus?

Where does it go?
Does it go into the city / to my hotel
Where is the tourist office?
Can you point (to it)?
I see it!

I can't see it
Thank you
You're welcome
I need water
I would like a cup of coffee

We have black coffee
We only have tea
That's fine
No thanks, I'll leave it
Sorry, I haven't time

How much is it?
Is that the right money?
Do you take Euros?
Yes/no
Is that right?

Is that the right money?
Just right / That's it!
Nearly / almost
Another 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Where's my change?
Keep the change
Where's my change
The bill, please
Keep the change

What time is check in?
They are calling my flight!
I have to go!
Please hurry!
Can I get past?

You have time - plenty of time
Please sit down and wait
Can I sit down, somewhere?
Where can I sit?
I'll be over there

Hotel
Welcome to our hotel
Here is your key
Please fill in this form
We need your name
Write it here

We need a credit card?
Do you have another credit card?
We do not take American Express
That's fine / ok
Just a moment / minute!

We need a signature
You must sign it
Cash will do
Do you take credit cards?
I need a taxi

I need a toilet
Where are the toilets:
Over there
To the right
To the left

See the sign
You can't miss it
Is that everything?
Yes, we're finished
You may go

Later post - Restaurant

Later post - Friends

Earworms has recordings of sentences for these situations
You can buy from Berliz direct and through Amazon and ebay

Useful Websites
Berlitz / Earworms
Amazon
Ebay

Author
Angela Lansbury, please save and share links to your favourite posts.

Greetings and conversation in German (and other languages) at the airport

Problem
Next year I am taking a holiday with a group of ex-pats who speak English, Indonesian, German and Dutch. We will be in Bulgaria. So I need to brush up on the basics of sentences in four languages, enough to grasp what they are saying. I have chosen half a dozen vital sentence which I will learn in each of the three languages.

I shall start by spending ten minutes on the German, as I already know German. I need to practise saying these sentences so I can not only understand but speak.

Read the English, then the German / other language. Come back to the English and see if you can remember the German / other language.

ENGLISH
AIRPORT
Excuse me - do you speak English / German / Dutch / Indonesian / Malaysian?
No, sorry. / Yes, I do. I am English!
Only - a little. Slowly, please!
Can you write it down?
I have a dictionary - can you Google translate it?

1
Airport
Good morning / Good afternoon / Good evening
Welcome
Excuse me
Can you help me?

2
Where is the check-in? Where is the Lufthansa / KLM desk?
Where is the lounge?
Where is the toilet? The ladies / The gents /
Men / Women/ Boys / Girls/ male / female
And - What time is the shuttle bus?

3
It's due now /
in Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes,
in half an hour, every hour, on the hour
Sorry - it does not run on Sunday / the evening / bank holidays
If you can't wait, how about a taxi - over there

4
Where is the bus stop?
Where is the car park?
We are in a hurry. We are late!
You are late. You must hurry!
Calm down. You are in good time. You've plenty of time.

5
I don't know
I am also looking for it
No idea
I'm a stranger
Ask over there

6
Ask him / her / them
Come with me
I'll show you
Thanks
Bon voyage / have a safe journey

7
Take care
Look after yourself
See you soon
See you later
Goodbye

GERMAN
FLUGHAFEN
Entschuldigung - Sprechen Sie Englisch / Sprechen Sie Deutsch / Niederländisch / Indonesisch / Sprechen Sie Malaysisch?
Nein Entschuldigung. / Ja, mache ich. Ich bin Engländer! Ich bin Deutsche. Ich bin Indonesisch. Ich bin Niederländisch.
Nur ein bisschen. Langsam Bitte!
Kannst du es aufschreiben?
Ich habe ein Wörterbuch - kannst du Google übersetzen?

1
Flughafen
Guten Morgen / guten Nachmittag / guten Abend
Herzlich willkommen
Entschuldigen Sie mich
Kannst du mir helfen?

2
Wo ist der Check-in? Wo ist der Lufthansa / KLM Schalter?
Wo ist die Lounge?
Wo ist die Toilette? Die Damen / Die Herren /
Männer / Frauen / Jungen / Mädchen / männlich / weiblich
Und - Um wie viel Uhr ist der Shuttlebus?

3
Wo ist die Bushaltestelle?
Wo ist der Parkplatz?
Wir sind in Eile. Wir sind spät!
Du bist spät. Du musst dich beeilen!
Beruhigen. Du bist rechtzeitig da. Du hast viel Zeit.

4
Ich weiß es nicht
Ich suche auch danach
Keine Ahnung
Ich bin ein Fremder
Frag dort drüben

5
Frag ihn / sie / sie
Komm mit mir
Ich werde Ihnen zeigen
Vielen Dank
Gute Reise / sichere Reise

6
Pass auf
Sich selbst versorgen
Bis bald
Bis später
Auf Wiedersehen

***

English - German
AIRPORT
Airport
Good morning / afternoon / evening
Welcome
Excuse me
Can you help me?

I don't know
I am also looking for it
No idea
I'm a stranger
Ask over there

Where do I check in?
Here / Just there / Over there
On the right / left
Upstairs / downstairs
Up the stairs / up the escalator

Through the doors
At the far end
Where is the exit?
Where are the taxis?
Is there a cheap bus /shuttle bus?

Where does it go?
Does it go into the city / to my hotel
Where is the tourist office?
Can you point (to it)?
I see it!

I can't see it
Thank you
You're welcome
I need water
I would like a cup of coffee

We have black coffee
We only have tea
That's fine
No thanks, I'll leave it
Sorry, I haven't time

How much is it?
Is that the right money?
Do you take Euros?
Yes/no
Is that right?

Is that the right money?
Just right / That's it!
Nearly / almost
Another 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Where's my change?
Keep the change
Where's my change
The bill, please
Keep the change

What time is check in?
They are calling my flight!
I have to go!
Please hurry!
Can I get past?

You have time - plenty of time
Please sit down and wait
Can I sit down, somewhere?
Where can I sit?
I'll be over there

Hotel
Welcome to our hotel
Here is your key
Please fill in this form
We need your name
Write it here

We need a credit card?
Do you have another credit card?
We do not take American Express
That's fine / ok
Just a moment / minute!

We need a signature
You must sign it
Cash will do
Do you take credit cards?
I need a taxi

I need a toilet
Where are the toilets:
Over there
To the right
To the left

See the sign
You can't miss it
Is that everything?
Yes, we're finished
You may go

Later post - Restaurant

Later post - Friends

Earworms has recordings of sentences for these situations
You can buy from Berliz direct and through Amazon and ebay
Useful Websites
Berlitz / Earworms
Amazon
Ebay

Author
Angela

Are You Messaging people who are asleep in Asia?

Problem
Every day I open emails from the USA which warn, 'this will be gone in four hours!' By the time I open the email newsletter message, it's time to delete it.

If you are running a campaign, decide whether you want to reach a worldwide audience. You might well want to speak to night owls, insomniacs, sleepless souls.

However, if you can, separate your mailings, or offer a choice of dates. If I am in Britain, Europe, Asia, Africa, or Australia, I don't want to sign up for video live calls in the middle of the night.

I am inundeated with emails from people who think I have a problem (I do - too many emails). They know how I can focus and make more money. (Yes, by getting enough sleep and not responding to messages out of sync with my clock.)

Urgent, they scream. Why did you not reply, they ask. If you don't reply in the next four hours you will miss it, they warn. Yes, I did.

If you want overseas readers and responders, allow your overseas readers a chance to reply when they are awake.

Those people who can afford to pay are probably at work.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Clocks Changed In London - Hurray - here's why and how to keep to time and buy a good clock

Problem
We used to arrive late for appointments on Sunday. Sunday lunch out - the restaurant was closing when you arrived late.

The afternoon book club was halfway through when one person arrived late. Another person who was missing, later revealed they had missed the start and were embarrassed.

If one person in the family knew about changing clocks, and did it, everybody else felt outclassed and foolish.

Next morning, Monday, out of every thirty people in an office, one would arrive late.

Answer
Today, hurray, smart phones have changed themselves. Any radio clock has changed itself. You soon see that some clocks are on different times.

What's left to change?

Car Clocks
If you have a manually changed clock on the car, that has to be changed. If your car is all high tec, lucky you. On the other hand, you may have to spend time reading the manual to find out how to alter your clock.

Ovens
Ovens are often manual and have to be changed. Same goes for the microwave.

Watches
Watches vary. We used to photocopy the instructions for a new watch, blowint the text up to 12 point size, and stick this on the pinboard int he ktichen or office. Then, when you need to change your watch, we could do so quickly.

Dual time watches for two coutnries are handy if you can afford them. However the face has to be larger and I don't like heavy watches.

I would have one watch on my right hand for now when getting on a plane, and a second watch on your left hand already set to desitnation time. I had watches in two colours. A day later I could set both watches for the coutnry I was in.

Business
The time in the UK is still different from Euopre by an hour. Some people say business would be easier if we were all on the same time.

Airlines thankfully adopt the sensible system of giving you the time of arrival at your destination. Keep your eye on the time.

It doesn't stop on Sunday. If you have any hidden clocks, or a second home in another country, you may arrive to find all the clocks telling the wrong time.

But your smart phone should sort you out.

What was it all about, the time changing?

Farmers
Some claim it was to help farmers. Never mind. Forget the past and look forward to the future. Longer, lighter evenings.

If anybody in your family has an old phone, maybe time to upgrade. If anybody doesn't believe in technology, here's one reason why it's good.

Frankly, even if you are on top of the situation, congratulating yourself that although you can recall a year when you were in a muddle you are now on the right time, it's just another nuisance having to change clocks.

Happy Hour
I have two reasons to be happy today:
1 More daylight in the evenings for travel and photography in London, and England and Britain.
2 Clocks closer to other countries.
3 Smart phones tell you the right time and help you sort out your day.
4 Other people are also more reliable.

UK and Ireland only?
If you buy a clock in the UK, or from the UK, it is likely to be set to radio control from UK and Irealand. The one I looked at could be changed manually to operate elsewehre in the world, which is OK if you prefer manual and don't mind going back to manual.

Batteries Needed
If you buy a clock online, it may be radio controlled but you may still need batteries. You can order them online at the same time, unless you have a stock at home or your local newsagent or bargain store sells them in bulk cheaper.

Size
Anything which is a desk clock as well as a wall clock is likely to be smaller. My desk is short of space, so I would want a smaller clock for a desk. However, if your desk is against a wall, you might like a larger clock which can go at the back against the wall, whether or not attached, and won't be concealed by clutter.

A wall clock on a far wall needs to be larger. Here's the size of one I looked at:

: 23 x 2.5 x 16cm
23 cm is about 9 inches
16 cm is about 6 inches

But is that the screen or the whole clock?

Radio Controlled Clocks
What do I want in the sales? Another radio controlled clock.

Radio controlled clocks on Amazon, new and used, start at about £10, with free delivery next day if you are a member of Prime. Loads more at about £17-20, mostly the round sort with conventional numbers. For an oblong clock with a digital readout, about £20.

Checking Prices
Now, for the first time, I have found a use for the choice of starting with prices high to low. It enables me to see the most expensive, find out if the most expensive has any extra features. Radio clock controlled clocks are priced up to about £800. Around £200-600 you can buy a clock which looks traditional to match your living room decor in a home or hotel, a real old-fashioned looking pendulum clock, but radio controlled so you don't have to re-set it once a year, nor any other time or day.

Any disadvantage to the radio-controlled clock? Yes. For types like me who are always trying to cram more into the day and finish the last task before they leave, it was very handy to be able to set clocks five or ten minutes fast, so that when I rushed out ten minutes late I would still arrive on time.

Clock Sizes
Check the size of the clock. I find it easier to go into a shop and stand ten feet away and see if I can read it easily. It's handy to have the date as well, underneath.

Where Else To Buy?
We bought ours  in Homebase. One of the best decisions we ever made. I look at it every hour, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

More Information
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5541375/Britons-complain-iPhones-taking-fun-clocks-changing.html#comments

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

Amazon Radio Controlled Wall Clocks All Prices
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Temperature-Display-Inovaxion-inopmt01-silver/dp/B00U82FZBO/ref=sr_1_5?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1521979499&sr=1-5&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A1249834031

Argos
Radio controlled clock, round, from £16.99 (that's £17 near enough).
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6237475

Travel
https://www.visitbritainshop.com/world/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwkd3VBRDzARIsAAdGzMCnweFdLFFyhzqkzoMA0qX94pLMftgolKe4ASEkzjT8gDdak3efmksaAqjTEALw_wcB

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

Claiming For Compensation For Delayed Trains

Problem
Your train journey is delayed. Other passengers or station staff tell you that you are entitled to compensation. What do you need to do?

Answers
Take a photo of your tickets.
Photograph the station clock or your watch or make a note of the time you reached your destination.
Collect a freepost envelope from the station.

If you are too tired, need to rush to make another connecting train, see a long queue, or get rushed off by the people meeting you, you can manage without the envelope.

You will have to provide an envelope for your claim - you can write on it the freepost address and will not need a postage stamp.

Alternatively, you can make your claim online.

Go the company's website and look for the claim form.

You need to take a photo or scan of your ticket and load it up. There is a limit on size.

Fill in the other details. these include stations of departure and arrival.

At the end, when you have completed the form, you need to click on submit. I clicked on submit and nothing happened. I did not know whether the problem was:
My photo was too large.
I had no internet connection.
There was a faulty link from the form to the office.
We had previously had trouble trying to buy tickets. We had came back a day later, and had to buy through the phone system.

I prefer not to post off the tickets but to apply online.

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

How To Learn Portuguese From Earworms

Problem
How to learn Portuguese fast - when your time is spent driving.

Answer
Use Earworms, a short, quick audio derivative of the full Berlitz programme, no stress because it's set to soothing music.

I bought volume 2 on Ebay and was worried it might not be useful without volume 1, or that the booklet might be missing, which happened once before. However, this time I had the booklet. Even without the disc, the booklet was very good. I am delighted.

The booklet print is small. But I knew that. (I also have the German and Japanese.)

When I put the disc into a laptop, the laptop asks if I want to copy the disc. I do. Saves me carrying ten discs around for all my languages.

I'll tell you more about the words and how I remember then in a later post tomorrow.

I am also learning vocabulary from Duolingo tinycards, but earworms is giving me whole phrases so I can recognize them when I hear them.

Let's learn a few words:
Portuguese - English (Ten words)
adeus - goodbye (( like the Spanish adios - but add u for PortUgUese!)
amigos - friends
aqui - here
bom / bem - good / ok
centro - centre
espero - I hope
horas - time (hours)
onde - where
semana - week
vivo - I live

English - Portuguese (Ten words - Dez palavras, according to Google translate.)
centre - centro
cheers - saúde (to get the accent, hold down the letter u on your laptop and tap the number 4)
friends - amigos
good - bom
here - aqui
I hope - espero
I live - vivo (like the English word vivacious, meaning lively)
time (hours) - horas
week - semana

you - você (for e with the hat, hold down the letter e and tap the number three and you'll get ê)


Useful websites
https://itunes.apple.com/us/author/earworms-learning/id116220206

visitportugal.com

visitbrasil.com

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

duolingo.com

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

How To Cook Frozen Croissants At Home And At A Holiday Home

Uncooked croissants. Cobbs Farm Shop. England. UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Travel writer and photographer.

Problem
How do you get a delicious crroissant, crispy and flaky outside, buttery inside? Cheap!

Answer
We can buy fresh crosissants from supermarkets all over the world. In London Tesco, even many of the small branches, cook fresh croissants (we presume using the prepared uncooked croissant delivered in those huge container lorries  (Americans say trucks) which visit twice a day. So they don't need mixing, just heating up in the morning).

Buying Uncooked Croissants
We bought croissants, uncooked, from Cobbs Farm. This is a  place I described in a previous post. We had no instructions, so we looked up instructions on the internet. If I were to buy again, I would ask the shop for instructions.

Once you have got the idea of buying frozen croissants, you can look around your nearest supermarket's frozen department to see what is available. Check which brands, and check the ingredients and cooking advice, if any. I shall check out other brands, to see how their cooking advice compares with what we have been doing.

Ovens and microwaves can vary.

What can go right or wrong?

You want the crossants cooked through. Same as a steak on a grill or any food on a BBQ, you want to avoid too high a heat, charring the outside whilst leaving the middle uncooked.

Home cooked croissant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

Our first attempt, the crossants did not rise. They were dry on the outside but uncooked and chewy in the middle.

Defrost Or Not?
You might find it better to defrost them for an hour, rather than trying to cook from frozen or a too quick zap in the microwave. This means the first person out of bed must take the croissants out of the fridge.

Filling Waiting Time
You have to hang around for half an hour! The time soons goes. After removing the croissants, then shower and dress, take your pills, lay the table, eat your cereal, muesli, banana, whatever, drink water and prepare your coffee whilst waiting.

You forgot? Croissants still frozen? (While waiting, read the day's news. Will that stress you out? Instead see social media.) Check your emails. Look at Facebook. Send birthday wishes. Set a buzzer or you'll be eating breakfast at lunch time.

Preparation, Heating and Cooking Variables
Cooking is just heating. There are four variables. The ingredients. Mixing. The temperature. The time.

A frozen croissant has done two of the steps for you. Hurray!

Remedy
Add butter and jam or marmalade. We added home made marmalade. We made home made marmalade after I bought Seville oranges 'by mistake' and we found they were too bitter to eat so to save wasting them by throwing them away my husband made home made marmalade.

We lifted our spirits by congratulating each other on our past success with marmalade.

The dress rehearsal lets you try out cooking a croissant. So long as it's edible, it is fresh, good, and your own work. If it's not perfect, next time it will be even better!

How are you doing? Ready for tomorrow? Stocked up? Croissants are ready to cook!

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer. See my other posts on Cobbs Farm Shop. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Saving Breakfast and Other Recipes For Holidays And For Students And Second Homes

Problems Of Lost Recipes
1
Mother's Recipe Book
After my mother died I wished I had had her recipes.

2
Granny's Recipes Never Written down
I never had the recipe for my paternal grandma's crispy biscuits. She would not have needed to write it down. She would have had a standard recipe When I was a child and a teenager I visited her every Sunday afternoon and the biscuits were always the same.

Answers
A
Many months after mother died, at the back of the kitchen utility cupboard, I found a battered old recipe book (the classic Florence Greenberg). Old newspaper cuttings of recipes were folded inside the back cover. On the notes pages and flyleaf were recipes written out by hand by my mother, spidery almost Italic writing. She had compiled the recipes for herself, not for me. However, it was very useful and nostalgic for me.\

To be sure I could find mother's book in a hurry, and to ensure the book was not thrown out or given away by my family after I died, I pasted a photo of my mother on the cover.

Angela's Mother Netta's Recipe book. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

B
Classic Biscuit Recipe
When I described my granny's 'crispy biscuits' to a friend, Gene, at a book group, she said that like British scones, crispy biscuits were a staple of Poland or Eastern Europe. Therefore I could probably find two or three recipes online.

Biscuit Oven Temperature
The recipe must suit my oven temperature and type. I have a fan assisted oven.

Biscuit Texture

My friend, Gene, pointed out that I would have to try them out until I found one which was right. I could adapt it to the right crispiness and brittleness to suit myself.

What texture would suit me now? I don't like chewy biscuits because I think they pull out fillings. Crispy items which don't melt annoy me because they stick in my teeth. A biscuit which is crisp at first bite, yet melts in the mouth would be right.

Biscuit Ingredients
I imagine the biscuits would be made with butter, not margarine. Being poor, my maternal granny would have bought food at the market, not in a shop. (Aside. I remember eating waxy chocolate, which my paternal grandparents bought in the market. I now know how the recipe would have been different from the milk-based chocolate I was used to, made by Cadbury's.) However, I imagine her recipe would probably be from her mother or mother-in-law and pre-date margarine.

Saving Your Recipes
The question now arises, how to save the recipes from the major cook in your family. In our case, it is my husband who cooks. When he is in one country and I am in another, how can I reproduce the recipes and pass them on to our son, and our yet unborn grandchildren?

Compiling A Family Recipe Book
I have asked my husband to collect together his recipes and make them into a book for me for my birthday and for our son for his birthday. This involves collecting together all the recipes. Add a photo of the family eating, or my husband at the stove or oven cooking (on the front cover), and bringing the food to the table (back cover).

He has agreed, but he agreed last year. He was too busy writing a technical book requiring research. It never happened.

Making Notes
The answer is for me to do it. If he hasn't time, I must ask him questions and surreptitiously make notes. I shall do it the way I wrote my mother-in-law's life story for her 90th birthday.

For a year in advance, each time we met for Sunday lunch or dinner, or Saturday night or Friday night dinner, I would ask her a question. I would dash to the toilet and write up her answer on a piece of paper. Later, at home, I stapled the notes into my diary. If possible, within 24 hours, I wrote my notes out neatly. Then, within a week, I typed them up. When my diary got too full, the written recordings went into a notebook. (You could also do a video recording each week of your granny, grandad, mother or father cooking.

Alternative, a son or daughter or student grandchild can show a widowed grandparent how to cook simple meals. Wouldn't you think anybody can cook a boiled egg or a piece of fish in a microwave oven?

Who Needs Your Help?
My stay at home mother had done all the cooking for my father, her working husband. After she died, aged 89, my retired father, also aged 89, kept phoning me asking how to cook.
'How do you boil a soft-boiled egg? The first time I did it in a saucepan with water and got a hard-boiled egg. The second time I put it in the microwave and it exploded and made a mess."
"How do I cook a piece of fish in a microwave oven?"

You might not yet know who is going to need your family recipes. By the time you discover that a widow or a student grandchild wants a recipe, it might be too late. Your parent or spouse or friend may have moved away to a different time zone or passed away.

Collecting Spoken Records
I shall do the same surreptitious collecting as I did for my mother-in-law with my husband's recipes.
Today I got the home made Museli-style breakfast fruit, nuts and cereal recipe.

My husband said:
(Answering, 'What are the ingredients?) "The ingredients are porrige oats, apples, sultanas and milk. (I asked, "How do you make it?) The night before you take porridge oats, 25 grams, the same as you would cook in the morning, not 25 grams each, 25 grams for two. Add in two good (heaped) spoons (dessert spoons) of grated apple. Then sultanas. Finally, some milk. Leave overnight in the fridge.

Hot or Cold Breakfast?
A soaked oats breakfast takes time to prepare the night before. However, it saves time and energy in the morning.

Slow Mornings and Quick Starts
Good for night owls. Good for both slow and quick starts. Good for a lazy start, no work making breakfast. Also good for a quick departure - if you are self-catering on holiday and need to rush off for a coach tour or day out.

You are using porridge oats, but unlike porridge, no need to heat it up. (Good for summer, or hot countries such as Singapore, maybe in Florida or the south.) Good when you are happy to eat a cold breakfast, and don't want cooking making your hot kitchen even hotter.

Mixed Fruit Breakfast
This is a filling breakfast we devised with fresh fruit as a recovery diet after cancer when with a compromised immune system we could not risk meat products and preservatives. No more bacon and eggs nor full English breakfast with sausages at home nor at hotels.

Fruit and Cereal and Yogurt Breakfast
Chop bite size pieces of apple. Add small segments of orange fruit such as madarines or s , two prunes (plate on one side for the stones), apple chopped into bite size slices or cubes. Add yogurt. Sprinkle on top small nuts such as almonds, flaked almonds, broken walnuts, pine nuts, hazel nuts. On weekends or when you have time, or failing all else, halved fresh brazil nuts (time and mess from breaking them open).

I add milk as well as yogurt, for extra water, extra calcium, and teeth whitening after prunes.

Nuts or Not Nuts?
Obviously, but worth a reminder, you leave out nuts if anybody is allergic to nuts. So if you don't know your house guests, leave off the nuts until you have checked they are not allergic to nuts.

Cereal or Porridge
Either add half a piece of Weetabix or follow with a plate of heated up (in a saucpan) salted porridge with milk. (We add an 'unhealthy' teaspoon of maple syrup.) You could add

Mail Recipes
If you have a child such as one at boarding school or university, or at home when you are away on business, or living as an ex-pat, and your offspring who likes to receive recipes, or whatever you send, you could email a recipe every week. At the end of the year make a collection.

Time For Compiling, Proof-reading, Printing, Posting twice
 Allow time to sort out the book structure and cover and for the book to be mailed back. Also, allow time for the proof-reading. If the book has a mistake, such as a blank page in the middle, you might keep that copy for yourself as a spare and send off for another correct copy as a gift.

So you should start compiling a month earlier for a birthday or anniversary, two months earlier for Christmas, especially if you have Christmas recipes to use at Christmas time, or want the gift in time for Christmas and not delayed in the post arriving just in time for New Year!

If the book is posted to you, then posted by you to the recipient, or recipients, that is another double postage time. As they say about vines and trees, "The time to plant a vine/tree is twenty years ago. If that's not possible, start today."

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

Malay Words Seen On Singapore Trains

Malay - English
Api - fire
Ayer - water
Bahru - new
Berhati-hati - beware / careful!
Bukit - hill
Jam - hour or time
Jambat - slow down
Jambatan - bridge
Kaki - foot
Kaki Bukit - foothill (station on Singapore MRT Downtown blue train line)
Kereta  - car
Merah - red
Mikrofon - microphone
Padang - field
Panggilan - call
Panjang - long
Pasar - market
Pintu - door
Polis/i police
Platform - platform
Timah - tin

Updates on Comedy Courses + Watching Improv On Line

Clown laughing. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problems
1 Where can I attend a comedy or compere course?
1 What if I am not eligible, not near the venue, don't have time and just want to watch on line?

Answer
1 Amused Moose course update.

2
Watch comedy TED talk on line. The lady demonstrates to the audience
1 Make yourself memorable by telling a joke about your current or previous profession.
She tells a story about pastors. She was a pastor or pastor's wife. I can tell a story about a speaker.
2 Get the audience to act in pairs.
3 Mislead the audience about when to start.
4 Do a short audience game.
5 Have an action and a silent part alternating. (That way the noise doesn't build to such a crescendo that you can't get back their attention.
6 Keep switching so both members get a chance to act or speak.
7 Get feedback from the audience.
8 Repeat what was said by the audience. (I listened to the video and either the sound on it goes quiet at the end or my playback isn't up to it. Unless you have subtitles and tell the watchers how to find them, repeat the audience shouts and comments, for the benefit of people n the audience at the time and anybody watching later. Give feedback and summarise at the end.
9 End with follow up action, how people can contact you, see you again.
10 Interestingly she does this to develop team work and customer service.

Does it always work for everybody? That depends on whether the exercise is short enough and has a purpose and does not eat into time needed for more vital activities.

On one occasion I went to a Toastmaster's conference where we had a game which involved a scrummage and passing balls and tying people up with string and knocking items off an overhead line.

Everybody else seemed to think it was hilarious. Except for three people. One left immediately. One left half way through. I stayed to the end, watching a very frustrated photographer who could not get any photos of the event because it was a melee.

Riotous Games
Why did I not join in?
a) It seemed pointless.
b) It was wasting time.
c) It was not related to the promised programme (learning to speak).
d) I was tired and not sufficiently quick thinking to do an active game.
e) I was smaller than several large men and thought I would be trodden on or knocked over in the scrum.
f) The clearing of chairs and putting unguarded property in piles on a far table or under it and scattered around the room, some of which was moved, did not strike me as safe. I was afraid of losing my shoes, smart shoulder bag, clipboard, notebook and pen, and spectacles, mobile phone, and damaging my clothes and property.

When does it work for everybody? At one conference we were missing the speaker leading a workshop. Nobody noticed because in the ten to twenty minute wait the Area Governor got us to stand in a circle and do an introduce yourself event.

We formed in pairs, of people who did not already know each other. If one person was left over, they paired with the leader.

We said our name, how to pronounce it, where we lived and worked, what our job or hobby was. We stopped after two minutes to repeat to the person what they had told us.

Then we swapped who did the talking and who did the listening. For the last five minutes we went around the circle saying what we had learned about the person on our right.

If the person due to speak had not arrived, we could have continued with: "My name is .... What (other person's name) didn't tell you was that I ...."

If we had needed to wait another five minutes we could have played, "What I would like you to help me with ..." . We could have ended with, "What I can help you with ..."

If we had needed to fill another five minutes we could have gone around the circle with feedback on what we thought of the game, when we could use it for networking in a club or organization.

Each of these games is a successful way of filling time when the meeting is running late - or the speaker doesn't turn up at all!

If you are running a conference where many people are there to make friends or network, include an exchange of business cards so the audience feel they have met you and somebody in the audience.

You Tube On Ted Talk And Demo On Improv With Audience Workshop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMxS27bvM0s
https://www.amusedmoose.com/media/
http://speakersandtoastmasters.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/what-i-learned-about-improv-at-brighton

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

How I Photograph Through Windows On Bus Journeys

Problems
You can't take good photos because you are at odd angles, traffic gets in the way, you get reflections, and the windows are likely to be smeary.

Solutions
EDITING PHOTOS
Angles
You can adjust the angle of the photo afterwards. If that cuts out half the signpost, the elegant chimney, or the pretty tree, leave the photos which are diagonal at the corner of the page as the angle is deliberate.

Mounting
The picture is out of focus? Put it behind the bolder headline as a faded background.

Crop
Crop the picture to remove unwanted litter, people, modern signposts spoiling the view of ancient buildings. On my laptop I get a grid dividing the picture into six or nine. Moving the focus of the picture into the middle sometimes improves it no end. The same goes to people. But occasionally I find that the trees or buildings on the left and right provide a good frame. So I go back to the original which is always there.

I used to duplicate pictures to keep the original beside the cropped version and compare them. when cropping and later Now I have so many pictures that it takes hours to find anything. I have to spend more time labelling the 'Information' on every picture to be able to find distant or detail or even a person and a place. Also too many pictures takes up space and costs money in more storage.

Overlap
If cropping the bottom right cut out something important at the top right, overlap the pictures so the next picture obliterates the corner. Nobody knows what they don't see. Yes, it takes time.

Cut it to the part you want. Overlap pictures to cut out the corners.

WINDOW CLEANING
Clean the bus windows. Why doesn't the bus company clean the windows?

Maybe they do. Even if they did, the first kid eating ice cream or sweets and stand up to look out, bracing against the window when the bus jolts or leaning forward to look out smears sticky all over the window.

Inside or outside? In theory, I could do the outside of a window when the bus is stationery before it departs at the start and end of the journey.

Probably if If I were to do the journey again, I would carry window cleaner. Maybe not. Perhaps wet wipes would be lighter and less bulky.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I have other posts on photography, destinations, learning languages, London, worldwide. Please follow, bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

How I edit photos

Problems
1 You have a dozen photos of a person or place.
2 You can't remember the name of the person you met at a business meeting, holiday or conference.
3 Your photos are distorted.
4 Your picture of a holiday destination are ruined by bits of litter, graffiti, people scowling in the background and somebody's hand waving in the foreground plus your finger across the corner.
5 The helpful bystander cut off your hat and your shoes.

Answers
1 However busy you are, go through the photos and pick one to send to the organisers of the event, to put on social media or your website, with the names of the persons, the place, and yourself as photographer so they can come back to you later for more photos.

Captions
2 Caption every photo immediately with the names of people and the place, whilst you have the literature handy. Photograph the event programme or tourist brochure so that you have the name of the place with correct spelling for later captioning.

Look for banners or advertisements with the names of the event and organisers and phone numbers and correct addresses and postcodes and websites.

3 Your photos may be distorted because you are too close. At an event, try to sit in a different place in the second half.

Watch any professional photographers. If they are professional they may have a tripod.

If you have a small camera such as a smart mobile phone you might need to be near to the people on stage.

If you think you have distorted photos, ask them to pose later. With a window behind you will get a silhouette. (Might be useful if they don't like being photographed.) Too much light and they screw up their eyes. Take two photos, preferably from different angles.

Take one vertical picture and one horizontal. Most magazines are A4 or A5, tall, so you/ they want one photo that shape. You might want a vertical picture for the back cover of a book.

Multiple Photos
Take at least two photos. In case they shut their eyes in one photo.  Or you have camera shake on the first one.

Steady your camera against an upright surface such as a desk or shelf or wall if there is poor light.

Editing
1 I cut out duplicates, blanks from having the view finder covered and photos accidentally taken of my own foot.
2 I go through several versions of the same place or person and select the best. The others can be deleted or hidden. I have found that if I have six photos almost the same and edit only one I risk accidentally loading up one of the un edited versions. to edit every one wastes a lot of time.
3 I lighten a photo where the face is in shadow because of the angle or because the person is dark skinned.
4 I click on contrast to enhance colour. If the colours look unnatural, I gradually go back towards the original.
5 I sharpen the picture. If this reveals spots and wrinkles on faces I can either edit out spots and wrinkles or go back to soft focus.
6 I crop to remove distractions: the fire extinguishers, the notices about other events, the handbags in the aisles, the disembodied feet and hands from somebody else unknown alongside, the cigarette butts in the street, the trailing wires from electrical equipment.
7 I could keep two similar photos in case I ever want to offer one as an exclusive and then get asked for another photo by somebody else.
8 I use the one with the graffiti, cropped to show the graffiti, in an article about graffiti. I use the one with the cigarette butts, cropped to concentrate on the cigarette butts, for a post about smoking.

Self Censorship
9 I self censor the photos. If that was a photo of me, would I want it to show me frowning, scowling, with wrinkles and blemishes?

If I were the tourist board or PR would I want the photo showing the place looking a mess? But if I were a tourist, would I want to know that the pretty place seen empty at sunset after closing is full of queues of people at mid-day on a bank holiday?

I can show both pictures as a contrast and use that as a tip for tourists. Or even show photos of a queue (Americans say line-up): For example: ''Go at sunset to take a romantic photo without the crowds.'

I can write a caption to please the tourist board whilst warning the tourists. For example, "You can see how popular 'Dracula's' Bran Castle, in Romania, is in summer time."

Or, a building under scaffolding in the UK: "The museum is closed for renovations. I plan to go back next summer. Make a note in your diary."

Time Taken
It takes me half a minute or a minute to write a caption and another half a minute or a minute to edit the photo. That is a short time.

However, if you have thirty pictures of an event, that's at least half an hour of your time, plus the time emailing to the subject of the photo, event organiser, or a magazine or newsletter or social media page.

If you have sixty pictures of a big event or a two day event, that's at least an hour. A three day weekend conference or a holiday means three hours, half a day. You can see why a photographer would expect to be paid, or at least a big thank you, a photo credit, and maybe a certificate of appreciation, a round of applause at the next event, or a small gift.

You don't see the time they spent deleting all the photos where people waved and made camera blur, or the idiot at the back made a V sign over the head of your VIP.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please bookmark useful posts and share links to posts which you find informative or amusing.