Spanish words (20) with magical memory aids

 

Spanish flag

Spanish - English

agua - water

área - area

conflictos - conflicts

dinero - money (to dine you need dinero, money)

las dunas - the dunes

Espagna - Spain

especial - special (add e before the initial s in Spanish words, like the name of the country)

fuerte - strong (as in fortify or make stronger, a fort or stronghold)

golf - golf

Julio - July

lago - lake

las/los - the, plural, las is feminine plural, los is masculine plural, as in the American city Los Angeles meaning the angels, who were male messengers in Greek myths 

marzo - March

miles de - thousands of (Looks like miles of. Not millions of which is millones de, drop the i and add an e)

millones - millions

nacional - national

natural - natural

oasis - oasis

palma - palm tree, las palmas means the palms

parque - park

pico - peak

plan - plan

playa - beach - where you go to play yo-yo on yellow sand, joyfully play on the beach in the bay, on a sunny day with beach toys. Letter Y.

plaza - town square - letter z, zillions of people zooming about in a city zone with stores, place, near a city zoo. Letter Z.

quedarse - stay (when you dig a place you queue up and dig in, d in the middle and sit down, arch your back)

reserva - reserve (nature reserve)

reservar - to reserve

ventura - venture, as in adventure or go towards a venture

viajar - to voyage / to travel

Spanish Words ending in o

banco, dinero, lago, marzo, pico

Spanish Words ending in a

Espana, agua, playa, plaza, reserva, ventura

English - Spanish

park - parque

peak - pico

reserva - reserva

to reserve - reservar

Spain - Espagna

To find more easy to recognize words look in the Spanish version of Wikipedia.

Useful Websites For the Spanish Language

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Portada

Translating and mistranslating a Spanish hotel registration form - lost in translation

 

I kept my registration form from a hotel in Spain, Hotel Zenit Coruna, and used it to revise my Spanish vocabulary. I experienced a few surprises, words I had mis-translated in my mind,

1 Datos del viajero looked like dates of the trip. It was not. It was details of the traveller.

2 Segundo apellido was not second name of middle name, meaning second given name. It was second surname or family name. Spanards use their mother's maiden name or family name as a middle name. 

3 Direccion is not directions but address.

4 Fecha is not facts but dates.

5 Firma del viajero is not confirmation of the trip/journey/stay but signature of the traveller. 

Spanish - English

datos - data/ 

detalles - details

direccion - address

direcciones - direcions

fechas - dates

segundo apellido - second surname

viaje - journey

viajero - traveller

https://translate.google.com/

English - Spanish

address - dreccion

data - datos

dates - fechas

details - detalles

directions- direcciones

journey - viaje

Useful Websites

Trasnslate google

https://translate.google.com/

 

Wearing Your Advertising Tee-Shirt as you travel

 

Angela Lansbury wearing I am an author tee-shirt, with her books Improve your English with alliteration, assonance and rhyme, and Quick Quotations. Photo by Trevor Sharotl

Buying Author tee-shirts

You can buy similar t-shirts in various colours from at least two different suppliers on Ebay and Etsy. Vistaprint in the UK and others worldwide allow you to upload text or photos onto tee shirts of different colours. You could have I am a plumber, I am a stand up comic, I am a hair stylist, I own such and such a shop, I sell tee shirts like this customised with your message. Or simply your company name, or the cover of your book. Or the name of your sports club. If you buy in bulk you get discounts.

I took a second set of photos, turning my book to face the camera, so the title could be read, and cutting my long hair which was obscuring the message and distracting from the important message about my books.

Useful Websites

ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/

etsy

 etsy.com

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Travel Poem by Angela Lansbury - The lost key to happiness

The Lost Key To Happiness

by Angea Lansbury

The precious hotel bedroom key

Was lost before checkout

I lost the big vital car key

So we could not go out

I think I must have locked the car 

With our one key inside

Meanwhile the needed suitcase key

Plays you seek while I hide. 

I travelled all around the world

Until I learned to see

Most of my small world's big problems

Were lost keys lost by me.

I'm easy going, slow to change

But rarely make a fuss

I sewed car keys onto ribbons

Then travelled on a bus.

Then Covid-19 fenced us in

Smile, the toilet's not far

No stress to catch a plane or train

No late cab nor hire car.

The suitcases like Russian dolls

Wait for their daily dust

The labelled keys sit neat on hooks

Like shares locked in a Trust

Now even my British birthplace

Is somewhere I forget

Yet I can cross the Antarctic

On the great internet.

Postage stamp places I've now seen

And befriended strangers

Coloured pictures plant and grow dreams 

Safely far from dangers

I Zoom across the USA

And let the world meet me

The fingers read news, pick each place

My wanderlust's still key.

-ends-

Websites

Key fobs

About the Author Angela

Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places,  landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.

Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President. VPPR

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

Past meetings have included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meeting is  the third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  Inauguration of the new committee by the incoming Director of S, plus a lively speech on teamwork.

 

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Travel Quotations - and Places Where Robert Louis Stevenson lived

 

Robert Louis Stevenson home in Edinburgh, Scotland.

It is better to travel in hope than to arrive.

Robert Louis Stevenson.

Once a year go someplace you've never been before.

Dalai Lama

Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen.

Benjamin Disraeli

Every moment is travel - if understood.

Disraeli.

Take only photos; leave only footprints. 

My recall of this quotation.

Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time.

All variation on what was said by native American chief Seattle. The city of Seattle is named after him.

Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Better late than never,  but better never late.

Useful Websites

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is the author of 

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When When

Wedding Speeches & Toasts

How To Record Your Travels In Notebooks and Online

 

It is useful to record all your travels. You can do this in a physical book such as your family history books. Or a five year diary, with your own index at the back or flyleaf.

Microsoft Excel

Also keep a spreadsheet. Use Microsoft Excel. For anybody who doesn't know excel, don't be put off by the technical sounding title. Its just a grid like a chessboard. You have columns and can write names or numbers down the side or across the top.

It will probably be loaded on your computer as part of the software provided. Look down the left hand column on your screen or do a search for it.

For example, you could have separate pages for different aspects. If you are not confident about excel, just make bulleted or numbered lists of years down the left margin. Countries visited alongside each year.

Have you forgotten when you went where? What can you use to fill in dates? 

1 Your diary notes.

2 Passport stamps and visas.

3 Employment dates.

4 Maps and guidebooks often have printing dates showing the year printed or dated advertising offers. 

5 Letters and postcards with date cancellations on the stamps.

6 Financial records such as payments for airfares.

7 Old emails from hotels and restaurants confirming bookings or offering discounts.

FAMILY HISTORY

These records can also be used to write up the history of your ancestors and parents, uncles, aunts, grand-parents. My late uncle had told me about his trips to the USA. I wondered whether had had made them up, or forgotten. Then I found the dates in his passport. I knew the year, the month, even the day he arrived and left. And which city.

8 Census records

9 Blogs

10 Facebook photos

11 Bus tickets. Parking tickets. Traffic fines. Official notes.

Details to add

I like to know the names of places visited, not just the countries. I like to know the cities, towns or villages or scenic spots. I add hotels, restaurants, museums.

You might add people, your friends and family. Restaurant owner, or anybody in your photos. 

I label photos as soon as I can, on the day or when  I get home.

At very least you can settle arguments. Did we ever visit such and such a place? Which year. What was the name of the restaurant I can recommend to my friend? Is it still there?

Useful Websites

Look inside. Starts with your personal details, then a packing list. Journal for a particular trip:

https://www.amazon.com/Travel-Record-Book-Log/dp/1521863407?asin=1521863407&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

https://www.wordtemplatesonline.net/travel-log-template/

https://www.bulletjournaladdict.com/planning/21-best-bullet-journal-year-at-a-glance-spreads/

https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html

ttps://4kweeks.com/products/poster

About 60 dollars (plus postage)

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Tips_for_road_trips#Q6739884

https://www.bulletjournaladdict.com/planning/21-best-bullet-journal-year-at-a-glance-spreads/

About the author

About Angela The Author

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President.

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

The recent meeting of BHA included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . Also an educational on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, (subject to revision)

1 (Saturday, May 15th, was 2 pm Singapore time, postponed because of national speaking contest.) 

After Vesak day and Hari Raya: 

Postponed to Saturday May 29th, 2021, at 2pm. Login to bha.learncool.sg earlier.

Workshop by Sam Chou.

2 Next June meetings 1st Wednesday evening June 2nd at 7 pm Singapore time. 

3 Third Saturday afternoon, June 19th, Singapore time.  Thanks to the old team and Inauguration of New Team. 

Special speech with slides about teamwork in sport and Toastmasters International and life, by the President of West Coast Toastmasters Club who often help BHA with workshops and invite us to give speeches at their club.

Inauguration of new committee by incoming Area Director of S

About Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs on speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

The information on Toastmasters is updated regularly.

Who needs swear words when learning or teaching English or a foreign language?

When you are travelling, it might be helpful to know if somebody is swearing, or making an improper suggestion, in order to avoid them.

However, I see no reason for learning swear words in another language. It is the quickest way to lose friends and respect from people who could be useful, restaurant staff, hotel staff, bank staff, doctors, bystanders.

I am a teacher. I managed to get though most of my life wihout needing any swear words.

As an English tutor I can't afford to swear, nor even use a siilar sounding nonsense word every time I drop a pencil. It is too complicated to explain to a Japanese child who is learning English.

Just think what you would want a child to say to the school head teacher.I really love it. I adore it. If you want silence when you are trying to photograph a songbird without frightening it, you just say to bystanders, 'sh', or, 'quiet, - now!'

I recall when my husband and I were celebrating our first wedding anniversary at the Souffle restaurant at the Intercontinental Hotel, Park Lane. The romance was ruined by the noisy conversation of two young women, with two young men, one of whom kept saying, My Wife ... (referrring to his absent wife). The two young women who we presumed to be escorts, were showing off their knowledge of swear words in different languages.

That really put me off swear words, especially swear words in public places.

You are unlikely to hear swear words if you come to a toastmasters meeting.

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

Online Toastmasters International Meetings
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.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=braddell%20heights%20advanced%20toastmasters
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, Toastmasters Club, London.
Tiarel.toastmasters club, Singapore.

Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations

lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product

A wedding with coronavirus?

A wedding with more than 100 attending?

We had a wedding planned for June om the UK. We had guests from all over the world.

They were from the USA, the UK, the Middle East, Israel, Singapore. All ages, including the elderly and those with health issues.



We were watching the situation in the UK, the USA, Israel and Singapore.



And airlines such as Ryanair and Singapore Airlines.



Flag of Cyprus.

We had planned a trip taking in Cyprus and the UK.

 Then we wanted to bring it forward to March. Then American and other countries started putting in more restriction on travel, and quarantine on arrival.

The venue allowed us to make a reservation for September.

The big cost is the catering.

What are the problems? Guests cannot travel. No flights.

Quarantine
Guests could be put into quarantine on arrival in your country.
Guests travelling from overseas may be put into quarantine when they return home.

Cancellation Charges
If the government bans big meetings, maybe you can cancel the event and recover from insurance the catering cost. But if you cancel or bring your wedding forward, you may not be able to claim on insurance. Check the terms.

Checking
Call the caterers and insurance company to find out.

Travel Bans
On the other hand, the longer you leave it, the greater the risk that your family will be unable to travel.

Will there be flights? Road blocks? Travel restrictions.

Health Risks
Or they won't want to risk getting ill. Or you won't want to risk infecting all your elderly relatives. Or being to blame if even one person falls ill.


Singapore flag.

Singapore Airlines Queues
In Singapore there were huge queues (line ups) of people wanting to cancel flights, change flights, leave, not leave, bring journeys forward to get out whilst they could still get into other countries.

Singapore Airlines was asking people to not go to their offices unless their flights were in the next 72 hours, so they could reduce waiting times and make a priority those with immediate travel needs.

We looked at the insurance websites. Some insurances say you cannot get a refund unless you have a medical reason, supported by a certificate from a doctor . If you are over 70 with an underlying medical condition and over 70s are told not to travel, you may be able to get a doctor's certificate saying it is not safe for you to risk travelling. It is wroth phoning your insurance company and your doctor to find out.

Useful Websites
Ryanair
Singapore airlines
Singapore government health information updated daily

About the author
travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite post.

Giant Cartoon To See - The big mural at Newton MRT station in Singapore

The tiny tasters of this artist's amusing artwork are along the corridors at Newton MRT station.

 The small ones make me keen to see more of the artist's magestic mural, which sails passes too quickly when you are on the escalator.

What the passener sees. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

As you - actually I mean I - rush out to a meeting, you have no time to stop and enjoy even the small ones. Everybody is too busy, being Singaporean and kiasu, meaning keen get ahead or don't miss out.


But coming back late evening when the crowd has thinned out and you are not in such a harry to arrive on time. So you can take a leisurely look and, in my case, take a photo.

I dodge around, trying to stop the reflected lights runing the picture, to also minmise distortion from looking up or looking sideways. My husband has a professional picture editing program you can use to minimise distortion, but it takes half an hour per picture, which would be fine for a rofessional photography being paid, or an amateur entering a contest, but when you want four pictures for a blog post, and so spend less than three hours on one post, not such an urgent task.

However, seeing and photographing to see later the big mural is more of a challenge. I usually rush towards the downwards escalator on the Downtown line. This time, by chance, the word serendipity, meaning happy chance discovery, I found out the secret. Because passers-by kept scurring across my photographic line of vision, instead of stepping forward as usual, I stepped backwards. The further I stepped back, the more of the mural I could see. Although each individual bit is smaller, and the x shape of the crossing escalators is visible, you can see the scale of the entire mural.

I was delighted with the effect. I hope you like it, too. \the itneresting lesson is that an indoor mural is like an outdoor mural from a photographer's point of view. Better to step back and ensure you have at least one shot of the mural in its entirety.

If people are in the way, never mind. That gives you a sense of scale and height. Every time I look I see something new.

How lucky we are to live in this era.

Useful Websites
Getting to Singapore
singaporeair.com
MRT map
Wikipedia information on the Newton station and artists
Murals of Singapore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murals_in_Singapore
Murals by country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Murals_by_country

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I can give a talk to any business or college in Singapore or worldwide about the artiwork on the MRT train stations, the statues in the streets, and murals worldwide.

The Future of Travel In Cartoons - Art To See On The Underground At Newton MRT station, Singapore

'Starfish' travel. Artwork on Newton underground MRT station. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

On closer inspection, I see that the windows are in a spiral, a bit like a seashell.

Jellyfish travel - or maybe inside a spider. Artwork photographed on Newton. Photo taken and named by Angela Lansbury.



Travelling in front of the fishtail. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

All over Newton underground train station walls on your way to and from the Downtown line are these cute little drawings. Teeny characters travel on a futuristic sci-fi means of transport, a cross between space travel and submarines. What does this picture remind you of? It reminds me of a starfish.

Useful Websites for travellers
singaporeair.com

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. See next post on the giant mural at Newton, as well as other posts about sttion artwork in Singapore, the UK, and worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.

TRAVEL TO BULGARIA Summary

Bulgaria - hgighly recommended, cheap and cheerful. Sofia the capital is easy to walk around.


Useful Websites For Travel To Bulgaria
TRAVEL TO BULGARIA
Travel from Stansted to Sofia
ryanair.com

HOTELS
Budget
Central Point hotel boutique
Great location and cheap price.
Ground floor rooms, some have a walled patio. Our room 210 had a view over next door's lawned garden and the hotels's ground floor rooms' downstairs patios, our room quiet at night. Front rooms have a better view of the park and distant road but are noisy at night from revellers drinking around bars in the park.

SOFIA
WALKING TOURS / FREE TOURS
www.freesofiatour.com
www.365association.org
https://365association.org/tours/culture-tour/
ww.sofiagraffitittour.com
Free walking tour of the city in front of the Palais of Justice, but finishes outisde the Alexander Nevski Cathedral.

Churches and Cathedrals (free entry)
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

The national gallery in The Palace
Very dull. Reductions for the retired. Good shop.
ww.nationalgallery.bg

Next door is the Natural History Museum. which is excellent. Huge animals and tiny birds such as the teeny hoopoe with a needle like beak, and iridiscent stones in all colours, green, purple, blue, pink, from all over the world in amazing shapes from an almost invisable diamond to a knee high quartz - actually on a table so it was waist high when I was photographed beside it.


Wines:
Enjoywine
www.enjoywine.bg
Family owned shop specialising in Bulgarian wines offers tasting of three wines. Sells amusing birthday cards.

Synagogue
Entry 4 leva
www.sofiasynagogue.com

Shopping
Elephant Bookstore
31 Tsar Shishman Street,Sofia, Bulgaria.
Everything from Harry Potter to Alice and Wonderland, Freud and Einstein, books and mugs and cards and pictures and cards and umbrellas and masks.
wwwElephantBookstore.com

PLOVDIV
Pretty and historic, and centre of Bulgaria's top wine region.
You can visit it on a day trip from Sofia.

Plovdiv airport 'the South Gate of Bulgaria
www.

More later.
 Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

What makes people travel?

Travelling Towards
Some people travel towards something, to see the world, looking for something different, a contrast. Other travel to the land of their ancestors, hoping to find a connection.

Travelling Away
Others travel to get away. There are places in many countries known as havens for those escaping their past. (I always wanted to be diplomatic. I think that sentence was my best effort.)

After WWII may people looked for a new country and a news start. Some are getting away from memories. Others are getting away from bad vibes.

I heard about the suicide of somebody I didn't know but who lives in my area. My neighbour, who I shall call Alicia, knows everything. I asked her, "What caused that? Was it depression?"

Alicia said, "It was her mother."

Really!

"Yes," said Alicia. "Same in my family. My mother hated me, tried to break up the marriage. Did the same with my brother-in-law, then my sister-in-law.
 My sister-in-law said to me, 'What shall I do?'
I replied, 'Go as far away as possible.' So she went to Australia!" 

Alicia is nearly ninety. She said with admiration that 'Lionel'*, her husband is ninety-two!

'Goodness,' I gasp. 'Is that a lot different to ninety?'

I suppose it is. Each year after ninety or eighty or seventy, more frail, more of an achievement.

Alicia is in bed after breaking something three times in a fall. So she is not travelling, except in her mind, her imagination, and her memories.

So now I and you have a new view on what makes people travel. Getting away from a feud with a mother or a mother-in-law.

To some extent that is what all holidays are for. A change is as good as a rest, the saying goes.

Useful Websites
Samaritans

Need help? United Kingdom:

116 123

Samaritans

Need help?

Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week

Languages: English

Website: www.samaritans.org

Visit Australia
https://www.australia.com/en-us

(Names of people changed for privacy.)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Choose The Best Seat On The Plane

Seat Choices
WINDOWS
Window seats are good for photography and sleeping propped against the wall. Nobody wakes you to get out to the toilet. Nobody in the aisle disturbs you.

AISLES
Aisle seats are good if you are claustrophobic or have a weak bladder.

MIDDLE
Central seats are good, double the chance that somebody will want to talk, give, you tips about the destination. amuse you.

FRONT
Front seats near an exit, good for getting off the plane fast when you have a connection to make.

BACK
Back seats are good for escaping the noise of crying babies which are usually in bassinets at the front. The very back row seats might not recline. However, they have the advantage that nobody can kick the back of your seat!

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

How Many Weeks Do You Have To Travel? Ways To Fill Them

Problem
Americans get shorter holidays than workers in some other countries. But the holidays are flexible. You could choose to work on Christmas Day, and perhaps get paid overtime, and add a day to a long weekend with a national holiday Monday, to make a four-day break.

If you lose your job, you can take a holiday. Then when you go for job interviews, you have a smile on your face and a positive attitude. If you've spent a year travelling, it looks like that was the reason why you gave up your job.

You can plan more than a year of travels. You can plan out the number of cities or countries you want to visit in your life, and at what age? A round-the world cruise or plane ticket when you retire?

How many years do you have left to travel? A survey by Saga, a British company specialising in holidays for the over fifties, found that the types of holiday differed with different age groups. The newsly retired, in their fifties or early sixties were doing long haul trips whilst they stilll could Those in their seventies were staying nearer to home. Those in their eighties were starting to take day trips and weekend rahter than long holidays, and holiday s in Great Britain rahter than overseas.

(Insurance affects this, too. Over seventy, eighty and ninety, it is increasingly difficult to get insurance.)

Useful Websites
https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Shows your life in weeks.

Author
Angela Lansbury

Could You Teach Abroad? How to know your life purpose in 5 minutes | Adam Leipzig | TEDxMalibu

This video is helpful on two levels. How to find your life's purpose and not feel aimless, find a new job at home or overseas. On a smaller level, how to start a conversation without anybody, anywhere in the world.

This man's moral message is that it's better to give than receive, or that by giving you receive.

My answer to the question, his question, was, my life's purpose is to teach English. What's in it for them?  So people can speak well, feel confident and earn more money.

What do I need to do? Now I must go and publish my book on better English!

If you speak good English, you will always be in demand when you travel to other countries, or your own country, if you want money to save for a trip.

One person responded, "But I can't teach anything!"

That's because she or he was looking to teach at too high a level. When I wanted to teach English, I did not have a university degree in English, so I could not get the job I wanted, teaching English in a Grammar school or secondary school.

Instead, I started English conversation, one to one, as a tutor for an agency. I taught a Japanese lady English. She brought in her daughter to listen.

Later I started teaching, coaching, pupils below 'O' level. As my pupils improved and stayed on with me and went up to the next year's class, I had pupils who wanted me to teach O level and then A level.

However, if you don't have the qualifications, you just go further down the line. Grandparents teach their children how to speak. If you don't have a child, you can teach a budgerigar or just talk to a dog.

A baby or an animal doesn't demand to see your qualifications. You are the hero, the teacher, because you are years ahead, more experienced and they are dependent on you.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Travellers - how could you travel if blind, deaf or handicapped?

Problem
At Toastmasters for the two-minute impromptu table topics at a meeting in Singapore I picked off the table the question: Would you rather be blind or deaf?

For me that's an easy question, deaf. The answer I gave was:

"I would rather be deaf. Nowadays so many clever gadgets can help you. Speaking to an audience, like I am now, at least I could see your reaction and see your faces and smile and see you smile back. Lip-reading would enable me to understand what people are saying.

"Travelling here would be easier if I were deaf. I could read the signs and maps and watch the stations announced in rolling text.

"I admit that walking along when hard of hearing is scary. Even with most of my hearing intact, sometimes I hear a bicycle bell behind me and jump out of the way.

"How would I manage if I could not hear at all? I'd need a sign on the back of a tee-shirt - 'No point ringing your bell - I'm deaf! '

"My beloved late uncle was deaf. He wore hearing aids in both ears hidden under long hair. He played in an orchestra.

"Some people, including me, did not realise he was increasingly deaf. I only found out after he died that he was lip-reading, when I found a book on lip-reading.

"Yes, I would learn to cope with being deaf by lip-reading."

I won the ribbon for the best table topic at the club.

Blind Travellers
Afterwards I spend a lot of time thinking about how different people cope. On Youtube you can see a blind man travelling all around the world visiting as many countries as he can.

Travel When Sick
My son's late schoolfriend, Adam Jacques, travelled from the UK to Australia, despite being on medication including a pill-taking regime, suffering from cystic fibrosis. He died this year, and friends he made during his year in Australia flew to the UK for his funeral in February (2018).

Painting For The Handicapped
You have probably seen videos of people painting scenery, outdoors, using their feet to paint. Others play the piano with their feet - probably invited to travel long distances to demonstrate their talents and enter talent shows.

Music For The Deaf
Beethoven composed many of his symphonies after he went deaf. On YouTube you can watch a deaf percussionist.

Music For The Blind
Piano-tuners are sometimes blind.

Sub-titles
My father used to watch travel programmes on TV, with the TV permanently set to show sub-titles (after the people in the flat upstairs complained his TV was too loud).

Blind and Deaf
To be deaf or blind is less difficult than being both. Helen Keller had a constant companion. I remember from reading Helen's biography that the first time she swam in the sea she was totally shocked at being knocked over by a wave which she did not see coming. Later she loved swimming in the sea. She also enjoyed the feeling of sand under her feet, and grass, and when she came home being enthusiastically greeted by the family dog.

Other Options: Activities and Positive Places
1 Aromatic / scented garden for the blind in Canada, the UK, Hong Kong.
2 Massage (especially Thailand, Bali and Asian countries).
3 Music Holidays.
4 Paralympic Games.
5 Toastmasters international has members

Useful Websites
https://www.traveleyes-international.com
https://www.disabledholidays.com/about/blind-and-partially-sighted-holidays.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Glennie (Blind percussionist.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_musicians
https://www.disabledholidays.com/about/holidays-for-deaf-people.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveleyes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g304554-d7317966-Reviews-Blind_Tours-Mumbai_Maharashtra.html (Not for the blind, blindfolding you.)
https://www.britishdeafnews.co.uk/seaside-fun-deaf-50s/
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/02/23/Hong-Kongs-aromatic-garden-for-the-blind-NEWLNUPI-Special-Sections-Gardening-87/5611541054800/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralympic_Games
http://www.ladyironchef.com/2018/02/wheelchair-friendly-attractions-singapore/
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
News item on blind toastmaster in USA:
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/07/05/local/361526001/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
(That was my second ribbon in a week. I won another ribbon for a travel topic which I will describe in my next post.)