Brixton Station and colourful, crowded, noisy, lively streets

 

Brixton station has delightful artwork. As do an increasing number of London stations.

Come out of the crowded underground station from Euston and look right. A seething mass of people, musicians with music blaring from portable loudspeaker. Happy couples, families, groups, laughing loners, people sleeping on the ground, beggars, and major international chain stores and supermarkets. All life, all the world, from all round the world, is here.  Above them on the right you'll see the bridge with murals carrying the overground. Walk towards it and take the first road right.  Now you are amongst the small shops and pushcarts selling ethnic food, clothes, and what looks like parties.

It's not all cheap. Lots of it is bling and pricey.

Take the tunnel adorened with more murals on your left. You pass the entrance/exit to the overground rain line going south. 

Now the murals are so gigantic there's no room for more graffiti.

More shops are every few steps. you come out into another street with more shops. All along under the overhead railway are arches filled with shops and eating places. One giant disco complex blrares music. Depending on the time of day, in the evening you see the market shutting up with a few leftover stall. You might see wheeled kiosks selling clothes, and open sided vans serving fast food.  

Beyond, towards the houses, are trees lit not just around the crown as in London's supposedly wealthier northern suburbs, but lights, bright blue, neon green, electric pink, down the drunk to the ground. Each tree transformed into a city artwork.

See more pictures in my other blog posts on Brixton.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Easy train changes

Some countries show easy changes on the main rail maps or supplementary maps. 

In Singapore the MRT map shows approximate walking time between stations nearby.

Sometimes the people manning the station kiosk are helpful. Other times they don't have a clue. You might find better results at another station. Nearer your change stations. 

Or ask people who live or work in the area. Or people who live in your block when you move to a new area.

If you move to a new city, you can calculate travel times. It is easier to time a real time journey.

Mark on your own 'magic' map the easy changeover stations and the difficult ones.

London, UK

For example, in London, sometimes you just have to cross the platform at stations such as Finchley Road going into town on the bakerloo and Met lines. And at Wembley Park.

Baker Street has some easy changes and some hard ones. 

Singapore

It also depends on your attitude. I like Newston station. I find the change over easy, although you take 2 escalotrs up, a quick walk past the ticket office, insert your ticket again. Better than Bugis which involves an escaalator up, a long walk with a travelator, Another escalator.  The worst station for me is Stevens.  I took a bus from the Orchard Road and Orchard MRT station area to Stevens MRT. I counted six escalators. My husband said it was five. Plus some walking. Whatever. it was more than two escalators too many.

Lots of stations have seveeral entrances and exits. For example, Tanjong Pagar. I was visiting International Plaza. On my way there, I had an Escalator up. Returning I would have had to descend a large number of steps.

However, new friends led me across the road, through a shopping centre, which seemed an unnecesary diversion, however, down a lift to the platform, no steps. 

Another station with assorted exits is Little India. Check exits in advance. if you take the wrong one, not only do you have a walk, but you might need to cross diagonally which means an L shape of two sets of traffic lights and long waits.

Useful Websites

UK

https://www.reddit.com/r/TransitDiagrams/comments/uhepia/oc_a_new_map_for_london_rail_river_services_with/

Singapore

https://mothership.sg/2017/09/lta-produces-maps-with-walking-times-calories-burnt-between-mrt-stations/#:~:text=It%20is%20estimated%20that%20by%20train%2C%20travelling%20time,is%20just%20five%20minutes.%20And%2022.5%20calories%20burnt.

American and British English - a few words

US flag

 American - British

diaper - nappy

dish soap - washing up liquid

soccer - football

Subway - underground

British - American

football - soccer

nappy -diaper

underground /tube - subway

washing up liquid - dish soap

Americanisms and British Equivalents - How Many Do You Know?

Americanism - British English

1 at this moment in time - now, currently

2 briefly - momentarily

3 bullshit - nonsense

4 dish brush - washing up brush

5 dish soap - washing up liquid

6 eraser - rubber

7 fall - autumn

8 faucet - tap

9 garbage - rubbish

10 momentarily - in a moment, shortly

11 next up - next

12 pavement - roadway

13 raised in - brought up in/grew up in

14 range - hob

15 resume - c.v. (Latin curriculum vitae)

16 rubber - condom

17 sidewalk - pavement

18 subway - underground

19 truck - lorry

20 trucker - lorry driver

British - Americanisms

1 autumn - fall

2 brought up in - raised in

3 soon, shortly - momentarily

4 condom - rubber

5 c.v. - resume

6 hob - range

7 lorry - truck

8 lorry driver - truck driver

9 nonsense - bullshit

10 now - at this moment in time

11 Pavement - sidewalk

12 rubber - eraser

13 rubbish - garbage

14 tap - faucet

15 underground - subway

16 washing up liquid - dish soap

17 washing up brush - dish brush

Useful Websites

wikipedia

About the author

Angela Lansbury was born and brought up in Britain but has also lived in the USA.

Delightful Decorations On London Underground Stations: Sherlock Holmes, Baker Street, Sir Christpher Wren, St Paul's, Piccadilly Station

When you get off at London underground stations you are treated to some historical murals made with tiles. Even if you don't alight, you can admire the sights through the windows or from the open doorway as the train stops.

The decorations also remind you which station is which. Instead of reading a newspaper, given out free at stations - look for the stacks, when you are near your destination, you can keep an eye on the passing stations so that you don't go past your stop.

My favourites include:

Baker Street

Sherlock Holmes

The pictures of Sherlock Holmes with his deerstalker hat and pipe are made up of tiles with tiny images.

Charing Cross

Allow time to admire the Charing Cross tube station panels on the platform coming in from Finchley Road station. This is the station for Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. 

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

You can see: 

1 poet and playwright William Shakespeare, 

2 one or more of the six  wives of King Henry VIII who was father of equally famous Queen Elizabeth I, and 

3 Sir Christopher Wren who built St Paul's Cathedral and many more buildings all over London to replace what was lost after the great fire.

Sir Christopher Wren and St Pauls Cathedral. Image at station. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Piccadilly

Piccadilly underground 'tube' station. Tiles in red and green. Notice mind the gap written on the edge of the platform. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Useful Websites

Wikipedia

Transport for London

https://tfl.gov.uk/

https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/social-media-and-email-updates/

Wikitravel

Wikivoyage

tripadvisor

About The Author

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

Fifteen Fun Ways Tourists Can Travel in Singapore or London and Cities Around The World

Singapore Flag.

Problem
What to do - where to go? How to get around? In Korea in the snow I was scared to walk to the nearby station. I ended up taking two expensive tours with an English language guide who picked me up from the hotel in the bus. Singapore is one of the easiest countries to get around. But all over the world you will find most of these options, such as hired bicycles you ride yourself, and the trishaws (three wheeled tourist vehicles with a guide in front pedalling), and hop on hop off bus tours.

APPS for your phone
googlemaps (go to google and look for google maps). Download ad from google store or on an iphone from the apple store. Install for free. Click on install.

my transport SG

Singapore MRT

1 BICYCLE

hellobicycle.co.sg

Other bicycles can be picked up and dropped off.


2 BUS (SG) (See app above)

Night buses in Singapore:
SMRT Night Rider
SBS Nite Owl Service
London, England, also has night buses.

3 CAR
Hire cars for use in the island to tour around or drive across the bridge to Malaysia.
If you want to fly-drive, you can also hire bicycles with helmets over in Indonesia. Remember to take your driving license as well as your passport and credit card. You might want to take your own helmet, driving gloves, goggles, suitable footwear, jacket, rainwear, waterbottles etc.

4 E-scooter
goscoot.com.sg
https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/e-scooter-laws-singapore

Scooter at Clarke Quay, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

5 Grab
www.grab.com/sg
Instead of a meter, find out the fare fixed in advance. Once I took a grab on a rainy day and one road was closed because of an accident. The journey took longer than expected but I did not have to pay any extra for the additional mileage.

6 LTR (See MRT)
Pass by the skyscraper housing blocks and the LRT carriage windows go dark to protect the privacy of the occupants. I met somebody who lives in one of the blocks. He says, residents can't see the trains or be seen, but can hear the trains passing.

7 Open top bus with commentary and map
(Free if you are on a stopover with Singapore airlines in daytime and have a few hours to spare.)
Several companies include:
Duck+Hippo
Charter tel: 6338 6877

8 MRT underground train
Must see the modern trains with the glass doors keeping passengers and their belongings off the tracks.

MRT Train map including LRT from the rack in any ticket office on the concourse level; also online.
Options include:
One trip ticket.
Multi-day tourist pass.
Ex-pasts who are senior citizens and PR permanent residents, can pply for a ticket which gives reductions on all journeys.

9 SINGAPORE FLYER
Book online for a daytime or evening ride with commentary.

Get a discount for a ride with another attraction.


Transit Link Hotline
1800 - 2255 663
www.transitlink.com.sg

SBS Transit Hotline
1800 - 287 2727
www.sbstransitlink.com.sg

SMRT Hotline
1800 - 336 8900
www.smrt.com.sg

10 Duck boat

11 River Boat/ Cruise
Singapore River Cruise Traditional Bumboat
riverboat.com.sg
rivercruise.com.sg

12 Taxi
Comfort (+65) 6552 1111

Premier Taxi (+65) 6363 6888

SMRT (+65) 6555 8888

Trans Cab
(+65) 6555 3333

13 Trishaw
Tour Little India for about 30 minutes with commentary, for  about S$39 adult and 29 for a child.
Got more time and money? Slightly longer, approx 45 minute tour of Chinatown or Kampong Glam for 49 adult and 39 child. Their leaflet has a handy map which enables you to identify your photos of streets and buildings such as mosques and temples afterwards.
www.trishawuncle.com.sg

14 Walk Alone / With your family and friends
a) Walk under the malls when it rains, from Orchard MRT to Ngee Ann City, basement one or basement two.

WALK UNDERGROUND
b) Ngee Ann City on the major shopping street, Orchard Road, illuminated for Christmas and Chinese New Year and other festivals. If it rains, walk along underground between the underground shops and eating places.


 c) Botanical Gardens And Parks

Botanical Gardens. Free. Singapore.

Free in Singapore. In most other cities you pay for Botanical Gardens, eg Indonesia and Madeira. In England, London's free parks include central Green Park, and Regents Park; in South London on a good day there's a view from and Horniman Museum Gardens (see my post).

d) Gardens By The Bay
Walking around the gardens admiring the plants and reading the plaques is free.
You can also pay to walk along the overhead walkway, about S$8 per adult. Some tickets for the two attractions of Gardens by the Bay include the walkway. (See my posts on Gardens By The Bay.)

15 Walk With Guide
www.singaporewalks.com

MORE INFORMATION FROM
BIKES
https://mobike.com/sg/faq
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OBike (Countries covered include Austria, Australia, France, Germany and more.)

Singapore Bike price comparison
https://www.shape.com.sg/lifestyle/bike-sharing-singapore-which-cheapest-option/

BUSES
Singapore
https://www.mytransport.sg/content/mytransport/home.html
London, England
https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

MULTI-TICKETS FOR TRAINS AND ATTRACTIONS OR BOTH
You can buy tickets for multiple journeys on underground trains in most cities of the world.
Multi-attraction passes are also available. Last summer leaflets on London's UK mainline stations offered discounts on attractions combined with railway tickets.
New York was offering a multi-pass to attractions.
London's multi-attraction pass included the Coca-Cola London Eye (big wheel) and other attractions.

TOURIST BOARDS
Singapore & UK and Other Tourist Boards
visitsingapore.com
https://www.visitsingapore.com/travel-guide-tips/getting-around/
visitbritain.com

AIRLINES
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com

TRAVEL SITES
tripadvisor.com

HIRE CAR
Note that if you speak German or other languages you will find translations of most of the English language websites. However, you might find lower prices or more choice on other websites set up by speakers of other languages, aimed at people whose point of departure is in those countries. The advertising is in their language and the bookings are at hotels where their language is spoken by staff and guided tours are in their language or available in their language. We discovered this on a trip to Madeira, organized by the Germans who we had met in Indonesia. They were booking hire cars at different rates and at different companies from those offered to us on our English language websites much cheaper than the hire care from the casino hotel reception which was delivered to the hotel. Our German friends paid for a taxi to the hire car firm office where they collected the car. That saved them a lot of money.

wikitravel
https://wikitravel.org/en/Singapore
https://wikitravel.org/ (Many other cities and countries with ads for tours.)

wikivoyage
Free travel guide that anybody can edit
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Singapore
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/

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

Shelter For Shoppers Needed On Rainy Days In Singapore

Problem
Shelter from rain and sun is not a new idea. Raffles introduced the five foot way. Five foot wide, wide enough for two people to pass without forcing somebody out into the rain, the sun, the gutter.

I walk along the pavement and a pram, bicycle or scooter forces me against the wall which ladders my clothes, or out into the road and passing cars. I bump people with my bag or get bumbped by their when i walk along. A husband and wife with two children block the entire pavement. I am passing in the corridor. I reach the ladies toilet and there is a queue at the ladies toilet, no room to enter and exit and get to the wash basins. The idea of the five foot way was great.\

Waiting for a bus or a taxi, where are the benches with backs, and the shelter. Even the long shelters for bus passengers fill up fast.

Covered ways are being built between the stations of the MRT (mass transit railway) and the nearby housing estates and schools. That is excellent.

 But what about Orchard Road. Between the Paragon shopping mall (with Metro department store  and lots of upmarket shops), local people and foreign visitors are stranded or drenched.

I came out of Paragon and along with many tourists was stranded. Waited twenty minutes. Yes, if you can afford it you can get a taxi - but then you would be leaving the Orchard Road shops and denying them purchases of clothes, souvenirs, food and drinks. I eventually got drenched going back towards Orchard MRT via Tangs department store. Yes, Tangs is linked to the MRT. But the shoppers here at the Paragon are cut off from Tangs.

I thought: How about crossing the road from the Paragon to Ngee Ann City opposite? On second thoughts: I am not dashing across a busy road in the wet. Yes, there's an underpass from the next mall to Ngee Ann City. But how do I get from the Paragon to the next mall?

 Am I going to cross to Ngee Ann City to visit the Kinokunia boostore? No. My bags and clothes are soaking wet. I am not buying books to get soaking wet.

To attract shoppers from one end of Orchard Road to the other, and from one side to the other, the street needs covered ways all the way along.

The same applies to other cities. Pedestrian ways in London's Oxford Street,or Windsor, are no use in the rain. Shopkeepers know that on rainy days shoppers don't come out. Do they realize that shoppers who are already out won't stay out?

Come on, business associations,city planners, councils and governments. Do a favour to the shops, shoppers, tourists, economy, and the ordinary citizens. You only have to look at a rainfall calendar to see that cities worldwide need shelter for shoppers.

In England we say, if you want different weather, wait five minutes. If you want to visit England or Singapore, here are some useful websites:

Useful Websites
singaporeair.com (Singapore airlines)

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

Queen Victoria Station Is Being Updated and Upgraded

Problem
Bits of the above ground mainline Victoria station are under wraps, literally.

Answer
However, other parts look great. Concentrate on the positive.

Queen Victoria profile white on blue in tiles on the underground at Victoria station. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Down On The Underground
I like the pictures of Queen Victoria on the underground decorating the platform walls. Blue solid silhouettes, resembling the pictures of her on the early Victorian pennies.

Up On The Main Concourse
When you come up the mainline station, you are impressed by the structure of the ceiling. It is similar to Paddington station in London and historic York station further north in England.

Vicoria station arched ceiling. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I have also see another grand arched station in Europe from that era - I haven't yet visited it but at least I have seen a picture of Lvov/Lviv/Lemberg (spelled differently in Austro-Hungarian Empire German, Polish and Ukrainian).

Standing on a station puts you in touch with the whole country as you look at the names on the Departure signboards. Then, if you are waiting on the concourse, or through the gates onto the platform, or sitting on a train waiting to depart, you might recall other journeys you have taken, or journeys taken by other people.

All around you are excited people.

I was there July 2018.  On the underground train, the atmosphere was crowded but noisy and jolly. Groups of young men were singing football suppport songs (England had just won and got through to the semi-finals). Girls sitting down, cluthing bags and shopping bags, smiled and joined in.

I thought, not everybody on the train will be a supporter of the England team. However, if I were in Spain and I heard the locals singing songs supporting their teams, I would find it amusing and adding to the ambience.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have posts on other London stations and statues of Brunel at Paddington. Please bookmark your favourite pages to come back and share links with your friends. If you would like a talk about London or any other country in the world, on video or in person, please contact me.

Where can I see a statue of Brunel?

Problem
Where is Brunel?

Answer
Here he is, seated on Paddington station.

Brunel on Paddington station. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

If you arrive on the underground train (for example from Queens Park), at the top of the long escalator, you see the exits and ticket office in front of you. Instead take the right hand corridor. At the end turn right and exit through the barrier. Ahead is a very short escalator. Alternative take a lift. This rings you out almost opposite the platform with seated Brunel.

What a magnificent roof the station has. Upstairs are some shops and restaurants. Engineer Bruneal sits surveying it all. I imgaine he must feel pretty pleased.

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

Brasov's Urban Grill For Romance and Romanian Food

Problem

Where can I eat Romanian food in Brasov? I see Italian restaurants, Hungarian restaurants, Turkish restaurants and kebab shops, all from neighbouring countries. On a wait day we are inclined to take refuge in the nearest nice, nooky place.

Greater Brasov spreads for miles. You drive through an uninviting industrial extended city. Then you reach the old pedestrianised city centre. You can walk around it in half a day.You can spin it out for a week  by visiting the church, museums and synagogue. But the streets of the old city are filled with restaurants.

Answer

Gratar Urban. The Romanians put the adjective after the noun, grill urban. In English that is Urban Grill. 

At first I am not sure if I am going to like this place. I want healthy food, not grills which char the outside of the food . We are shown to a table in an arched, underground, windowless room. I do like arches. I like a private room - especially for a noisy group. I'm still not sure. Plaster walls and wooden tables will be hard and uncomfortable and noisy, won't they?

However, the friendly waitress, white light, bright walls, start me on an uphill path to liking it more and more.

The piece de resistance, if you'll excuse my French, is the dessert. I must admit it's actually a Hungarian dish. But what a dish! It features chestnut puree. We used to have that in Jersey. We bought it in the local convenience store as a distress purchase. But despite it being not Romanian but Hungarian (which I found out later) at first bite our distress turned to delight. Pureed, sweetened chestnut is one the world's most more-ish 'to die for', or to diet for, foods.

Gratar Urban (Urban Grill restaurant)

Brasov

Romania

Gratar Urban, (Urban Grill), Strada Michael Weiss, Brasov 500031

Tel: +40 731832033

https://www.facebook.com/GratarUrban/

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several more posts on Romanian restaurants, food, wine, wineries and places to visit, plus learning to speak Romanian. Please share links to my posts.

Henry VIII, his wives, and Elizabeth I on Charing Cross Station

Charing Cross murals remind me of Henry IVIII and his unlucky wives. Henry doesn't look too pleased. Nor does Ann Boleyn. Cardinal Wolsey doesn't look terribly happy either. Elizabeth I is not exactly delighted either. Why do I like these portraits when they look so grim? I refuse to buy pictures to hang in my house which show glowering people. Same goes for miserable looking Teddy Bears and toys. But rather than looking at a blank wall, I'd always rather look at portraits of important people, and be inspired to learn a little more history.

Many kings and queens of England had dramatic lives, or made memorials of events in their lives. I love these murals. Charing Cross is associated with Eleanor, whose loss was

Problems
How do you know when it's your stop?

Answers
On most London trains you get a recorded announcement:
The next station is ....

Stories
I once missed my stop. What was worse, my stop was the point at which everybody got off. The train diverted off down into a dark siding. I alerted the driver and he took the train and me back to the station. I did feel foolish.

I expect when I arrived home late, somebody said to me, "What took you so long?"

The answer was, "A train driver accidentally took me into a siding. But when I pointed out that the train was not empty, he brought me back."

Tips
1 If you get off at Charing Cross Station, as the signs tell you, you can visit Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery, or The National Portrait Gallery.
2 If you are simply passing through, sit by the window and keep a look out for the murals.
3 Get to know what your usual stations look like.
4 Some people aim for an exact train time.
5 Some people can plan which end of the train to sit at to be near the exit stairs.
6 Note the time of your last train.

Breakfast On The Go
Others who change trains at a big station allow time to dash to a kiosk for a breakfast croissant before returning to make their connection. One girl had a regular morning order. She would arrive and wave. The cafe owner would grab her wrapped croissant from the counter and hand it over. She would hand over the exact money, race back down the stairs and onto the train to arrive at work exactly on time.

Keep a tube map in your pocket for every journey. Then if the trains are delayed you can plan an alternative route.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charing_Cross_tube_station

Author
Photos by Angela Lansbury.
See my other posts on London stations and stations in Singapore.

Poems on the Underground, Art, and Maps

If you are passing through one of the larger stations in Central London look for the brochures in the racks on Poems on the Underground and Art on the Underground.

I had expected a leaflet about trains, but the leaflet I picked up was 'celebrating Irish poetry'. The poems included were by Yeats and Seamus Heaney. Something to read on the train, also to keep.

Poetry
tel.gov.uk/poems

Art
art.tfl.gov.uk
Facebook: /artontheunderground

The art includes tiles, mazes, quotations and drawings of the staff. I'd love to do caricatures of famous people associated with every station.

The larger stations such as Euston have a leaflet showing the station and nearby roads and buildings, handing for finding your way.

A map covering a large part of central London is inside the leaflet which has a bicycle on the cover and the title Explore London with Santander Cycles. The map does not show every road, just the main roads and a few prominent landmarks. But it did alert me to the Handel House Museum, showing the location near Oxford Street.

Every time I look at Poems on the Underground, or see one of the poems overhead as I'm sitting on the train, I get the urge to write a poem about train travel.

The Underground
by Angela Lansbury

The escalator goes down and down
The Circle Line goes around and around
Teenagers lives carried in big backpacks
Mums in jeans clutching babies on their laps

The city's veins in coloured maps
Recordings warn you, "Mind the gap!"
Mobiles put a smile on every face
The busker strokes a double bass

Commuters race past far too quick
To get their money's worth of music
You could spend your life in the underground
Where shops and cafés form a hidden town

Watch where lines cross and where they meet
Too soon upstairs in the neon street
Where gusty wind, or snow or rain
Make you long for the warm train home again.
Copyright Angela Lansbury 2016.

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

Northwick Park Station, Art on the Underground

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

Boston, USA, poems in the rain, and poems on the train

Into every life a little rain poem must fall. First we had rude rhyming graffiti in toilets. Some were humorous. I bought a book of them. I remember one: "My mother made me a gay." Riposte: "If I gave her some knitting wool, would she make me one?"

Then in London we had Poems on the Underground. You can read them while you are sitting, if you look across and up. Or buy the book from the London Transport Museum or on line.

Picture from Wikipedia.

In Singapore quotations appear on posters which you read as you walk along the corridors from one line to the next at interchanges. The most familiar one is: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Lao Tsu.

Poems appear to attract your eye to messages suggesting that you move along the train, in Singapore and London.

In London we have have poems reminding us what to do. The same goes for Toronto in Canada.

Boston Poems on Pavement
When I say pavement, writing in England, pavement refers to what Americans call Sidewalk. To Americans pavement is what we call tarmac, in the road itself.

Now in 2016 in Boston, USA, poems are appear on pavements when it rains.  What a great idea to brighten rainy days.

How do they do it. Using stencils and water-repellent spray. So you cut out the letters of the poetry on a large card or sheet of metal. Spray over the stencil.

Umbrella Poems
Another idea I like is poems on umbrellas. I've seen quotations about into every life a little rain must fall. You can order customised umbrellas through websites.

I love Ralph's umbrella poem about a smile being an umbrella and even a broken umbrella protects you from the rain.

POEMS AND RHYMES
The first poem or rhyme I ever heard about rain was:

The rain in Spain 

Fall mainly on the plain. 

I think that was from an elocution class.

Upon us all
A little rain must fall.

Everybody wants happiness
Nobody wants rain
But you can't have a rainbow
Without a little rain.

Here's one I have just composed:

Sun and Rain, Snow and Rainbow
by Angela Lansbury

Without the rain the ground would harden
The rain does my work and waters my garden
It's not as good as the warming sun
Not as bad as snow - though some think skiing's fun

Even if it rains for hours and hours
Afterwards we have trees full of fancy flowers
Water for the vase, washing dishes in the sink
For washing pretty clothes, when thirsty you can drink

You'll need a lot of rain
Because when drought comes again
You can't deny it,
Governments buy it

Running to the station you can shelter from the rain
Use the handle to grab bars above on the train
Or lean on it like a walking stick
In the park use the point to shove aside a brick

If you don't think it'll rain
A small, compact one will do
Or a can't lose, bold, big one
For cuddling up for two

They've dammed the rivers, walk round the reservoir
Water is needed wherever you are
So make the best of the rainy weather
With a happy quotation on a bright red umbrella.

Angela Lansbury
2016 May 22 copyright

QUOTATIONS
Into every life a little rain must fall.
You can't have a rainbow without rain.

WEBSITES SIDEWALK POETRY
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/05/19/boston-hidden-sidewalk-poetry/
http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/05/boston-raining-poetry-sidewalk-street-art-invisible-graffiti/483512/
WEBSITES POEMS ON TRAINS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poems_on_the_Underground
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/30/transport-for-london-poetry-etiquette-commuters

WEBSITES POEMS ABOUT UMBRELLAS
http://hellopoetry.com/words/1017/umbrella/poems/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-umbrella/
For primary school teachers or parents:
http://thisreadingmama.com/free-rainy-day-pre-kk-pack-updated-expanded/

QUOTATIONS WEBSITES FOR PERSONALISING UMBRELLAS
http://www.bestsayingsquotes.com/quote/all-of-those-moments-will-be-lost-like-tears-in-the-rain-1858.html

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Wear A Hat Day, March 24th, to support Brain Tumour research

I saw the advertisements for wear a hat day on the underground in London in early March 2016. Their website says that research into brain tumours is woefully under-funded.

You probably know of somebody who has had a brain tumour and either recovered or died. People tend not to talk about it or think about it much.

My mother's cousin died of a brain tumour. I am still friends with her two daughters on Facebook. I was also friends with their late father's second wife who died this year.

I'm sure research has improved since those days but there's still more to be done. A difficult part of the body to look at and operate on.

The 24th is a Thursday.

The charity has been using this idea for several years now. But they have just got my attention with their advertising on the underground.

In addition to wearing a hat, you can buy a limited edition brooch featuring a hat, or set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money for the charity. I think you will like looking at their website showing the hat brooches designed by milliners through the years.

Famous people featured on their website include the chef Jamie Oliver, and actress Sheila Hancock. See them and their hats.

Fundraising
http://www.braintumourresearch.org/fundraising-for-vital-research

Make A Paper Hat
http://www.braintumourresearch.org/uploads/document/Brain_Tumour_Research__Make_a_Paper_Hat_Instructions_81.pdf

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

Using your phone, iPad and laptop when travelling

Your phone
Many cities, stations and cafes have areas where you can work on your laptop and log into wifi and hotspots. For example, sitting waiting for a bus in Switzerland I read a sign telling me I was in a hotspot. In the UK in London on stations you get free wifi, although the time is limited. You can also use phones in branches of Wetherspoons pub and Costa coffee shops. At Costa you may have to log in and get their password, but usually once you are on the system it works at every coffee shop.

Your iPad
A friend of mine from Writers' Summer School wrote to me on Facebook that she was unable to use her iPad to connect to the log on system for charging on Virgin, although the system says you can charge your iPad. Before that I hadn't even realised that you could use sockets to charge up use your machines on long journeys.

Charging Forbidden
Sockets on London overground trains have signs saying Not For Public use. This is a big disappointment. It costs them very little. In fact, surely it's like charging your phone in a moving car. The electricity is generated by the car.

I look forward to the day when my laptop and phone will be charged by sunlight or the movement of my wrist, - even a wind up computer, like a wind-up radio.

Meanwhile, if you invest in a power pack and charge it before you set off on your day's travels, you can be sure of more security and the ability to make that vital phone call, 'I'm here at the station/airport. Come and find me!'

Please, Mr Mayor, help the public use phones on public transport. What's the point of giving us free wifi when a phone has died.

The most vulnerable people are the ones most likely to have phones which die on them.  When we travel home late at night, that's when we need the safety of a phone.

I also read that somebody was fined for staying more than two minutes at a pickup point.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/iphone/11737063/Man-arrested-after-charging-iPhone-on-London-Overground.html
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2242801/The-trick-beat-private-parking-tickets-I-dodged-service-station-fine.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2981794/10-minute-let-avoid-parking-ticket-month-new-law-let-overstay-meter-without-fine.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3170758/Pregnant-mum-hit-70-parking-fine-stopping-just-SIX-minutes-partner-changed-baby-s-nappy.html


Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker.