Lovely Lebanese Food At Lattakia Lebanese Restaurant, Hatch End, Pinner, North West London

Lattakia's delightful decor. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Decor

The decor was delightful. A patterned tiled floor. The lanterns are atmospheric, curved tear-drop lanterns.

Service

Service was swift. When I asked about having chicken I was quickly shown the two choices. When I asked if I could have potatoes, I was quickly offered the extra potato option. (The manager /owner escorted us to the door as we left.)

Food & Prices

Hot envelope shape bread with olives is placed on the table on arrival. They replaced the bread before we had finished. I had seen complaints from other diners about being charged for the first lot and/or replacement. However, we had the bread and olives as a starter, ordered one starter as a main course (humous).  The menu states that replacement bread costs four pounds. The whole menu cost - rnd.ead on to the end.

The spicy fish was given the above average vote by the person who chose that.

I liked my shredded chicken with rice.

Potatoes

 I ordered extra potatoes which were served on the side. They were big potato chips. ((Not thin crisps, but solid oblongs of potato.)  I thought the food was 'average.  (Why? Because I like all the restaurants in Hatch End, and most I visit in London, having selected carefully, so I need to save the above average awards for those with dramatic presentation. However, the other two of the three of us dining thought the food was above average. 

Booking and Tables

We managed to get a table without booking on a Friday night about 8 pm.

Closing time

They were empty by 10.30 Friday night. The Italian restaurants on the same side of the road, and the Middle Eastern and oriental restaurants opposite were still bustling.

Take Home Food

They gave us metal containers and lids to pack up our leftover food. If you are dividing food between two sets of people, divide the food, instead of putting all the potatoes in one container and all the chicken in another.

bIf you like their desserts, you can buy presentation boxes.

Baklavas and sweets at Lattakia restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

We did not order desserts, just coffee for one person. But with the bill came a mini morsel of a baklava for each of us. What the French call an amuse bouche.

Everybody was happy. The bill was about seventy plus for three, and we had leftovers for a second meal for all three of us.

Top Plus Points? 

1 Hot pita bread on arrival.

2 I liked the chicken and the big chips.

3 Personal supervision from the owner.

4 Despite the small size of the restaurant, we found it easy to get a table.

5 Ground floor toilet.

Any Warnings?

1 Extra charge for the bread.

2 Noisy when full early evening because of the hard surfaces, tiled floor, not tablecloths. However, at the end of the evening when other tables had emptied it was quieter.

Useful Websites

https://www.lattakia.co.uk/

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Drinking water tip for Stansted Airport - and all airports

 

Staying Hydrated

It is important stay hydrated. You can find water fountains beyond Security.

To avoid buying water, take an empty bottle through security. At the other side, fill up with water from the fountain outside the toilets. You might need to ask for the toilets. You might have to wait in the queue (Americans say line up) for water. If you have loads of time, that is ok.

Radisson Hotel, Stansted

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Update On Rail Strikes - how we and Carolyn coped

Carolyn's reassuring photo of her train on Saturday 20t August 2022.

We had conflicting directions from the TFL sites. One said the trains were not running. The other said that Overground lines w delere mostly cancelled,  but some underground would be running, with delays.

We sent an overseas visitor by a cab company to a local station. The fall back was that if the trains were not running, a member of our family would fetch her and drive her to the coach at Liverpool street bus station.

It took us a day or two to realise that the train station was not the coach station.

The train goes to the Liverpool street train station. Where is the coach station? It is shown as six minutes from the railway station. Hm. She said she does not want to carry luggage and will take a taxi. 

But when I tried to take a taxi from Kings Cross to the adjacent station, taxis would not go. The journey was too short to make it worth my while, or theirs. And the traffic direction system was one way in the wrong direction.

We waited to hear from her. She messaged she was expecting her first underground train. So far, so good. 

She sent a picture on Facebook  

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Preparing For Car Journeys - Windscreens and direction screens and Satnav

 

Windscreen Cleaner. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Windscreen A windscreen cleaner. In some countries, a person will come out and clean your windows. This happened at garages when we stopped for petrol in Cyprus. You need to know whether it is free or whether you are expected to give a cash tip. Ask local drivers.

In the UK this does not happen. So I bought a cheap windscreen cleaner. You need to dampen it before your journey.   If you use it, you may wish to wash out the insects and dry the windscreen cleaner later.

Wiper Lever

If you have not driven for a while, check which side is the hand lever for the windscreen wipers, and which side is your signal for left and right. I was using both in my haste to signal when changing lanes on UK motorways. Not good as you risk scratching your windscreen with the wipers.

Oddly, the lever for signalling turning left, and right, is on the right hand side of my (right hand drive wheel) in the UK. The windscreen wipers in a Renault Clio are on the left.

Side for Filling Up

The petrol cap is on the driver's side in my car,  so I look for a free space on the right so I can pull up with the petrol cap near the petrol dispenser.

On your car dashboard, there should be a symbol showing on which side of the car to find the petrol cap.

I had already checked where it was, how to pull open the cover, and that I could turn the cap. Under the cover it tells me which petrol to buy.  A choice of two. I opt for the cheaper as my husband says that is good enough.

I remember our first trip abroad together in a hire car. We stopped in pouring rain on the motorway and could not find how to open the boot. (Americans say trunk.)

Now we are well prepared, we think.

SatNav

I had set my satnav with the help of my husband to show the way to my destination and home. I had a TomTom, which is a brand of satnav (which is nowadays in 2022 a generic term in the UK.) I am explaining that because my friend from Singapore asked me why I called it a TomTom.

Directions

On the way to Swanwick, Derbyshire, I had in my mind Junction 28, but not place names.

Luckily, on the way there, I knew from previous journeys that junction 27 would be Derby and 28 would also be Derby. 

On the way back to London from up north, I could not get either the TomTom or the radio - although I turned on the volume control on the dashboard and the hand-held device set to menu. 

Luckily I had a passenger who set her phone to deliver directions with a spoken guide. It told me when to get in lane ready to turn right at the lights, or for the third exit from a roundabout, or onto the left lane for the slip road exit. Very helpful, because sometimes the junction was not marked, only the name. 

Afterwards,  I was still confused by exit signs to Alfreton, and other small places on route. However, once when we went the wrong way, the new route took us to an easier turn.

Goodbye

The current UK goodbye message is, "Have a safe journey!"

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Rail strikes: Stansted dropoff, hotel, taxi compare

 

With rail strikes in the UK this weekend and next I was looking online for a friend who has to travel from Stansted in the UK overseas.

Coaches go from central London several other cities. 

Coaches go from Liverpool Street and other places in London, including Watford, depending on your ultimate destination.

How do you get to the departure point of the coach? Stay nearby overnight. Try uber. Phone your favourite taxi company. If its nearby and they are on the phone you can walk round.

I booked a pickup at Heathrow last month. I could not get through later when diver, "The the passenger phoned to tell me, 'My plane's landed earlier.'

I got a message from them saying when I called they were on the phone (taking another booking). They knew about the early arrival and told me, 'The driver knows. He's on his way.' 

The fare was higher than expected. 

I had asked for the taxi number and phone when booking the day before, but was told, 'We don't yet know who will be available'.

We used to wait until the day to book a taxi, because we once booked the day before and they came a day early.

However, with all the current problems, you might want to book i n advance.

Stop location

We looked up the Stansted dropoffs online. 

You can get a paid for place in the short stay. But free in Midstay. You need to take the ticket from the machine for exit. I was wondering if you need a car park exit ticket from, for example, having a sandwich at Marks & Spencers. (At busy times, like musical chairs, seating in the indoor forecourt outside).

If you were leaving your car there for a week, as we did when we went to Cyprus, you book in advance and give them your car number from the number plate. On arrival at the car park entrance, they have automatic numberplate recognition and the gate swings open. Have your paperwork printed and in the passenger's hand. Did you book short stay, midstay or longstay? The prices are different. 

FREE in midstay. Why? Maybe because you will be eating and shopping.

Feeder Bus

You need to catch a bus to the terminal. Allow time. A marchall might direct you to the nearest spot. If you have pushchairs or wheelchairs ask for a nearer spot to the bus. The bus is a loop.Bus pickup and drop off points  are different. We once waited at drop off and when we tried to board the driver would not let us on. He pointed to the pickup stop.

You can get a street view which shows you exactly what street signs you will be seeing. 

The same goes for driving to unfamiliar places. You can do a complete street  view of your journey from a hotel or home to a railway station or motorway exit or entry point. When you are told, turn off at the roundabout, you can see the exact road name, and the houses or shops or church to look out for. Even if the streetview shows the motorway sign partly obscured by trees. Very helpful. Relieves mishaps, midirections, and stress.

Stansted Hotels

Radisson Blu

Useful Websites

https://www.stanstedexpress.com/travel-information/rail-strike-advice/

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

https://www.instantstreetview.com/

https://www.uber.com/gb/en/ride/?

https://www.taxipricecompare.co.uk/

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Nicaragua - Land of Lakes & Volcanoes and straw hats

 

Angela Lansbury wearing a pink, straw, fraying, beachcomber hat. Photo selfie by Angela Lansbury. 
 

I thought I wasn't wearing my glasses. My hat straw got in the way.

 The straw was over my eyes and so my glasses focussed on the straw. I had to tilt my head to see under the straw. I thought I wasn't wearing glasses.

Those annoying straws interfered with my vision. I didn't like those prickly spokey, spikey straws on my face, near my mouth and nose and eyes. And on my shoulders. 

I took off the hat.

I looked it up online. It was a style called Beachcomber. Plenty like it. 

I hunted for fixing it. You can make them waterproof with a spray of Shellac. But nowhere were instructions for plaiting up the edges and sealing them down. It would take hours. Then clear nail varnish?

Or sew in a circle? Then cut back the protruding spikes?

I tried it on the other way round. Ah!

The hat was not stupid. I was stupid. The hat bent upwards over the forehead and hung down at the back. 

But, then it did not protect your eyes from the sun. A sunhat has two purposes, to protect the crown of your head, and to keep the sun out of your eyes, to stop you squinting, and  to keep the sun off your nose and face To protect you from cancer.

If you just want to look funny in a photo, or fetching and amusing at a poolside party, this hat does the trick.

Straw hat the right way around. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The hat is from Nicaragua.

Nicaragua hat, hatband. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Places to visit

According to Wikipedia

 The majority of tourists who visit Nicaragua are from the U.S., Central or South America, and Europe. According to the Ministry of Tourism of Nicaragua (INTUR),^[199] the colonial cities of León and Granada are the preferred spots for tourists. Also, the cities of Masaya, Rivas and the likes of San Juan del Sur, El Ostional, the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception, Ometepe Island, the Mombacho volcano, and the Corn Islands among other locations are the main tourist attractions. In addition, ecotourism, sport fishing and surfing attract many tourists to Nicaragua.

According to the TV Noticias news program, the main attractions in Nicaragua for tourists are the beaches, the scenic routes, the architecture of cities such as León and Granada, ecotourism, and agritourism particularly in northern Nicaragua.^[194] As a result of increased tourism, Nicaragua has seen its foreign direct investment increase by 79.1% from 2007 to 2009.^[200]

Nicaragua is referred to as "the land of lakes and volcanoes" due to the number of lagoons and lakes, and the chain of volcanoes that runs from the north to the south along the country's Pacific side.^{[11][12][201]} Today, only 7 of the 50 volcanoes in Nicaragua are considered active. Many of these volcanoes offer some great possibilities for tourists with activities such as hiking, climbing, camping, and swimming in crater lakes.

Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve is a nature reserve located between the departments of Masaya and Granada.

The Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve was created by the eruption of the Apoyo Volcano about 23,000 years ago, which left a huge 7 km-wide crater that gradually filled with water. It is surrounded by the old crater wall.^[202] The rim of the lagoon is lined with restaurants, many of which have kayaks available. Besides exploring the forest around it, many water sports are practiced in the lagoon, most notably kayaking.^[203]

Sand skiing has become a popular attraction at the Cerro Negro volcano in León. Both dormant and active volcanoes can be climbed. Some of the most visited volcanoes include the Masaya Volcano, Momotombo, Mombacho, Cosigüina and Ometepe's Maderas and Concepción.

The Solentiname Islands are tropical islands located in Lake Nicaragua which are home to 76 bird species and are a growing ecotourism destination.

Ecotourism aims to be ecologically and socially conscious; it focuses on local culture, wilderness, and adventure. Nicaragua's ecotourism is growing with every passing year.^[204] It boasts a number of ecotourist tours and perfect places for adventurers. Nicaragua has three eco-regions (the Pacific, Central, and Atlantic) which contain volcanoes, tropical rainforests, and agricultural land.^[205] The majority of the eco-lodges and other environmentally-focused touristic destinations are found on Ometepe Island,^[206] located in the middle of Lake Nicaragua just an hour's boat ride from Granada. While some are foreign-owned, others are owned by local families.

Useful Websites

Wikipedia

Nicaragua

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Bites - Carry & Pack Prevention, Protection, and Cure

 Bites! Flies! Thorns!

Blackberries and roses have thorns. Some long  grasses have nasty sharp edges.

 Warning: I got bitten on my arms and legs. Where? Out by the bushes, cutting them down to reach blackberries for British blackberry and apple pie. So, I got bitten?  Does it matter? Yes. Here's why. 

1 Visual

It is unsightly. I saw a girl on the Singapore MRT train. She was wearing a fetching outfit of shorts and a crop top. Unfortunately, her legs were covered by pink pimples. It looked horrible. Her sour expression suggested she was feeling irritable, irritated.

 If you scratch the bites, the blood stains your clothes. The blood attracts other insects, mosquitos, leeches, bed bugs.

2 Distraction From Work

The constant annoyance distracts you from work. You keep thinking about insect bites.

3 Disease

Mosquitoes carry malaria. Dengue fever.

Singapore/UK/Europe/USA/Australia

What is the prevention? What is the cure?

 If you are out and about in England or Singapore for a day trip, or week trip like Writers' Holiday in Swanwick, use insect repellent on your body. 

UK Anti Bites

Also pack and carry sting relief. Plus water and a charged phone, sunhat with brim, insect killer or fly swatter, or glass and solid card base for throwing insects out of car/bedroom/conference room windows, plus cover for arms and legs.

What you might see in the shops

Ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice.

Beconase is different, a spray for hay fever.

Cetirizine 

Philistines

Pyrite

Suggestions

Stingoes (sold in Australia and online)

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