How I used to pick up litter and abandoned items carefully during Covid-19

 

If you are sent litter-picking by a government or other official organization, you might be provided with protective gloves, a large overall or apron, a bag with handles, and a litter picker. (As well as a mask and hand sanitiser.)

I used to pick up abandoned items. I would put my hand inside a plastic bag and use that as a glove. I could drop litter in bins. I later took two plastic bags, as I often used the other hand for larger objects.

Anything plastic or fabric which I picked up on my way to the station could be washed in the station ladies toilet, placed inside a plastic bag and taken home to be washed before recycling.

Nowadays, 2020, with Covid-19, I no longer pick up abandoned items. However, if you carry a pair of protective gloves, and a large bag, you can pop into your bag anything you don't wish to touch. The bag and contents can be washed, wiped with sanitiser, kept aside for a week or longer - whatever is recommended for the material, and/ or put in the freezer.

Please follow government and official guidelines.

Useful Websites

https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/get-involved/support-our-campaigns/great-british-spring-clean/coronavirus-guidance

https://www.kidshivis.co.uk/adults-hi-vis-vests/153-8418-adults-litter-picking-set-kit.

About the Author Of This Post, Angela

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

Author of Wedding Speeches & Posts, Etiquette for Every Occasion, Quick Quotations, Who Said What When?

You can contact Angela through Facebook, LinkedIn, and Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters on Facebook or Toastmasters Interntional.com find a club . Angela is a member of four Toastmasters Clubs and BHA IPP, Immediate Past President, and VP PR (Vice President Public Relations) for 20202-2021

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Central Heating Won't Work: Success, disaster, humour

1 Check the timer by the boiler.

2 Check the radiators - may need bleeding.

3 Check the room or hall temperature timer.

Plumbing Success Story

We called a plumber in 2002. He found that our son had turned the room temperature control down in the summer. He made no charge. He looked at other jobs which needed doing and gave us helpful advice.

What if the heating still doesn't work?

Next steps would be:

1 Drain the radiators. Last time this took a day. They emptied one at a time out in a garden or patio.

Plumbing Disaster Story

On another occasion the plumber had to turn off the water.

We were in a block of flats. Our plumber accidentally turned off the flat upstairs. 

Very irate lady upstairs. She had already spent time and money on

He had by now gone to lunch and claimed his car broke down, he was in a traffic jam, would be back at 5 pm. The lady upstairs had bought gallons of drinking water.

I offered to let her fill her kettle and take a shower my next door neighbour's flat which was empty and to which I had the key.

Finally the plumber came back and put on everybody's water.

As an antidote to the stress of that story, I would like to end with an amusing true story. You couldn't make it up. I didn't. 

The Heating Control

I went to the residents' management meeting at another block of flats, in St John's Wood.  One lady complained about the heating going off in the evenings. 

Her neighbour said he thought the heating was fine. It was cold in the day, but when he came home at a quarter to six pm he turned it up and by the time the six o'clock new started it was nice and warm.

The lady said, "But at six o'clock, when the news starts, my flat gets cold. 

After a minute, her neighbour said, as a joke, "Maybe your flat is wired up to my control. And mine is wired up to your. Or the labels are the wrong way round."

Everybody laughed. Half a minute later, the man with the toasty warm flat said, "Let's check the controls. I'll turn my heat off. Tell when your goes on and off."

The two of them disappeared. Half an hour later they reappeared, both grinning. 

The man said, "The flats are wired up to the controls wrongly. My controller operates her flat and her controller operates mine.  Don't worry. We won't charge the residents' association anything. I can get it fixed."

Everybody grinned. Years later, I still smile when I think about it. I expect the other residents also smile.

Tip

It sounds like a joke. But this sort of thing happens frequently, mostly within your own home. An electrician or plumber who is a novice, or doing things in a rush, connects things the wrong way round.

Even a scientifically minded householder who knows how his own heating system works can forget to check one of the controls. As happened to us. 

Don't assume that because wire or pipe A should be connected to B and C should be connected to D, that it has been done that way. That is wishful thinking. 

Murphy's Law says it best. Assume that 'anything which can go wrong will do so'.

Useful Websites

check a trade (UK)

About the Author

Fraud Awareness | Have you got some money? | Pam Ayres

35 Ways To Reuse and Recycle Broken Umbrellas

Broken black umbrella. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

My umbrellas often break when I am travelling. I often see discarded umbrellas and pick them up. 

Then what do you do with them?

Richtom80, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Umbrella Parts 

Starting at the handle, a curved handle, we have the crook handle. The handle has what looks like a bolt at the top of the straight part called the tip cup.

The main straight upright, like a tree trunk, or flower stem, is called the tube.

The triangular metal piece sticking out near the handle which you press to open the umbrella is called the bottom spring. Another one at the top under the stretchers is the top spring.

The metal spokes radiating out are called stretchers. The arched metal parts (which fold in telescopic umbrellas) are called ribs.

The end of the tube is called the end. The small cap part which touches the ground when you fold up the umbrella and use it like a walking stick is called the ferrule.

Tips On Mending Tips

Lost Umbrella tips

1 Sometimes the umbrella fabric is detached from one of the tips of the spokes (runners). You may simple be able to reattach it, the tip, to the runner. Clip

2 If the tip is lost, see if you can sew the end of the fabric on through a hole or ring. Or glue it to the end of the spoke. 

3 Or make a new tip by making a hole in the end of a plastic bottle top.

4 Or combine tips from two umbrellas to create one new one.

I like to buy two identical umbrellas, either same colour or different colours such as one black, one white, or one red, one black or navy. Then, if you lose one tip from each, you still have one umbrella and lots of spares.

Re-Using Fabric

I often want to save the fabric, maybe to cover another umbrella whose fabric has got dirty.

Other people have used the umbrella fabric to make a tote bag.

You could sew a poncho or hat or raincoat for a doll, or a teddy bear.

The Metal

Use the wonky umbrella to shelter a picnic. Use the spokes to support plant stems, or as a trellis for climbers (those which are decorative, not for fruit in case you catch your hands on the spikes).

Photo Props

I use broken umbrellas as photo props.

Turn the umbrella so that the broken part is behind your back.

Spares To Loan/Give Away For One Use

If an acquaintance wants to borrow an umbrella from you on a rainy day but you are afraid you will never get it back, you can lend them a broken umbrella for a one way trip from your house to a waiting taxi.

While you are stuck at home or in a hotel or quarantine centre after travelling during Covid-19, you can use the time repairing or upcycling your broken umbrellas.

Umbrellas as Parasols

The word umbrella comes from the root umbra meaning shade.  (Burn umber - dark umber paint.) Umbrellas were derived from parasols - against the sun, sol being a word for sun, as in solar eclipse). In a hot country or on a hot day you can use an umbrella to protect against the sun.

A white umbrella can be used in photography. 

An umbrella can be used to hide your face from cameras. Also to hide your body when you need to relieve yourself when hiking in a national park which lacks toilets (as we found in Romania and Bulgaria) or where toilets are closed for economy or for health reasons during covid-19 or closed at night for security. 

Umbrella Stories

I once caught the last train in London, England, and found the toilets at my destination were locked. The umbrella came in handy.

 I also found in Guilin, China, that the toilet cubicle doors were missing and off their hinges. I had no privacy because, all the Chinese girls called each other to come to look at me because a Westerner was a novelty in deepest China. 

Afterwards I told a friend. They said, 'Why didn't you just open your umbrella!' 

The moral is, always carry an umbrella. If you don't have one, and you see a broken one lying around, you can use that.

Nowadays, 2020, with Covid-19, I no longer pick up abandoned items. However, if you carry a pair of protective gloves, and a large bag, you can pop into your bag anything you don't wish to touch. The bag and contents can be washed or put in the freezer.

Props

I use broken umbrellas as props for photos, at home, in a garden or on a balcony. You could also do this on a rainy day, a cloudy day, or a sunny day.

 

Useful Websites 

35 Ways To Reuse and Recycle Umbrellas

How to hand-sew a zip

Why would you want to hand sew a zip?

1 Your old zip has come loose.
2 The old zip is broken and needs replacing by a new one.
3 An open tote bag neds a zip to prevent theft and to prevent items falling out.

I wrote this on Facebook in reply to somebody else's post.
If you don't have a sewing machine, it is easier than it looks. Just decide whether you want your zip hidden or exposed.

At what height do you want the pull tab. Pin the pull tab in place.

Then pin the other end.

Pin the middle of both sides of the zip.

Sew a straight line. Use matching colour cotton. Best to do a tacking stitch (Big running stitch) first, which can be easily pulled out if the zip is in the wrong place.

Sew neatly up both sides, making sure you do not attach the zip to the other side of the garment at the back.

Make sure the end of the zip is tucked in. Over-sew the end so the zip pull doesn't pull out of the end.

Replacement zips can be bought online from major suppliers such as Amazon. Also craft shops. Discount shops such as Daiso.

Or save zips from discarded old or stained clothes and bags.

Any questions or problems?

Useful Websites

https://www.daisojapan.com/p-21455-zipper-ivory-5-pcs-4pks.aspx

For something heavier, and no need to sew the ends together, a jacket zipper, but start with it zipped up to be sure the sides align.

https://www.amazon.com/YaHoGa-Separating-Jacket-Zippers-Plastic/dp/B08M97CJND/ref=zg_bs_2933767011_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3GKZBF87029W9BTRTNSH

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, Author of: How to get our of the mess your'e in.