Organic-Ally

So us women send more sanpro (sanitary protection) to landfills than babies do nappies. 17,000 in one life-time has been the oft-quoted figure. Hmm. Must do something about that. But I've had many excuses for not doing what seems eco-logical: My periods are very heavy since the birth of my child. Heavy periods means lots of washable pads and therefore lots of headache. I am nearly menopausal (the popular description these days is 'peri-menopausal') and do not have many more years of using disposables. At the same time there is one pressing reason to convert: even brand-name pads start to chafe after a while, so sensitive is my skin. Nosing around the internet once more on the subject it was clear that any inner protection is not my style, and our friends Hankettes in Canada produces a pad which they claim to be different. A few weeks ago something clicked. I felt I must give washable pads a go to see if they work. Hankettes sent some samples over for me to trial. If they ar

Haven't we heard it somewhere before? Rising prices threaten millions with starvation, despite bumper crops Warnings over future food crisis Who knows there's a food crisis? Back to Organic-Ally .

Today I woke up to my old mates at RGS telling me about the rise in price of tauhu (soya bean curd, a staple food). I recalled what I wrote in a comment to the Straits Times report on 2nd June 2007. The PM pronounced " climate change as long-term security threat ". My response is reproduced here, copied from the ST 'Discussion Board': [8th March 2008: OOps! How embarrassing! I just realized that I had copied this onto an earlier post . Sorry for the repetition. Sign of ageing, I'm afraid.] ============= June 02, 2007 Saturday, 08:01 PM It is good to see that the Singapore government is at last (or is it?) waking up to the ramifications of climate change on our little red dot. For me, climate change is not only about the use or abuse of plastic bags, it is not only about burning fossil fuels, it is not only about the haze (for example). It is about food. It is about food security, and along with that access to water, and yes, many wars have been fought over food

I was in a flap. I had sent off my passport to a government agency for something to be done and had taken care to do so by special delivery. Because husband had done the actual registration I had assumed that he had arranged all payments and would have organized the passport to be returned by special delivery. No, he hadn't. There was nothing to pay, he said, so he could not pay for return postage, special delivery or not. So I fretted for the best part of a week. The passport was returned by ordinary post on Saturday. They required it again because something else was not sent. So, another trip down to post office to organize special delivery to and fro this time. I worked in Amsterdam where the trade of certain types of passports is good business. It is also going to be a real hassle if I did lose my passport. So I guess I "had the right" to be worried. Then I got a letter from husband's late cousins's partner. She is going blind slowly, and her daughter is only

Ash Wednesday today, which marks the beginning of Lent. I was very chuffed last week to receive a string bag order from a school where the PTA is encouraging parents to give up plastic bags for Lent. What a great idea! Here is my household, things are a bit awkward. Yesterday I had the privilege of 'inducting' some new mums into running the Pancake Race -- which is now a new-ish tradition -- at school. We probably raised more money than the last two or three pancake races put together. Brill. My son brought his Palm cross from last year back to school to be burned for Ash Wednesday. But Ash Wednesday this year is also the eve of Chinese New Year where typically we would have a reunion dinner with lots of good food. I remember often waiting up till late (especially when my sister was a nurse working shifts, or my father would wait for hours at the barber's to have his hair cut) till every one was home to have this dinner. The pictures we see of the millions of Chinese trying

I chanced upon this article about the rising cost of food in Singapore. It caused me to search out a comment I left on the Straits Times Discussion Board some time ago. (For some reason this board does not let me log back in. ) ======================== DrLeeSiewPeng Posts: 4 June 02, 2007 Saturday, 08:01 PM It is good to see that the Singapore government is at last (or is it?) waking up to the ramifications of climate change on our little red dot. For me, climate change is not only about the use or abuse of plastic bags, it is not only about burning fossil fuels, it is not only about the haze (for example). It is about food. It is about food security, and along with that access to water, and yes, many wars have been fought over food and water (along with opium and tea, etc). Singapore has long worked on a trouble-shooting/fire-fighting mode of policy-making. Too many babies, make it difficult for some children to get to a school of their choice. Too few babies, offer cash/tax incentiv

Wow! What a surprise this Saturday. My family in Singapore are having their Chinese New Year reunion dinner and I can't be there. And the Straits Times has published in the print section my letter in response to the banning of the Singapore Complaints Choir from public performances. I remember once in the Slovak Republic I told a bunch of university students from the Baltic states that if they wished to have their voices heard, they must write to the press. They must write and keep writing, and soon the editor would get so fed up, he/she would publish a letter. If only they had spelt my friend's name correctly. (Actually, I think I might have been the one who spelt 'Marjorie' wrong. Sorry, Marge.) So here is their edited version: =================== Feb 2, 2008 Why squash singing bird amid renaissance drive? THE prohibition against foreign members performing in the Complaints Choir just does not square with the current debate on renaissance and graciousness. Like ever

For some reason I didn't have time to read the MM's message on (not) retiring till late last week. I drafted a response to his comments and sent it off to The Straits Times on Sunday. Today I received their unusually prompt reply that they are not running it. So this is it: a view from the social anthropologist who researched ageing for her PhD thesis. I also made reference to my stint as a factory worker when I was working on my Master's degree. Us social anthroplogists do a lot of 'participant observation'. =============== If we push the argument that ‘retirement means death, don’t stop working’ to the limit, a possible result would be people won’t start working in the first place. In my research I found that the happiest old people are those who are able to ‘age gracefully’. They accept that their bodies age, their eyes grow dim, their hearing deteriorates, and strength seeps away, little by little. They are always finding a new ‘equilibrium’ as they go through

I have a problem most other women would like. When my husband comes shopping with me – in real life, via catalogue or online when I really need to have something replaced – and I chance upon something nice and have difficulty deciding between one colour or another, his response is always, “Have both. Or all three.” As a result there are a few things in my wardrobe and coat cupboard which I have not yet been able to wear because of this. But things are getting better. I have learned to arm myself with some useful phrases when I shop with husband, or to remind myself when shopping alone. For clothes shopping, useful anti-buying mantras are: 1) “Do I really need another of those?” When one coat could see me between or over two seasons, just the one will do. If there is a very similar item in the wardrobe, just the one will do. Do I need another hat, another pair of gloves, another this or that? Do I really, really need another one of those? 2) “There’s no room in my wardrobe.” For a long

Another letter has been prepared in response to the MM's comment on retirement. It will be interesting to see whether it gets published, and which platform it might land on. It goes onto this blog if the papers refuse to run it. Back to Organic-Ally .

Outside my door sits a catalogue for some household products left by 'Ian' two weeks ago. Looks like Ian has forgotten to collect his catalogue or he has given up on selling. I was first introduced to this form of selling/buying when I first came to this country, O, some 15 years ago. This chap dropped off this catalogue. I found some things useful in there and ordered. He delivered. I paid by cheque. We chatted and he told me that his wife was expecting and he wanted to make some extra money. These catalogues kept coming, but they were never from the same person. I quickly figured that while the big company will always make a profit from what it sells, the little persons dropping and collecting the catalogues cannot be making enough money to make this a worthwhile second income. But it does not matter to the big company. So long as there are people out there hoping to make some commission and doing the legwork for them, products will be shifted. I've been thinking of tryin

My latest 'claim to fame' is 'taking on' the former Prime Minister of Singapore (now known as 'Minister Mentor') on the issue of graciousness. A funny thing happened, really. I sent a response to the MM's comment to The Straits Times Forum page. I was contacted by someone from my paper , a new bi-lingual newspaper within the same Straits Times stable. I was told that The Straits Times will not be running my letter, would I like to see it published in the new free newspaper with a 'circulation' of 300,000? The letter was published, edited of course, and which you could read here (reproduced below) not in my paper , but in asionone , another publication in the of Straits Times stable, yes. My letter was reproduced in another paper without my permission. (I'm editing this on 24th January 2008: The edited letter was in fact first published in my paper but I cannot insert a link here, and chanced upon my letter in asiaone . Hope this makes it

It has been a busier than expected year-end for me. I am not complaining. In fact it was very exciting and rewarding. I did notice that in the real shops, prices were being slashed before Christmas and I wondered what the effect that would have on the profit margin. According to M&S: not so good. Anyway the crazy sales continue and I must confess that I have taken the opportunity to buy a few things that I need, thinking ahead. So for customers who do read this blog my apologies for not being able to offer a massive post-Christmas sale at Organic-Ally. What I've done was to keep prices low BEFORE Christmas, knowing that I would need to put up prices after that. My Canadian supplier has put up both retail and wholesale prices by 15%, but my wholesale discount has gone down instead of up. In other words I have to pay more for less. The currency exchange rate also means I am being further disadvantaged. Other overheads are also going up all the time. I hope to remain economically

"What would you like for Christmas?" husband kept going. "Actually, some rest will be nice," was my sincere reply. Apart from a 'Winter Warmer Fair' at school (because this was held in late November) and a 'Secrets Room' (where children get to 'shop' for presents for their parents to surprise them at Christmas), an Advent Service and end-of-term concert to attend at school, I also decided that I cannot just buy gifts for the teachers. So it would have to be something we make. Dug out an old shortbread recipe. Not sure now if it works. So, researched and decided to change the weights of ingredients. The modified recipe worked alright. What about the container? Took some card paper, marked out the corners and thought I would cut and staple those back like I used to do when I was nine. But son took a look at it and came up with another idea. Instead of cutting and stapling we merely folded the corners into 45-degree angles and stapled. Then the

At my son's end-of-term Headmaster's Assembly, I was pleasantly surprised by being presented with this lovely bouquet for the work I've been doing for the Parents' group (it's known as 'Friends' of the school). I don't think other chairpersons were given bouquets on resigning. So I feel very privileged. Wanted to share this with readers. Back to Organic-Ally .

Husband works in IT. Spends 10-hour days sorting out IT issues. We decided that we needed to bring his Mum into the 21st century and bought her a computer so that she could be introduced to the cyber-world. Last Saturday Husband spent all Saturday configuring her new computer. Sunday he spent the afternoon trying to sort out the computer for another older lady from church. She has dial-up. This morning he brought home her computer, hooked it up to broadband at home, sorted her problems and took it back to her. I think he is so generous to be giving his time like that. Back to Organic-Ally .

I filled in all the details for the little shop to get a repeat prescription for my husband, and then realized that he had exhausted his number of repeats and needed to see the GP for a review. I duly made an appointment for him, having had to hang on the phone for 10 minutes or so waiting for the automated system to get to the end of the day for his appointment. After his appointment, I trotted off to the chemist. They didn't have enough of medicine X so I arranged to collect two days later. When I did the chemist was on the phone but came off the phone to tell me that the GP had prescribed husband the wrong medication, so the prescription has to go back to the GP. "But he runs of out of his medication tomorrow." "Don't worry," he assured me. The chemist had in fact phoned the GP to notify her that she had made a mistake, a serious mistake. He had filled the prescription with the correct medication as directed by the GP on the phone, but the prescription it

A result from the BBC Strictly Come Dancing Series, a lesson on ethical thinking -- here is my recent contribution to Ethical Pulse, online publication of Ethical Junction: Strictly Comes Ethical Thinking ... and Action Enjoy! Back to Organic-Ally .

My husband requires repeat prescriptions. He had signed up with a large chain of chemists (and a bit) to organize collecting and filling these prescriptions. But they somehow always seem to manage to lose his prescription in between the piles of prescriptions they have, not have the medicines he needs, and almost always there is a long queue waiting to be served and waiting to pay. A couple of weeks ago we had a leaflet from our local independent chemist. They are a few doors from the sub-post office I use. They have now also introduced a collection service. As I needed a prescription filled for myself I went to them to say we would like them to do my husband's precription. They are so incredily friendly as small shops (and other owner-businesses) are capable of being. I've used their services before and have never been disappointed although the shop itself looked terribly dated and I could see that the packs of disposable nappies they were selling looked, hmm, dusty. Basically

It must be my favourite day of the year. Better even than Christmas. Yes, the clocks moved 'back' last Saturday and we got that extra hour of sleep. An extra hour of sleep? Not quite. Sunday was also the day before the start of a new term. So we tried very much to get our son back on schedule. As such, rather than the usual lie-in, he was woken up ... quite early, shall we say. I was also on 'meet-and-greet' duty at church which meant that we had to be there earlier. Husband is now talking about getting that eco-friendly hybrid car again. We have been a one-car family for such a long time. But recently with my new duties at church it appears sensible to have another car sometimes. We have now ordered a new car with such low CO2 emissions that the tax is only £35 a year. I won't get it till at least February. I've never been comfortable driving husband's gas-guzzler. It comes in useful when we need to make certain kinds of journeys. I do not feel guilty about

In a previous blog I talked about sea freight. My supplier in Canada (or a former staff member) did not like the idea of sea freight. She thinks ships dump too much rubbish into the sea. This goes against our normal perception of sea freight being more eco-friendly than air freight. So I was, to a certain extent, surprised by this article in The Independent . On the other hand, having had this conversation with this person so jealous of keeping the water around her piece of coastline clean, I was not. Hmm, another ethical dilemma then. Back to Organic-Ally .

I've just pressed the "Send" button on the email to my parents/teachers committee telling them that I am stepping down as Chairman as of January 2008. And you know something? I feel very good about it. I've been talking about stepping down for some time. Every time I broached the subject they ignore me -- in a kindly sort of way. But after last week, I think it will be best for me and the committee if someone is 'forced' to take over. I am still recovering physically from last week's busy schedule, but feeling better every day, and am looking forward to half-term fortnight next week, although the first week is more or less booked up! And of course a mother does not actually get a 'holiday', does she? We need a butler. Back to Organic-Ally .

Last week was a tough week. One of the mothers who is such a rock when it comes to organizing PTA events like Quiz Night was suddenly taken ill, very ill. So I had to make alternative arrangements. The lady who was supposed to arrange food notified me of the new prices and I nearly choked. I had to make alternative arrangements. Fortunately the school cook stepped in and catered for us at very reasonable prices. Last Wednesday was very long as we had a parents' evening at school and we were able to see what son has been doing in class. He was very keen to show us his books. I was a bit perturbed that he had been doing little more than adding three digit numbers together. He was complaining that this was far too easy. He wanted something more challenging. Friday and we were told to collect our boys at 4pm instead of 5pm after their trip to the theatre. But this class returned very late and so the whole bunch of parents were standing around, getting impatient. When the hall was free

The slow boat from Canada docked a short time ago and the hankies and face cloth and tea towels arrived this afternoon! Yay! Some of the items now come with even less packaging. Yay, Yay! We now also have the once discontinued Radical Primitives Box of Eight back in stock. Forgot to mention we now also have Fairtrade organic cotton table napkins in four beautiful, beautiful colours. These are now being sold at an introductory price here . Back to Organic-Ally .

This is another gripe about Nigella's cookery programme. She seems to love putting food into plast-c bags to marinate when using reusable bowls and other receptacles would do. And disposable aluminium trays. And what's the point of transferring cooked food into brown cardboard boxes when reusable pla-tic boxes could be used? Back to Organic-Ally .

This happened a few weeks ago but I never got round to blog this. I discovered a hole in a shoe. It's not really a shoe, but a 'mule', I suppose you could call it that. It's Marks/Sparks Footglove. I showed my son the shoe, "Guess how long Mum has had this pair of shoes." "Hmm. Seven years?" "No, had these much longer than you've been around." "Longer than you've been married?" "Yes." "Ten years?" "At least." More like eleven, I think. I remember using those when I was doing my PhD fieldwork in a city "up north". I remember my 90-something neighbour (then only 80-something) saying how comfortable she found those shoes. She had a similar pair in black. Mine were an adventurous beige. I remember spilling tea on my nearly-new mules and tried very hard to rid them of the stains. No luck. Ah, well. No one's going to notice. These shoes/mules/whatever stayed with me, tramped all over S

I've run out of some of my Hankettes supplies. I placed my last order back in May. I know sometimes there was a lead time of a four to six weeks, so I always worked with plenty of time buffered in. They didn't have the flannel to do the hankies. There was delay. Then the machine needed repairs. They bought a second machine to keep up with the orders. Then finally I got the message that said the order was filled and it would be shipped. When the order did not arrive in a few days I asked for when it was shipped. Then I got a message that said it was shipped by a different method than they usually did. I waited, and waited, and waited. When still no box arrived I emailed, "Where is my order?" Then a message came to clarify that when they said "International" they meant "International via sea freight". Instead of the 10 to 16 days I expected -- which was instead of the normal three to five days -- it was now going to take four to six WEEKS! Weeks! I w

As the writer of Ecclesiates says, "There is nothing new under the sun." Years ago as a full-time Christian worker with university students I had to read up on "New Age". I could not, for a long time, understand why it was called "New Age". What is so new about this "New Age", I kept asking myself. So much of it sounds like old hat to me. Then it tweaked. I'd been living the New Age for as long as I could remember: New Age was "Old Age" as far as the oriental person is concerned. "New Age" is new only to the person who has to learn a new non-western philosophy as the basis of his worldview. Having grown up Chinese, there was nothing very new in it for me. Sorted. Second week back at school and I still find myself sewing name labels. It has not been easy trying to procure organic cotton trousers for my son. Finally they arrived this morning at seven-thirty on a Saturday morning. Typical. Because son suffers from eczema, I d

It came on after University Challenge, so we just sat there and watched. It was a certain Nigella telling us how to cook 'express meals' after a long hard day at work. I have seen a certain impressionist making fun of Nigella and this was the first time I've ever watch the real McCoy myself. And boy! Did it give me a pain in the neck. The rate at which she -- how do you describe it? -- flick her hair (head?) back at the neck was so -- how does one describe it? -- annoying after the first few minutes. She went on and on about her "busy work day". And many hard-pushed stay-at-home mothers and working mothers who come home to work a second shift want to shout: HELLO! Why do you bother to work when you are married to a very rich man? We don't grudge her marrying a very rich man. But the point is she COULD choose not to work at all. The fact that she does -- whatever 'work' she actually does -- means another person (probably a woman) who needs a job does no

Some of my customers ask: what do I do when I run out of pl--tic bags to line my bins? I've not run out yet. Here's why: we host visitors and 'open houses' often. People come with their p-astic bags and leave them with us. Sometimes I collect a whole load of these from the other community groups I work with because these are choking up their storage space. If we are really stuck, really, really stuck, some old newspaper folded into a 'cone' makes a good bin liner. Back to Organic-Ally .

Because we don't collect pl-st-c carrier bags any more (except for the rare occasion when we get 'caught out') I now find myself keeping bags from loaves of bread, potatoes, etc for re-use. I'm afraid some of the organic staples we buy come in pl-st-c because the supermarkets want to make sure we pay the premium for them Our meat and fish also come in pl--tic trays. Sometimes these are recyclable, sometimes not. Whichever way, if they are left in the kitchen bin, the kitchen would start ponging very soon. So we put these out in the bin as soon as possible. But I also do not like the meat/fish juices to run into the bin as that means a long-term pong problem, or water wastage to clean the bins. So the bread and potato pl--tic bags are kept for such occasions. And I see pictures of my mum carefully washing out pla-t-c bags and hanging them up to dry. I'm getting to be more like her every day!! Back to Organic-Ally .

We recently came across a TV documentary in which a British-born Indian actor/comedian went on a long trip to India and Pakistan to find out something of his own roots. It is quite funny viewing. I could not understand why he was surprised by the man who was shouting at the foot of the apartment block he was staying at for people to bring their rubbish down to him. This is the rag-and-b0ne man. In Singapore the 'garang-guni' was also a familiar sight when I was growing up. Mum saved every bit of newspaper and tin, etc, and whatever she could not use, she would sell to the garang-guni man. He came round with his little hand-held weighing scale and would pronounce how much paper or tin would cost, etc. Sometimes old electrical objects like broken irons, clocks, etc, were also sold for a much higher, specific price. When life was not so 'cheap' and we paid real prices for real goods, especially when there were no government subsidies keeping prices artificially high for so

I know the story of cotton in and out -- or so I thought -- until I came across this site which gives some really dire information on cotton being grown in Uzbekistan. Or check out the film here . If buying cheap cotton clothes does not yet make you cringe, take a look at some of the information here and see what your reaction is. Back to Organic-Ally .

This time last week I was settling happily into the meeting room at The Warehouse, home to Friends of the Earth at Birmingham. I was meeting with a group of 'Sociologists Outside Academia'. The train journey there was a bit fraught as the deluge we had on Friday meant trains had been cancelled and suspended and right up till late Friday I was uncertain whether I would actually get on the train. As it turned out the train arrived early, having made an unscheduled stop at Coventry (picking up another one of our group), and it looked like an unbelievably good start. Except that a couple of people had had their trains diverted from Basingstoke/Winchester area to (believe it or not) London. One was too frail to consider completing the journey via London and gave up. The other persevered and reached us at about 2pm! Another, a wheelchair user, planned to drive from Bristol but the roads were not very friendly and decided against making what could be a perilous journey. So it was a sm

I don't remember how long I've been working with teenagers and children as part of my church ministry. Since my husband acquired a chronic disease I've resigned from working with teenagers but continue my work with the children. Well, I finally got my piece of paper -- the official approval from this UK government -- that says I have been cleared to work with children. Yippee! Back to Organic-Ally .

For some reason my husband left the following article on the desk-top. Why are lawyers miserable: want a list? I read it and had a good chuckle. I could identify with all that misery and money mentioned in the article. No, I was never a lawyer. I was worse than a lawyer back in Singapore. I was a management consultant, and more specifically, a change management consultant. While working with what was one of the top Accounting firms (we were an off-shoot of their 'Management Information Systems' off-shoot) it was not unusual to clock 80 hours a week. On days when a deadline loomed, we worked 'back-to-back' and managed to clock 100 hours. We were fastidious about time-sheets and time-keeping. It was part of our 'company culture', so it has to be true. It meant working from 8.30am to a minute before 12 midnight (because the doors locked electronically at midnight), seven days a week. We would take a booked taxi (waiting for us at the bottom of the office block) hom

At what price "development" in China? 750,000 a year killed by Chinese pollution Back to Organic-Ally .

Do I want to make lots of money? Yes. But only to give it away. Lofty aim indeed. But a part of me aspires to be the Warren Buffett and Bill Gates of the organic industry so that I could do more for those who need more done for them. This headline Buffett blasts system that lets him pay less tax than secretary really caught my eye. Since when has a rich man ever complained about not paying enough tax? Imagine how different the story of Zacchaes in the Bible would read, "O Lord! These rich people are always demanding to see me to pay me more taxes. What do I do with them?" But of course one could still always give over the untaxed money to a good cause. That way we know exactly where our money goes to and not leave it to fund a war, for example. Is Mr Buffett barking up the wrong tree? Back to Organic-Ally .

I had an annoying experience this morning. Lady from catalogue company phoned. I used to buy from this company when my son was little but have not bought from them for a long time. So she phoned to ask for me. Yeah, that's me speaking. "Could you please confirm your address and post code?" "Why?" I asked. "For security reasons we have to check you are the person we want to speak to to give you some information." "What information?" "For data protection reasons, we're not allowed to say unless we've checked your data." "Well, perhaps I am not interested in that information then?" "OK, thank you for your time." What cheek? To ask for me by name and then to require me to give her personal information so that she could tell me some information I am probably not interested in -- using my time! These checks are not fail-safe any way. Any one (say, a neighbour) could pick up the phone, profess to be so and so. A

I've never been a fan of biofuels. On the surface it is a plausibly greener alternative to fossil fuel. Delve deeper and the same issues about food production being substituted (whether to produce cattle grazing grounds for the hamburger chains or the production of biofuels to run our cars) to the detriment of feeding the poor emerges, and the argument falls apart. So this lot of articles from The Ecologist , together with the following articles from I-SIS, are worth noting: Biofuels for Oil Addicts: Cure Worse than the Addiction Biofuels: Biodevastation, Hunger & False Carbon Credits Biofuels Republic Brazil The New Biofuel Republics I was watching a TV programme (only because my business mentor mentioned it) where this chap is trying to win a 'tycoon' competition selling a bag to help people manage the plastic bags they carry (so that people would take them back to the supermarkets). Shouldn't the solution be "not use plastic bags" rather than "buyi

The following article caught my attention. Looked down the list to find only the products of one company (Duchy Originals) are regularly found in our household. While we did not buy the Duchy Easter Egg (we found the Divine Fairtrade mini-eggs very tasty and good value) and only bought one Easter Egg for the whole family, we do often buy Duchy sausages which come in waxed paper and just a small band of card round the sausages. We are one of those families that shop with packaging in mind. "It's OK for you," some would say, "if you could afford to buy Duchy." The truth is we save a lot of money simply by cutting out all crisps, fizzy pop, sweets and chocolates. Because what we eat tends to be more expensive, we eat less and appreciate it more. The end-result: a healthier lifestyle. Campaign breakthrough as food giants agree to cut packaging By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent Published: 15 June 2007 Timesonline Some of the world's most powerful

It's the not-so-very-nice hay fever season. Thankfully I have yet to run out of hankies as I did last year. Apart from a constantly blocked nose which then occasionally runs like a tap -- but the congestion does not clear up -- this year's effect was felt more in the (teary) eyes and (itching) throat. Basically it's horrid. Worse, son seems to have developed symptoms. He's only seven. A friend said we must move to Spain to get rid of the hay fever symptoms. Truth is, the plan is to spend more holiday time in Singapore. Not so much for the weather (hot, humid, hotter, more humid), but for culture. My son needs to learn more about the culture that his mum grew up in, or at best, some of what she remembers of it. The current Singapore is so different from the one she left 16 years ago. The past two weeks have been horrendously busy. Last week we had a briefing meeting for parents whose sons are going into 'Middle School'. It's a totally new world from Junior Sc

So scientists have established a link between exposure to pesticides and Parkinson's Disease. (See article here .) Am I surprised? I was reminded of this as I was painting a radiator cover for my son's room. The fumes from the paint was giving me a headache. Why was I using this paint? My husband bought it, is my lame excuse. That is another story I shall not go into. There are so many things we use these days which are purportedly for our good, to make our houses look and smell nice. But the cost to human health during its production process and its lifetime cannot be ascertained. As I was painting the walls of my son's room -- this time with more eco-friendly paint -- I was reminded of the scene I witnessed in Guangzhou (China) in the mid-1980s when China was just opening up. There in the middle of a very busy street I saw Chinese workers painting the railings by a kerb using some rags which they dipped into the paint with their bare hands. I dread to think what the effec