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How could fathers do that?

Having posted three times about mothers (even though I sometimes meant 'mothers and fathers') I guess it is only right to post this. But I found it too difficult to write about this. It challenges all that I held about fatherhood. The news is still about the Austrian father who imprisoned and abused his daughter. It has also affected my faith in thinking that "God does not make mistakes". Did God make a mistake in allowing the birth of this very evil man? Did God make a mistake in allowing the birth of these children/grandchildren? Having learned that I nearly did not get born because of the impoverished state of my already large family (Mum was advised to abort me) I thank God that I was given an opportunity to life. I love my life. I feel that I have been able to do so much about my life. Then we think of those children, many such children especially in areas of civil and political conflict, born of rape and we wonder "Why does God allow these children to be bo

Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts (Episode 2)

In this episode my attention was drawn most to Richard the working-class boy made good on a journey discovering that good intention and even stellar motivation alone does not eradicate poverty. His point was that -- because he has done so -- anyone could make a better life for himself. All you need is an education. Go to night school if necessary. I think it is good for this nation that young people can have role models like Richard: I was poor, I worked hard, now I am doing well. I, too, was poor. I grew up with five other siblings sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor in a one-bedroomed flat. We were then allocated a two-bedroomed flat elsewhere. We still slept on the floor. We had one table which was used for food preparation, meals and then homework. We had no wardrobes and clothes were kept in boxes (old wooden fruit crates), etc. As for clothes I wore discards all the time. When I made it to university (thank God Singapore had a meritocratic system then) there were times when

To B or to B

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I was ironing a shirt and I thought, hmm, the colour is a bit faded. I've had some of these shirts for so long. They are cotton, but not organic, with pretty lace on the collars and sleeves. I bought these years ago before I knew that conventional cotton was harming the environment. B are still sending me catalogues and I have studiously avoided their cotton and polyester clothes in recent years. I must confess that some (not all) of their styles appeal to me. More importantly they do clothes in my size. Recently, having not bought any clothes for more than a year, I succumbed and picked out a couple of wool numbers. The company -- like most companies these days -- claims to have an "eco and ethical" policy. (You could read on their site.) They claim fair trade policies, re-plant trees, etc. I wonder what other pro-organic folk think. Back to Organic-Ally .

Throwaway society

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This was my gripe of the day. I came across this comment: A world of hemp lingerie? No thanks ( Timesonline , 21st April 2008) and felt outraged that the writer implied that it is not worth sewing a button back on an item of clothing, or that doing so (sew) is akin to slave labour. If Melanie Reid wants to know what slave labour really is, I would suggest that she reads Made in China: Women Factory Workers in a Global Workplace by Pun Ngai. Pun (pronounced 'Poon') and I crossed paths while doing our PhDs in London. I read some of her original writing for our thesis-writing workshops. Let us just say that after reading her harrowing ethnographic accounts of what these dagongmei (girls who leave their villages to work in the cities for a few years to earn as much money as they can) go through in their factories and dormitories, I could not sleep that night. I think I became sensitized to the possible abuse involved in anything 'Made in China' after that. I don't kn

Blood Sweat and T-Shirts -- BBC Three

Sadly I only learned about this programme a few hours before the first episode was aired, and so did not have time to flag this up on my other websites. What can I say? The factory scenes brought back vivid memories of my own stints in garment factories. Between my O and A Levels I found a 'finishing' job in a garment factory. That made me the lowest of the low in the hierarchy, short of the tea lady. So when the tea lady was not around, the supervisor made me serve tea to visitors. The rest of my time was spent cutting the loose ends of thread, ironing the finished products, folding, packing, and so on. My most painful memory at this factory was the tea lady hovering around the office, refusing to go home, waiting for the boss to come back to the factory to hand out that week's wages. The boss had left the factory earlier on for a meeting. She didn't come back that evening and we never got paid. The tea lady moaned that she didn't have the money to pay her children

More (or less?) on Food

Interesting headline and report this: Exposed: the great GM crops myth "Last week the biggest study of its kind ever conducted – the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development – concluded that GM was not the answer to world hunger. "Professor Bob Watson, the director of the study and chief scientist at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when asked if GM could solve world hunger, said: "The simple answer is no."" Do read some of the stories related to this report. Compare with The city-dwellers who are becoming front garden farmers Back to Organic-Ally .

How could mothers do that? (Part 3)

Last night I watched a taped programme of 'Child Genius'. Let's just say I felt really uneasy -- perhaps 'disturbed' is a more accurate description -- after that. There is a three-year-old girl who fell asleep while being tested for her IQ (at 152) and was re-tested. Her IQ was found to be so high they could not properly score her, so 'suka-suka' as we say in Malay/Hokkien or 'chin-chai-la' (in Cantonese), they call it 170. Girl's mother wanted her tested to prove she had 'special needs' so she could go to a good state school. She was devastated (the mother) to find that the school had rejected her. Well, obviously the mother is not very intelligent, because which state school would want a child with an IQ of 170? She will be no end of trouble. The school will have to pay for extra resources just to keep her occupied, etc, etc. The mother should have played down her intelligence and left it at 152-maybe. So she is NOT A PUSHY PARENT -- c

How could mothers do that? (Part 2)

Last week I agonised over a nine-year-old in the UK here . The news over the weekend is still about a certain Maths genius who has adopted my surname (yes!) and is making a rather tidy sum (taxed or untaxed, who knows?) being a high class 'social escort'. My husband pointed me to the article: Pushy parents: the naked truth . As we've been told that our son is highly gifted, any article about geniuses (genuii?) is of great interest to us. Anyway, said genius's pictures are plastered all over the media, helping to sell newspapers, no doubt, and thousands of column inches and blog posts must have been written. I add my own. There are dysfunctional families amongst the illiterate and lowly-educated, and there are dysfunctional families amongst the highly-educated. And the media already well know there are dysfunctional families amongst the most well-heeled and well-educated. Genius's mum has also started a blog, further muddying the waters. There have been claims and co

Big Brother

I've been trying to write up an abstract for a conference paper on the need for (in)visibility of the business owner and the customer. So what do I see in the Saturday 'papers' (online)? " Tesco to monitor millions of consumers around the world ". It's all about how the Club Card tracks your buying habits. Bascially this one supermarket chain has more information on you than the Inland Revenue. I remember the day the Club Card started. I loved it. You had to spend more than £5 to gain a few points. Single and on a very low salary then I had often to compute mentally whether my shopping basket amounted to that minimum £5 limit. I also didn't have a car or freezer so could not benefit from bulk buying. Then I got married and had a child, and what became quite disturbing was that they kept sending us coupons for the items we often do need to buy, and with the tempting offers off other items we don't wish to buy. Clearly our shopping habits were being '

Global Food Insecurity

O dear! It is happening. Riots because people cannot get their staple foods at prices they can afford: Starving Haitians riot as food prices soar The other global crisis: rush to biofuels is driving up price of food According to the latter report: "All across the world, cereals, meat, eggs and dairy products are becoming dearer. "Food prices are now rising at rates that few of us can ever have seen before in our lifetimes," said John Powell of the World Food Programme. Prices are likely to remain high for at least 10 years, the Food and Agriculture Organisation is projecting." ... "Government policies do not help: the rich world subsidises agriculture not to feed the world but to enrich its farmers." Environmentalists have long warned about food shortages when farms and resources are diverted to produce fuel, which is hardly carbon-neutral. Meanwhile in Singapore, we are told that there is enough rice. A government minister insists that for as long as Sin

How could mothers do that?

Is this the conclusion to this sad story? ============= I am still feeling low from yesterday's news that a boy from my son's Form has been diagnosed with leukaemia. I've known this young boy since he was a few weeks old. His mum and I were in the same ante-natal group. We had visited each other, the boys have played together, and it was after long discussions with me that they decided to move JD to our school. Then today we learn that a certain mother has been charged in court for neglecting her child and perverting the course of justice. Do I feel sorry for the mother or the child? I am not sure. A young woman of 32 with six plus one (according to her sister, she had forgotten she had seven) children with different fathers. How does this developed nation manage to breed families like this? By tweaking the 'survival of the fittest' principle seems to be a most likely answer. In a typical non-welfare state, young girls will look for mates that they can be sure wou

University to Business to University

I was very amused, tickled, chuffed when, over the weekend, I discovered that something I wrote about pl-st-c bags has become required course reading for a university writing course at a North American university. As I said to my friends at SOAg (Sociologists Outside Academia Group, we even have our own very stylish logo), it was painful not to be able to remain in academia. So I indulged in writing, as well as started this Organic-Ally business. Now I'm sort of more established and comfortable taking on my business-woman persona, and I find that an 'output' meant for industry has found its way back to academia. Irony? But I am not complaining. Back to Organic-Ally .

Be content. Perm the face.

One of my most indelible memories of my Sociology Honours Class was a statement made by SH Heng. We talked about hairstyles and were possibly looking at magazines. Then she said, "When we asked the hairdresser to 'perm that hair-style', we really mean to 'perm that face'." Let me explain. Us Chinese girls in Singapore normally have straight, straight hair. We spend hideous amounts of money to have our hair 'permed' into all sorts of curly styles. Or we have a 'body perm' after which the hairdresser teases our hair into a shape similar to the picture we'd shown him/her. However, our hair never looks like the way we walked out of the hairdressing salon again. No amount of gooey hair product and hair-dryer would get it back to the shape at the hairdresser. SH hit the nail on the head though with her shrewd observation that we really want to have not just the hairstyle, but the face (and figure) of the model we were staring at. Fast forward to

Ban the Bag

There's been a lot in the news lately about the impact of pl-st-c bags on the environment. It's the bag's birthday it seems. Today's news was also about the rubbish thrown up on the island of Midway and the dangers they hold for the albatrosses which mistake the the likes of disposable pl-st-c cigarette lighters for food. Then we saw footage of some rubbish taken out of a chick and it turned out to be the plastic net-bags that supermarkets put their fruit in, still attached to a display 'hook'. Elsewhere in cyberspace I caught up with a recent story of how pl-st-c bags are not the cause of injury to marine life, that a report had been misquoted, and that it is fishing nets that cause these injuries, etc, etc. Perhaps. But we are against p. bags not only because of marine life, but that a massive amount is sent to landfill. Not just bags, but the rest of single-use pl-st-c packaging that drives us mad. People shopped and did OK before the invention of pl-st-c

Converting to Cloth (Day Six)

Wednesday: a bit hectic. Had to wait for fruit delivery. Then went to check out storage facilities for my stock. Back home to prepare parcel for dispatch. Son had his school cross-country. Got to the recreation ground after the post office stop just in time for son's race (Forms I and II) to start. They had to do two laps of, I don't know, about 250m, perhaps. Not quite cross-country, but a resonable distance for seven and eight-year-olds. In this instance they were competing against the Form IIs (age eight-plus) some of whom were very nearly ten years old (if they turned nine early in the school year). Son came in 13th, a very pleasing result as far as I am concerned. Then it was off to local store to buy hot cross buns for our fellowship group this evening. The evening ended quite late but cloth is not presenting any problems. Back to Organic-Ally .

Converting to Cloth (Day Five)

Tuesday: I am forgetting that I am using cloth. Changed pad and liner in the morning. Soaked other pad and liner while I went off to church to help run an Easter party. Washed the pad and liner with some bedding, son's swim towel, etc. Nothing to it. (Everything came up clean despite it being still 'stained' pre-wash.) Carried on pretty much as usual. Deadly boring. Am I converted? Back to Organic-Ally .

Converting to Cloth (Day Four)

Monday: back at school, office, etc for all. Long liner feeling a bit bulky. Soaked it and swopped for a clean regular liner. School 'run' -- walk in my case. Waited around to check with the new chairman that she's OK with the Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow. Also handed over a special fruit bar for boy with severe food allergies. Back home to prepare address labels for all the parcels to go later this afternoon. Oops! time to move on to H's house. Prayer meeting with my ladies in the morning. So many health and homelessness issues to pray over. Back home for a few minutes. Printed the delivery orders. Oops! time to go meet Liz at the coffee place. It was her birthday yesterday and her day off today. Had a nice chinwag for about two hours! Discovered that I had suffered a big spurt while enjoying my chat. Pad had been stained. Back home. Filled orders. Post Office run (ie walk). Back home. School run (ie walk). After dinner, swopped a new pad and liner. No major issues with th

Converting to Cloth (Day Three)

Sunday: Liner was as I left it last night when I went to bed. Unusual as days two and three are often 'heavy' days. Some cloth users have noted that their periods get lighter. I cannot see the logic in this. I suspect -- and I could be wrong -- cloth-users take precautionary measures to prevent staining and go to the loo more often. We bleed directly into the bowl and so the pads seem less stained and the periods lighter. Any way decided that I will use the smaller 'regular' pad with the longer liner. I folded it in such a way -- I prefer to hide the edging in whatever way possible -- that I basically have about four layers of thickness. Looked a bit bulky. Wondered if it would show underneath the trousers. My boys tell me it's alright. ===================== 8.45pm: Bleeding had gone all quiet it seems. Tiny spotting. That's all. I cannot believe it. This is Day Three!! By the way I left the long liner and pad soaking while we were at church. Tried cleaning off

Converting to Cloth (Day Two)

Saturday: Disaster struck in the middle of the night. I felt a spurt and knew I was 'flooding'. But I've also learned over the years that this was not a good time to get to the loo. I had to let the flow settle a little. When I did -- 2.45am -- the liner was amazingly not totally covered in blood as expected, but part of the pad was stained and blood had flowed onto the knickers down one side. I must have been lying on my (right) side when the spurt occurred. Drat! I thought. Does this mean that cloth is not for me? But as I examined the 'damage', I realised that this would have happened even if I was wearing a disposable maternity pad. When lying on one's side there is no way that any pad would absorb the flow quickly enough before it runs off the surface. Removed the 'regular' liner and let it soak in my new little bin (the one with feet). Re-arranged the bottom 'long liner' in clean underwear and went back to bed. Between then and dawn I fe

Converting to Cloth (Day One)

Before bed I noticed I was spotting. Usually I would stick on a regular pad, knowing that the flow will not be heavy. So, took the pad out, and thought: hang on a minute, what about the cloth one? Retrieved a regular 'liner', folded it into four-layer thickness and inserted it into a 'long' pad. Took care to wrap my sarong round me in bed just in case there is a leak. Friday morning: liner was quite clean, surprised. Swopped the near-spotless pad onto new knickers. The Bridget Jones pants will do better. (Had a disposable pad been used, the near-spotless pad would not have stuck onto clean knickers. Yes, it would have been binned/landfilled.) Now I have a hectic morning. Do I really want to rely on cloth? Decided to stick at it, but put a disposable pad in my bag just in case I needed it and also found a little pl-st-c bag to store the used cloth liner. That was 6.30 in the morning. It's 1.45pm and my liner is spotted but still relatively clean. This is because I se

Converting to Cloth (Intro)

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

Global Food Crisis

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 .

Singapore food security

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

Going blind

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

Thoughts on Lent

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

Food for thought

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

Singing bird squashed

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

Dear MM (Part 2) Another rejected letter

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

How to shop without buying anything

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

Dear MM (Part 2)

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 .

Party plan exploits

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

Dear MM

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

Bucking the trend

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

God rest ye merry

"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

End-of-term!

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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 .

Sweet, sweet hubby

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 .

Big Shop, Little Shop 2

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 bit of a brag

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 .

Big Shop, Little Shop

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