Organic-Ally

I'm on the prowl again for clothes. ( Compare/contrast previous post here and here ) Smarter, slightly more formal, well-tailored clothes. So I found myself at a local store looking at all the 'petite' consignments. Can't believe the Size 8 were so large ten years ago. Perhaps I have shrunk. It is well-known that women are prone to become smaller and slimmer after having a baby, you know, after all that running around after a bundle of energy ... not. Perhaps I need to go for a size 6 instead, but if these stores have a size 6 they are hung up on a rail where a normal size 6 (unless she is very, very tall) cannot reach them. Some just can't be bothered to stock a size 6. Maybe I am living in a part of UK where size 6 (previous size 8) do not exist. Normal size eight, "Extra Small"? The sleeves or trouser legs are always too long. Bah! Back to Organic-Ally . Become our fan on Facebook .

I've been thinking a lot -- off and on -- about the current 'economic crisis'. Some thoughts have been well covered. Eg: it has made many people re-think their priorities. For many, out of necessity, having had an income disposed of, a disposable lifestyle comes under re-evaluation. This past weekend we were at a sewing machine shop. And my! it was busy. Suddenly it seemed everyone is thinking of sewing their own clothes. Then we read about allotments coming back into fashion. Both because people are more concerned with what goes into their food as well as saving those few pennies (which add up to pounds) and what a lovely way for a family with young children, for example, to do something together and literally see the fruit of their labour. It's highly recommended. Today we were woken up by news of a van manufacturer (Russian owned) facing financial woes. Whilst no one is surprised by that I cannot help but think: what audacity! To ask the government (ie me the taxpaye...

Monday: snow. About to get son up for breakfast when I thought I had better check the school website to see if school is open. Surprise, surprise. The headmaster had decided to close the school. Some of our staff and families do have a long way to come. Just as well I had cancelled my eye appointment, knowing that it would be snowing. Son was happy to stay at home but wanted to follow the school timetable. Sure. So we started with prayers. Then 'Maths' on a website. Then spelling. Then it went to pot. Meanwhile husband had trudged off to work at 6.45am as usual. Son rang him at about 8am to say 'school's closed'. He was stuck down the road, north of Wembley. At about 9am he rang to say he's at Baker Street but could go no further and was heading home. Fiasco. Tuesday: no new snow but school only opening at 10am. Very sensible. They had taken care to clear the snow and gritted where it matters. Unfortunately the public roads and pavements were not gritted at all....

I was alerted to this gadget and thought it interesting. It's supposed to be a button that helps your computer 'go to sleep', saving you energy and reducing your carbon footprint. Actually not just sleep but 'eco-sleep'. It's supposed to be able to save about £50 a year just by using it for three hours a day. Above and beyond what the normal standby features in a computer would do. I haven't used it so can't say whether it is great or not, but might be worth putting on a Birthday Wish List, I guess. Then I think why don't manufacturers put this feature in computers in the first place? Or why don't governments insist that this becomes a required feature in new computers, like seat-belts in cars? In fact, why doesn't the government legislate that all new homes should come with solar panels? The husband is thinking of doing major works in the house (again, sigh, I HATE builders' dust). This time the plan is to put in some solar panels. Our ...

Not a fan of coffee. Not a fan of George Clooney or the nespresso machine. Not surprised to learn how 'unethical' and useless it is here . Tickled pink. Not a fan of Lang Lang, the Chinese pianist whose constipated looks while performing is such a pain to watch. Pain ist, not pianist, there. But this guy is so popular, or so I thought, and sometimes he plays very well, if very loudly. So I was glad to learn that he is also much 'reviled' amongst some critics. Andre Previn has said of his antics, "he might as well get up and juggle". Earl Wild called him "the J-Lo of piano". And other ( Telegraph ) critics have called him the "piano star the critics love to hate" , criticized his "bravura display of preening" , and described his antics as "better suited to a circus" . I guess what I am saying is, "It's nice to know I am not alone." Back to Organic-Ally . Become our fan on Facebook .

Back tot he Wedgewood story. £415 millions of debt. I don't know how companies could be allowed to run on such a level of debt. To my simple mind (dare I stress), it is not ethical. Because if the company goes under -- as Wedgewood has -- then the employees are the ones who suffer. Not too many years ago I remember fuming in the same way when a particular manufacturing company in Singapore laid off hundreds of workers -- mainly women, mothers wanting to improve their children's lives -- because their orders were down. This same company, as I remember, went all out to recruit these women when the going was good. As soon as there was a downturn, the women were laid off. Few benefits to talk about. In fact it was such 'flexibility' with hiring and firing that attracted such 'investors' into Singapore then. Such employers do not realize, or worse, do not care, that mothers make a lot of sacrifices to work in factories like that. Yes, they gain in earning some wages,...

Decided to re-sole my old brown boots instead. They are still comfy. Must get at least another year of wear out of it. I have brown polish which I can use on scuffed surfaces. Sale season still on. I look on with envy. Some organic, ethical, fairtrade outfit has got a massive sale on, but nothing for me. I live in hope that these outfits would do something in my size soon before my current batch of clothes (some organic, some not) become rags. Or fall back on 'poisonous cotton'. The following retailer also has an interesting 'Library' section: I'm not asking for much. Just simple sensible clothes in size 8 please. The good news is I've got my physio appointment (re arthritis) in mid-February. Yay! Back to Organic-Ally . Become our fan on Facebook .

The sale is on at my favourite shoe store. Husband has already acquired a couple of pairs of smart working shoes and the question was do I replace my current pair of brown boots. When the prices seem so 'reasonable' one is tempted to go, "O! Just get them. They would come in useful." But this pair has come with a spare set of rubber soles for the heels. True, I've worn them for a year, or was it two?, O, I don't remember. What I remember is when I first put them on, they were so very comfortable. Shall I get them re-heeled? The cobbler would do it for £7.99, minus £1 if I brought in my spare heel-soles (whatever they are called). The sale means it does not cost that much more to get a new pair. However £6.99 and a bit of time would (1) prevent this pair from going into landfill, (2) provide some business for the cobbler, and (3) I get to keep my slightly scuffed but comfortable brown boots. Hmm. What should I do? Yesterday I read about how Wedgewood will not b...

Last Saturday we ran into Mr H at the supermarket carpark. He's our school gardener. He normally goes about doing his work quietly. For some reason we always greet each other and often stop for a chat. Then recently he lost his wife of many years (50-something?) very suddenly. He was making lunch. She went to the toilet, he heard a bang, and she was gone. Wedged behind the door, he could not even get to her and had to call in the Fire Brigade. This year while making cookies for the school staff at Christmas I decided to also give him a little bag. A sort of 'thank you' for keeping the school grounds pristine and planting the little flowers that have added some needed colour everywhere. And the first Christmas after the death of a loved one must be so, so difficult. Back at the carpark he told me even before I could ask that he'd spent time with his relations. O good, I said. Then he went on to say how delighted he was with the cookies. He didn't want to eat them and...

Malawi strikes organic gold What a marvellous story. This and other stories like this formed part of the impetus for me to start up Organic-Ally . Some scientists might pooh-pooh the idea about going organic, that we cannot feed ourselves, etc. Well, maybe if we ate less but ate better? Or how about eating less meat so that we could share the grain around? I am a meat-eater, I must put my hand up to that, but I am also conscious that our family do not eat huge slabs of meat every day. The other issue is of course scientists who focus on GM and conventional agriculture work on a very different scale whem compared with the smallholder farmers. The latter have a different set of problems and their problems need a different set of solutions. There is a Chinese proverb that roughtly translates as "a long barge pole could knock everyone off the barge" (akin to not tarring everyone with the same brush). It's easy to understand the mentality that we must not "rock the boat...

This bit of information has come at a good time for me, and so I'm sharing it. Our family have slowly over the past years switched to using greener, organic skincare, shower lotions, etc. My son and I have switched to organic toothpaste without all the foaming ingredients. Husband is a bit slower to change. I think this is because I remember my first toothpaste as being a 'cake' of powdery stuff in a little flat circular case. We rubbed the toothbrush onto this cake till we had enough on the brush. This toothpaste -- like the one I now use -- often leaves a residue on the toothbrush because it does not get 'foamed away'. That is why I still have the habit of tapping my tooth brush rather hard on the edge of the sink to get rid of this residue. You can now save £5 at Green People on orders over £35 when you apply this code AF27740957 at checkout. Code expires on 31st January 2009 . Back to Organic-Ally . Become our fan on Facebook .

UK's holiday waste smashes all records Too much packaging. Haven't we heard it before? These days I tend to walk away from stuff that I might buy, but don't, purely because there is too much unnecessary packaging. (Or if the packaging is not as eco-friendly as comparable products.) Of course this has its roots in 'stuff' travelling very long distances to come to us. Toys, fruit, cake, etc. Where food is concerned we also have the problems with preservatives . Take festival times. It used to be -- at least in my experience with Chinese New Year, Autumn Festival, etc -- that festive goods were made in our locality and we bought these as close as possible to the times we needed these items. My father was a pork butcher, and two nights before Chinese New Year the wet market would open in the evening instead of the morning. There the housewives gathered to 'fight' over the freshest seafood, pork and vegetables they could get their hands on. At home, in between ho...

We did something unusual this year. We took off to mum-in-law's the week before Christmas. It was a short, pleasant visit. Amidst the doom and gloom I had to fight my own battles. On the Friday before Christmas my GP told me rather nonchalantly that I have arthritis. Nothing much we could do, it seems. Physiotherapy was prescribed and if I am lucky (lucky??) I might be seen by a physio six weeks down the road and he/she might be able to prescribe exercises to prevent the arthritis from getting worse. Ouch! Surely I am too young to get arthritis? GP said he's had arthritis since he was 32. Was that supposed to cheer me up? Apparently my kind of arthritis has to do with 'things' growing from my spine affecting the spinal cord. This was causing numbness in my fingers, leading to an x-ray which confirmed it. Well, if my body can make boney material where there isn't supposed to be, does that mean that I am in no danger of suffering osteoporosis then? Dunno. Actually I w...

The news about the conviction of Shannon Matthews's mum -- although a foregone conclusion to many, it seemed -- left me quite sick in the stomach. Actually I WAS sick in the stomach. Having gone to the hospital on Monday for an X-ray it appeared that I picked up a bug. I was sick Tuesday evening and could not hold my food down for the day. Recovered sufficiently well on Wednesday I thought but there is still a constant discomfort in my stomach. There! Set the record straight. I revisited this blog and was a bit amused to then find this report: 'Educate girls to stop population soaring' . Basically it tells us that "the longer girls stay at school, the fewer children they have" and reducing the population is critical to the sustainability of the earth. And on Women's Hour this morning -- only because I was too ill to get to do what I normally do this time of day -- I learned that the cervical cancer rate is highest amongst women who come from the lower social...

This is to follow up an earlier post . I had just been out to pick my son up. I was pleased to have had my hat on. I was 'freezen'. I prefer the word 'freezen' to 'frozen'. Don't ask me why. There had also been occasions when I was standing on the school playground and hear other parents complain that the weather had been too hot. "Global warming", we all agreed, and then lament a few weeks later than summer had passed us by. "What summer?" We blinked and the warm dry weather had gone. For the year, it seemed. I also remember someone expressing her fear for little creatures disappearing because they will not be able to cope with the warmer weather. "Yes," I said, "that is probably the case. But nature always finds a way to adapt. Some parts of the UK, it seems are able to produce grapes. Some people are pleased." I'm in a business which has a 'mission' to protect the environment. I cannot be certain if our ...

OK, I must confess I am a Strictly Come Dancing fan. As I started this post I thought of Heather Small because I could hear her song, "What have you done today to make you feel proud?" Or something like that. Our freezer continues to be rather bare and we are wasting much less food than we used to. Amongst other things I learned that though sliced bread is convenient a whole loaf of bread keeps better. Like many people I know I am hopeless at slicing bread. It usually looks OK when I start at the top but 'it' usually disappears before the knife gets to the bottom of the loaf and I'd have a slice of bread with no crust on the bottom half. Not any good for toasting as it would burn. It was interesting then to hear mum-in-law congratulate herself on being able to slice bread quite well when she was over to mind our child over a weekend. "Your bread knife is nice and heavy and it goes straight down." Even mum-in-law who had difficulty slicing bread found it ...

It was interesting to read Waste watchers: Save cash and the environment . If there is one up-side to the 'credit crunch', recession, whatever you choose to call it, a wave of belt-tightening seems to be having a positive impact on the environment. Our bills, like other households, have been going up and up. But there is nothing we could cut from our shopping. We buy roughly the same every week. It reminds me of the 'epiphany' I had years ago. I made an undergraduate mission trip to Thailand. I was there for a month and packed everything into one bag. Then I went to an undergraduate conference which lasted about five days. I still needed that same bag to carry the things I needed. I chided myself for a few minutes for having packed too much for the conference. Then it dawned on me: Did I carry too much for my five-day conference, or was I travelling really light for the month that I was in Thailand? The 'muchness' really came out the 'very little' in m...

This is an edited version of my letter published in the Straits Times in Singapore: ========================= Oct 22, 2008 Charity and a culture of dependency IN READING what Mr Willie Cheng had to say about the non-profit sector, ('Good Principles', Oct 12), I was struck by the following point he made: 'Charities should seek extinction rather than growth. The mantra of business is growth. 'The opposite applies to non-profits. Non-profits are created to achieve societal change. Ultimate success occurs when the non-profit's mission is achieved and its existence is no longer needed.' What a timely reminder amid the current context of big banks (formerly 'cooperative building societies') becoming 'super-banks', the dependence on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in disaster zones, and nearer home, the 'mega-churches'. I realised that NGOs, mothers (and fathers), teachers and missionaries have one aim in common: to work ourselves out of a...

OK, just inserting a link in a post does not constitute much of a blog. The truth is I need to think, cogitate, over this one. Back to Organic-Ally . Become our fan on Facebook .

I found this very interesting: The climate change unbelievers Back to Organic-Ally . Become our fan on Facebook .