It’s All About the Food and Blogger Questions

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A dear friend who is watching her weight, for health reasons, pointed out that all our social activities are centred around eating food or enjoying drinks. Which makes it harder for her to lose weight, given she enjoys socializing with friends.

I realized that it’s true. Social activities are always accompanied by food or drink.

Pairing Social Activities with Food and Drink

Social invites take the form of:

Would you like a cuppa?

Will we see you at Drinks on Friday?

Let’s discuss it over morning tea,

or even,

Why don’t you come for dinner next Tuesday?

We meet up with friends to chat and spend time with them, to be in the moment with them, to swap stories or new information about their lives.

Why have we fallen into a trap of pairing our social world and discussions with food or drink?

Public Events with Food and Drink

I attended a library event this morning – a conversation styled interview with an author. There on a table to the side were a range of sandwiches, gourmet treats, fruit, tea, coffee, cordial and juice. A three-course meal for some.

In a library!

I remember school libraries as places where food was banned. Woe betide any student that smeared the pages of a book, with peanut butter sandwich residue! Students at my school sat on the floor outside the library building finishing their lunch before entering the sacred hallows where books were lovingly stored.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud that libraries are re-inventing themselves and attracting a wider audience by hosting regular events.

But, is it an impossible stretch to ask the public to sit and listen to an engaging speaker at a library for an hour, without refreshments? Even when the event is timed between mealtimes?

Business Meeting and Nibbles

It seems business meetings too have gotton on board the food train with the compulsory additions of muffins and barista-styled coffees.

With obesity a burgeoning issue in my country, is the implicit message that we’d be social pariahs if we failed to include the presence of food and drink when chatting with friends or business partners!

The Social Habit of Eating and Drinking Together

I am not innocent.

I have fallen into the habit of structuring social activities around food or drink. My walking group meetings culminate with coffee and, for some, a snack too.

When visitors/guests arrive at my door, it feels customary and polite to offer them something hot or cold to drink?

Why does society feel a compulsory inclination to eat or drink when we talk with others?

Is it some kind of discomfort with our hands remaining empty or idle?

Because it is definitely not about calorie deficits or remaining hydrated in the testy weather of the tropics. This occurs happens all year round and regardless of the time of day.

Early morning events – paired with coffee and or breakfast

Mid morning get togethers – coffee or tea and often a sweet treat

Lunchtime meetings – a meal/sandwich

Afternoon catch-ups – Alcoholic drinks or tea

Dinnertime events- a meal and possibly a dessert

Evening get-togethers – Drinks or warming cup of tea or cocoa

It is lovely, but now feels terribly indulgent.

My Social Challenge

My challenge in the ongoing fight against diminishing metabolic rates and an increasing waistline in my retirement years, is to socialize more without the accompaniment of food or drink – at least some of the time.

I could sit at the beach with a friend and discuss books.

I could walk the bike paths along the beach and NOT have anything more than a sip of my water bottle.

I could visit a friend and maybe decline a cuppa? ( I am unsure about this).

Bloggers Questions:

Blogger brains Trust I ask you:-

Do you think excluding food from social activities will work?

Scenario: You are visiting a friend’s home for an hour or so, or you meet a friend out in the community to chat and no food or drink was offered/ included, would you:

(a) feel comfortable?

(b) consider the friend socially ignorant and avoid future events with said friend as they’ve become a social pariah?

(c) consider that your friend a failure at entertaining guests?

(d) that your friend has suddenly become rude, selfish, anally retentive or even anorexic?

(e) other……

I would love to hear what option seems realistic.

The Value of Product Reviews -Helpful or Deceptive?

Most of us shop online these days, in varying degrees. For larger purchases, like appliances and furniture, I will flick through product reviews to ensure I am not sold a ‘lemon.’

Some of us conduct diligent research online checking product reviews on websites for any purchase. Naturally, they want to save money and purchase a reputable brand.

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Companies Seek Customer Feedback

What’s more, companies follow up purchases, seeking out customers’ opinions – feedback is important to them. With varying degrees, our inbox might fill with invitations to respond to customer surveys like,

“So, how did we do?”

“How can we serve you better?

“Let us know what you thought of your purchase?”

Every company wants 5 stars, and to maintain that stellar rating and I am mighty conscious how even a random 1 star review can damage a brand, particularly a small business.

So, imagine my surprise when I was invited to review a purchase of shoes, and upon submitting a 4 star review with accompanying positive-worded tip to improve store/website service, I received this reply:

Our staff has read your review and values your contribution even though it did not meet all our website guidelines.
Thanks for sharing, and we hope to publish next time!

What good is a product review if the company only publishes 5-star reviews?

The Backstory

I had chosen a ‘click and collect delivery for my order. It was filled promptly and my daughter collected the shoes from the store. (We were soon to leave for Japan and had run out of time to get to the shops). When we opened the box, later that evening, the shoes were the wrong size, ( one size smaller), but there was no time to return them to the store, before our trip.

The store’s website detailed a sizing table which converted AUS, US and EURO sizes, but nowhere did the order page indicate which regional sizing you were actually selecting when you clicked “add to shopping cart.”

The store was closed when I sent in the order, I was unable to clarify this via telephone.

But I live in Australia and it is an Aussie store, so I was pretty confident the website would indicate if it was using anything other than Australian sizing.

Wrong! We had received the US sizing – (one size down from Australian sizes)!

Therefore, my 4 star review suggested politely that customers should call the store to check sizing of shoes prior to ordering, as the website doesn’t indicate which sizing is used.

It seems they valued my contribution but it was deemed not to meet store guidelines.

“Try again,” the email glibly suggested.

Pfft! I then supposed that their guidelines must direct publication of reviews if they are only positive and give the store 5-stars?

I wonder if this is store-wide or just a managerial decision? Perhaps Blogger Keith might share his wisdom with me in this regard?

Questions to Bloggers

Do you check product reviews?

Do you find them helpful?

Has this ever happened to you?

‘He Could have Died’ – Dangerous Gardening in Australia

Earlier this year, on Australia Day, I wrote about how ‘dangerous,’ life can be in Australia. By employing a little common sense means nothing dreadful will happen, if you do visit our sun-drenched shores. Almost without exception, Australians live our entire lives without contact with a deadly snake, a Funnel-web Spider or a Death Adder.

So it came as a shock to find that …

Pottering in my garden might have inflicted serious injury or death.

[NB. this tale does not involve use of a power hedge trimmer, or chain saw].

Enter Australia’s Stinging Nettle Tree, or Gympie-Gympie.

Called the Gympie-Gympie, by the Gubbi Gubbi First Nation People, it is also known as the Suicide plant. For good reason –

Two species of the Australian Stinging trees– the Gympie-Gympie (Dendrocnide moroides) and the Giant Stinging Tree (Dendrocnide excelsa) are considered the most venomous plants in the world.

Unlike its European or North American Nettle counterparts, the Australian species are ‘particularly notorious for producing an excruciatingly painful sting.’ Covered in fine hairs like hypodermic needles, Dendrocnide species inject their toxins into skin, at the slightest touch or by brushing up against the leaves.

“Severe cases can lead to shock, and even death.

Horses have been known to die within hours of contact with this plant and one man was purported to have shot himself to end the excruciating pain. He’d inadvertently used the Gympie-Gympie leaf as toilet paper when camping in the forest.

Even inhaling the hairs of a dead 100 year old herbarium specimen caused sneezing, rashes, and nosebleeds and pain! This plant really is dangerous!

Entomologist and ecologist Marina Hurley who has been stung herself, likens the Gympie-gympie’s sting to “being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time.” What’s more, the pain can last TWO YEARS!

And…..

Yesterday I discovered one growing in my Garden!

GASP!

Nature’s instrument of torture popped up along my garden fence, germinating shortly after Christmas, waiting to exact revenge on any life form that brushed passed!

That’s my dog’s furry ear is in the bottom right of the photo. How easy it would be to brush up against it while weeding! Being chemical stable, the toxins contained in the hairs are so minute, extracting them is difficult.

Needless to say, the M.o.t.h gowned and gloved up and disposed of the plant promptly. I am relieved the dreadful thing is bagged and safely disposed of.

Researchers are hoping to put this dangerous plant to beneficial use.

The poison in stinging trees was recently discovered to be a peptide, similar to some venomous spiders and cone snails, which also inflict terrible pain.

The poison works by binding to pain receptors in the nervous system, firing them up into a frenzy of activity. It’s hoped that working out how these proteins work may lead to the creation of new painkillers. [www.theguardian.com/e]

Australian Humour

Australians are renowned for a wry sense of humour. If there is something we do well down under, it is to poke fun at each other in a friendly ironic kind of way. This is not to offend, but merely to spread around a little joy and to lighten the mood. A laugh can be a wonderful health booster.

It’s been a tradition here at Something to Ponder About to publish a tongue-in-cheek Australiana post, in typical Australian fashion, in a nod to Australia Day, which is presently celebrated on January 26th, (the date of which becomes more and more controversial every year).

Then he asked, ‘So what is Australia like?’

Over the years, foreigners and overseas friends have referred to me as an “ARSE-TRAIL-LIAN.” Not because I have been rude or obnoxious, it is just their pronunciation or accent. Which is kind of funny in an ironic way – as we do live ‘down-under’ -the ‘arse’ end of the world!

Given that our homeland is affectionately called ‘Straya’ – we should perhaps be called ‘A-stray-ans’ more and ‘Arse-trailians’ less.

Who are Australians Anyway?

You don’t have to go back far to find Australians are immigrants. Even the indigenous people traveled here by sea or land bridges some 80,000 years ago.

Our nations embraces Indigenous, Asian, British, South African, Greek or Italian and many other heritages, besides that lot that jumped ship from across the ditch (aka New Zealand).

We do regard New Zealand as our sibling country. We poke reciprocal fun at Kiwis and they at us Aussies, most of all. We fight about which nation claims the Pavlovas, Lamingtons and Russell Crowe, as their own. Neither side takes offence. It is just that friendly banter style of communication we have with our closest neighbours across the ditch – in that ironic kind of way.

Goodness, even our constitution listed New Zealand as a ‘state of Australia’, but the Kiwis didn’t agree and opted out. Good on them, I say.

Questions and Answers for Those New to Australia

For those who don’t know us, here’s a Q & A to get you acquainted.

Q: What is Australia like?

A: A more or less egalitarian country fringed by spectacular beaches, with a whole lot of red desert in the middle.

Q. Is Australia a country, a continent, or an island?

A: It is all three.

Q: What is the weather like?

A: In most of the country, there are only two seasons – warm and too darn hot.

Q: How hot does it get?

A: Summer in Australia lasts for five months with temperatures reaching 38- 42 degrees celsius. Australians cool off at the beach in summer and get horribly sunburnt. Sunscreen is an absolute must and unless you are super-diligent about applying it, you will get sunburnt. Twenty years after a bad sunburn experience, we become wrinkle-ly and Doctors excise skin cancers from our nose and face. Shit happens.

Q: What is the most important thing to have with you, when visiting Australia?

A: Water. It is crucial. Drink at least 3 litres a day. Don’t leave home without it, or you could die – of heatstroke.

Q: What language do Australians speak?

A: We speak English and add lots of slang. We pronounce Melbourne as Mel-bin, Brisbane as Bris-bin, Sydney as Sydney and Australia as Oz. Most Aussies think we have the best country in the world, but that is debatable – but only by the other countries.

NB. Do not attempt to use Australian slang unless you have lived for several years. It won’t end well. Trust me on that. Read more on the Aussie Slanguage here.

Q: Are Australians good at swimming?

A: Yes, yes and yes. We need some way to escape the crocodiles! Every Australia learns to swim before they can crawl. Almost.

Q: Can Australia kill you?

A: Between spiders, killer sharks, deadly stingers, crocodiles in the fresh and the saltwater plus the most venomous snakes in the world, Australia can kill you. It just doesn’t happen all that often. 

Take cattle farmer Colin Deveraux’ – he even fended off an attack from a 3.2 metre crocodile by biting it back – on its eyelid! No longer Crocodile Dundee – it’s now Crocodile Deveraux!

Q: Are Australians friendly to foreigners?

A: Yes, Aussies are always willing to say g’day and help out a stranger in ‘strife,’ as long as you don’t tell them what to do. We have a bit of a ‘class’ chip on our shoulder, stemming from colonial days.

Q: Do Kangaroos hop down the middle of Australian streets?

A: Yes, sometimes. It depends on which street and the weather.

Q. Do Australian hamburgers contain beetroot?

A: Who eats a burger without beetroot? Come on! It’s essential – period.

Q: Are Australians weird?

A: We call a WeedWacker, a ‘Whipper-Snipper’, and a traffic cone is a Witch’s hat. Is that weird? It’s your call.

Oh, but what is weird is our love of constructing exaggerated sized and typically tacky tourist attractions. For reasons yet undetermined. Examples include- The Big Pineapple, The Big Banana and The Big Prawn – all iconic landmarks. [Nuff said.]

So on January 26, chuck a sanga on the barbie for Straya day, mate!

Happy January 26th, Australia.

Quotes and Wisdom from the Past

“How much more anger and grief do than the things that cause them.”

“For you can’t lose either the past or the future; how could you lose what you don’t have?

“The impediment to action advances action.
What stands in the way becomes the way.”

Sayings and sageful words uttered in past centuries bear poignant relevance for modern communities across the world. Their timeless interpretation a general fit for a multitude of circumstances. Make of them what you will. Thanks to fermincazares for highlighting Marcus Aurelius’ wisdom.

Ten Tips for a Sustainable, Green Christmas

Ten Sustainable Days of Christmas. Play sustainability Bingo!

So far I tick ten, more or less.

https://tallblondetales.com

These tips from ewspconsultancy.com

Ten Tips for a Sustainable and Green Christmas

• Buy your Christmas food locally where possible, or purchase craft from a local market. Support local, small or family-owned businesses where you can. Support local bakeries for your fresh bread as this supports employment and tastes so much better than supermarket frozen offerings.
• Make a homemade gift instead of buying one.
• Give a relative an experience or a helping hand, such as mowing their lawn, as a gift). Give someone a voucher for an ‘experience’.
• Thinking of getting a pet: adopt an animal from the shelter.
• Give edible gifts – home made jams, chutneys and other preserves, infused spirits, cakes, biscuits/cookies or sweets/chocolates, even dried herb or tea blends.
• Use solar-powered Christmas lights/decorations
• Choose an environmentally friendly gift – e.g. a funky, natural, art project using natural or reclaimed materials and placed in an upcycled frame.
• Give Plants or Seeds from your garden as gifts – see below
• Make natural gifts – including lip balms, bath bombs, and scrubs using herbs and flowers
• Beeswax can be turned into a wrap or used to make candles
• Wrap gifts in an eco-green bag, old fabric or clothing cut up, newspaper or normal paper, old greeting cards, magazines or newspapers, or even fabric like a scarf from an old op shop.
• Use reclaimed fabrics to make small gifts such as makeup bags or zippered pouches for people

Photo by Kha Ruxury on Pexels.com

Other Sustainable Gift Ideas

Instead of exchanging gifts, exchange less used/unused clothes with friends.

Pick a few close friends and have an exchange of such pieces.

It doesn’t sound super-exciting, but it is a great way to be sustainable and save money. We all have pieces in our wardrobe that we seldom use.

You can make it more fun by having a secret Santa system and guessing later who got whom. 

Christmas Gift Alternative – Plantable Christmas Cards

Christmas cards have short lives and are wasteful of resources unless you make them yourself from your craft stash.

I love this idea of plantable Christmas cards: When the card is finished, plant it along with the seeds in the garden soil. The seeds grow, and the paper decomposes.

You can even D.I.Y and make these at home from the craft stash.

Sending Christmas E Cards

E-cards still consume power. Look for ones that will donate to charity with every E-card you send as a way of helping those less fortunate.

How Christmas Shopping is Changing

While Scandinavia observes the time-honoured rituals and traditions of Advent and selecting a live fir tree, Australian shoppers prepare for their Christmas experience by visiting Westfield shopping centres and erecting plastic Christmas trees.

Perhaps you call them malls or something else, but these concrete Westfield centres pay homage to Western greed and indulgence. They are places where every possible gift or want could be exchanged for money. But visiting these venues at Christmas is not just about purchasing gifts, it is also an endurance experience.

It is cut-throat and dog-eat-dog – believe me.

For instance, it is not uncommon to experience a minor verbal brawl over the last free car parking space at Westfield at Christmastime.

Once the Christmas shopping is complete, arms laden with bags brimming with gifts, Aussie consumers dodge and weave the line-up of vehicles circumnavigating the Westfield car parks, like participants in the old video game: ‘frogger.’

Woe betide any shopper arriving late to the shopping party (i.e. after 10 in the morning) as this automatically marshals you into a ‘hunt.’ To snag a spare car park after 10 am at Westfield is like winning the lottery. Any human carrying shopping bags in the car park precinct is stalked and followed in the desperate hope the ‘prey’ will vacate their car park and not just offload their gift cache and return to the shops for a second ‘run’ through the Christmas crowds.

Every man must fend for himself in this retail frenzy.

Thinking Outside the Box

I know of one homeowner who capitalised on Xmas, finding a silver lining in the chaos. Compensating for the proximity of his home to a Westfield shopping centre, he made a small fortune in tax-free cash, renting out his yard as an impromptu car park to desperate shoppers in the days leading up to and after Xmas.

Good on him. There has to be some compensation for tolerating the bastion of consumerism at your back door.

However, Westfield’s days seem to be limited – the pandemic has changed the consumer landscape forever.

Shopping online, or choosing to ‘click and collect’, saves most consumers time and stress. Modern youth embraces it – despite issues with delivery (tell me about it) and the fact that buying online produces more fossil fuels in transport and the manufacture of the necessary plastic packaging. This includes black plastic packaging, which can’t be recycled at all due to carbon black pigments.

So, I ask: what is the future for the behemoths of consumerism and the acres of asphalt that constitute the car parks?

Will the ‘Christmas Shopping phenomenon, the ruthless haggling over car park spots, and the bustling Westfield Xmas chaos relegate the concrete monoliths to a slow decay, unwanted and unable to adapt?

Is there still a place for the in-store shopping experience?

What do you think?