EmmaGoodEgg

MAMIL AT THE CRACK OF DAWN

Cycling has, like in the rest of the world, become big in Brunei these days. You cannot help but notice them on the road; packs of determined looking cyclists (the majority invariably men) eyes covered in fancy shades, ruffled brows riding in mini “pelotons”, recreating a stage of the Tour de France.

There is a name for them – men aged 35 and up, who have discovered the joys of Lycra. This new tribe has been dubbed ‘MAMIL’s’ or Middle Aged Men in Lycra. The ‘middle age’ in the term is rather telling. Instead of buying a flashy car nowadays no mid-life “transition” is complete without wriggling into a pair of spandex shorts and climbing onto a bespoke, upgraded and eye wateringly expensive bicycle.

I speak from experience, I fear that my beloved husband Bobby has signed up - though not for the full Lycra experience - into the sub group who ride mountain bikes on off-road trails. Weekends at the GoodEggs now consist of early Saturday night pasta festivals, and Sunday mornings up at the crack of dawn to apply sunscreen and to click off on cycle shoes for a three hour “kayuh” (“paddle” in Malay).

Although it would seem that the cost of the five carbon and alloy bicycles that now grace our store room would have depleted the children’s education fund, the total cost would appear still to be cheaper than a sports car. Or a mistress.

As I grunt at him not to wake the children, I get, “mun paham bisai dang”. Bobby is not known for his use of the vernacular. I think he may be spending too much time on this Facebook page, “Cycling Buddies Brunei”.

These days, a persons' identity is not just defined in the traditional manner - country, family, occupation, but also by the way that a person spends their leisure time. Social media has given a platform for people to group themselves around their passions and to interact with like-minded folk. There appears to be social media sites for all types. The aforesaid popularity of the Lycra clad road biking gang cannot be missed. There are groups for the rather hairier and generally Lycra-avoiding mountain bikers. For the young and urbane, there are groups who ride “fixies” a stylish subset of cyclists, whose bikes are based on the simple engineering of courier cyclists. Watch the film, “Premium Rush“ for the cultural reference.

All this pedal pushing can't really be a bad thing - it gets people together, out in the fresh air and living healthy lives. Bobby claims never to have seen more of the country and from so many different vantage points and perspectives. According to him anyway, as I have never seen the muddy side of a jungle trail, it has given a greater appreciation of the closeness that we in Brunei have with nature, something to appreciate and to treasure.

Given that it is a popular leisure activity, I wonder if cycling may one day be seen as a viable alternative means of everyday transportation. The heat and humidity may deter me for one, but I don’t see why it should deter many others. In other places, cycling is not just a lifestyle statement but “driven” by real economic factors such as high petrol prices, taxation and cost of parking. One could say that it is one of the best form of mass transportation. It's all about the healthy lifestyle, it's emissions-free and runs on pasta. The obvious challenges for cycling as a form of real transportation here in Brunei would be the lack of school transport as many people shuttle the children to school, shower facilities at work places and the most obvious - the lack of cycle lanes and proper cycling infrastructure. At the moment, perhaps, the message must be to cycle safe and to encourage helmets and lights where appropriate, and importantly, for motorists to accept that there are other, much less shielded road users with whom they should share the roads.

My final point is as it should be, on fashion. Beloved Bobby has recently purchased his first Lycra - a “team” jersey and some bib shorts. For the uninitiated, bib shorts comprise of a one-piece singlet - attached to Lycra shorts with padding on the rear. Unfortunately, on their own they would make even James Bond come off like Borat. I have managed so far to discourage their use, despite their obvious practicality. But of bib shorts, I shall speak no more. On colours, I would say only this - less is more. 

 

@emmagoodegg

Illustrated by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here.

 

The Hunger Games

I was at the Ramah Mesra for Brunei Muara District last Sunday, the customary culmination of His Majesty the Sultan’s Birthday celebration.

At these events, associations, organizations, businesses and schools turn out at the “Padang” of each district and put on a display of affection and loyalty to the Ruler. The event consists of an oath taking, traditional performances, exhibitions and a tug of war competition.

Before lunch, the morning program culminates in a walk-about by His Majesty and his family among the different groups who have gathered at the Padang, organized into different tents and exhibitions.

In my mind there is no-where else in the world where a head of state, a ruler will mingle so freely, closely and openly with the community. It is a testament to the warmth and generosity, to the kind nature of His Majesty that people of all shapes and sizes, of all backgrounds and status may come and wish him well on his birthday. His Majesty descends onto the Padang with little or none of the accoutrements of state to essentially be with his people. Everyone has a chance to greet His Majesty – civil servants, business owners, police veterans, school children asking for selfies (invariably granted), bankers sweating in their suits.

It is truly a display of a special bond. We should all feel lucky to be a part of it.

Since I started (and stopped – and started) writing this column, there has been a great up-surge in social media connectivity, not just in Brunei but around the world. It is a fact of life these days that news is spread by non-traditional means. As a result many of us have had to bear witness to the ugly side of the Brunei character. Videos and commentary have circulated of people helping themselves to a large cake made available to the public at this event. It is not the fact that people help themselves to this cake, but the manner in which they have done this - descending on the cake like a cloud of locusts, without any care for manners or decorum - shoveling large chunks of cake into whatever receptacle is at hand, using paper plates, cardboard boxes,  their bare hands. Young and old pushing and shoving as if they had not eaten in days. It is a sight that will leave you open-mouthed. 

A mea-culpa on my part. I was responsible for one of the tents on Sunday. We were lucky to have had a sponsor for a large and beautiful birthday cake. We thought we were prepared - we had a chef on hand to portion the cake, take away boxes at the ready. Once the official party had moved on however, there was no stopping the free-for-all. We pleaded for calm, but the crowds had none of it. One well dressed and able-bodied man I had asked for patience even grabbed a slice of cake, licked the top and placed it back saying, “go ahead, take my share!”, all the while laughing like a hyena. What struck me was not just the ill manners of the crowd, but the mean spiritedness- absolutely not in keeping with the “mesra” of the occasion.

One must ask why have we come to this? Many people have said that even in places of great poverty and need, people do not behave in such a loutish manner.

Is it a terrible sense of entitlement? That everyone should expect, nay demand their share of the cake? Is it a result of plain greed, or that “if I don’t get my share, some one else will and I will lose out”?

When I was growing up and attending weddings with my parents, we were told never to take to too much food at the buffet and never to go for seconds. Firstly, the idea was not to bring shame on your family, to act as if there was not enough food at home. Secondly, the idea was also to leave some for others.

That’s perhaps what it is, a lack of basic human dignity, a lack of appreciation of your own self and a lack of appreciation of the worth of others.

Perhaps the greatest gift that we could hope to bestow on a ruler, like a child to a parent, is to show that we can live with self-reliance, grace and dignity.  

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here. 

Mari Memasak

“Srikandi” is a character of Javanese Wayang, depicting a strong warrior-woman, able to overcome her struggles, trials and tribulations.

Serikandi is the name of the catering business started by the late Dayang Sharifah Hajah Maimunah Syed Mohammad in 1984 at Kuala Belait. Born to an Arab clan in Kuala Belait in 1941, her father was Bruneian, and her mother from Singapore.

Television host, entrepreneur, writer of cookery books, mother of eight and “Mak Andam”, her story would make her seem almost an early forerunner of Martha Stewart or a Nigella Lawson, but without the eight children, and I reckon that Martha has no idea how to administer a lulur.  

My earliest memory of Sharifah Maimunah is of watching her RTB television program in the late 70’s, “Mari Memasak”, and her demonstrating the preparation of a banana fritter. Unlike some contemporary satellite channel presenters, her style was homely and engaging. Avuncular, only female.

By the way, is it my age? Why is it that current local shows are not such household names as they were then? Do you remember Ladies at Eleven? Dunia Minggu Ini? Liputan Nasional?

At the same time, she started and ran the Government Canteen in Kuala Belait in front of the St James School, then gained a contract to cater at the Kuala Belait Recreation Club. Packed lunches for oil workers were prepared and sold under the business name “Serikandi”.  The link to the oil and gas industry remains until today, with an offshore catering business backing two outlets in Kuala Belait and Kuilap. She started and kept up a business providing cakes and kueh for Hari Raya.

Then there were the cookbooks, “Selera Serikandi” was first published in 1994 and reprinted many times. It provides recipes for staples such as Rendang, Serunding, Ayam Golek, sambal goreng and hati buyah.  The second, “Selera Serikandi 2” provided recipes for cakes and dessert. 

Some would say that you couldn’t have a wedding without an Imam or a Mak Andam.  For many a Malay bride or groom, a Mak Andam is the elderly lady whose job is to make you glow. She scrubs you down with a rice flour lulur, waves the burning scented wood, maintains the behind the scenes order and generally keeps said bride or groom from bolting for the door. Mak Andams are a constant source of comfort in the heat and noise of a Brunei wedding.  For a period in the seventies, Hajah Sharifah Maimunah was lucky enough to turn her hand to this. For as much comfort as they give though I think it’s scandalous how much Mak Andams are paid. She gave it up to concentrate fully on the food business.  

To accomplish all of this, one must give credit to her industry and hard work (not to mention a supportive husband). Bear in mind at the same time she would have also raised her family of eight children. The name she chose for her business seems most fitting.

Hajah Sharifah Maimunah passed away last week; she was well loved and will be sorely missed by her husband, five sons and three daughters. 

@emmagoodegg

Photo courtesy of the late Hajah Sharifah Maimunah's family.

For the online version click here.

It's Not The Taking Part, It's The Winning Right?

There is no such thing as a “former” Olympian. Once you have participated at the Games, you are always and forever entitled to call yourself an “Olympian”.

While our athletes may not be able to say that they contended for medal places, they can say that they worked their guts out, sweated, strived and lived the Olympic ideals, all on our behalf.

Though the swimmer, Anderson Lim may have come 40 something out of 40 something, he achieved a personal best and set a National Record. The same with young Maziah in the 400-meter sprint. London skies cleared for her to not come last in her event; achieve a personal best and again set a National record.

While other countries may boast a medal contender or two, it is something almost uniquely Bruneian that we as a nation cheered ourselves hoarse on Friday night, watching a slip of a girl being overtaken on the first straight by a giantess from Jamaica, and still and quite rightly so, hold ourselves proud. My only complaint can be why did she lose the short shorts. I also wish Ak Hafiy all success in his event later on today, Saturday. 

Our Olympians achieved what they had set out to, that is, to do better than they had swum or run in the past.  Maziah beat her own personal best by 4 seconds, running the fastest sub minute 400 meters for a Bruneian female athlete. So long as they strived, got their guts out and moved the human condition that tiny bit forward, we can say that they have accomplished something.

In contrast, we have the disqualification of 8 female doubles badminton players for match fixing.  It seems all four teams connived to lose a game, in order to ensure a comparatively easy quarterfinal.

Where one team is looking to throw a game, it can be regarded as a lucky upset, but if both teams are trying to lose, it is much harder to hide things. The resultant farcical matches had spectators jeering.

But then, we see gamesmanship at all levels in other sports, teams always look to gain an advantage, even if it means, “taking your foot off the pedal”. You do see in international competition, football teams fielding weak sides in the round robins, once the next round has been achieved. It makes strategic sense in a competition to play for the long game. After all, “if you want to make omelets, you have to break eggs”. 

Some of the disqualified teams acknowledged that what they had done was wrong and that they had not lived up to the Olympic ideal. The disqualification would seem to me to be correct. At the very least the players owed it to the public to deliver a performance.  How could you claim the title of an Olympian, if when called to do so, you fail to give anything but your best?

A comparison of the two, in the end illuminates to me the Olympic spirit: the plucky little girl running not to be last and a nation’s pride, and a world number one, looking to lose for the sake of a medal.   

@emmagoodegg

Photo from The Guardian.

For the online version click here.

The Nature Of Loss And Sacrifice

On Friday evening as the nation was preparing for the first day of Ramadan a national tragedy unfolded on Facebook timelines and twitter feeds, whatsapp chats and texts. The tragedy was a Royal Brunei Armed Forces Bell 212 helicopter that crashed in the rural district of Kuala Belait that evening.

14 army cadets and officers were reported to be involved, and throughout the evening we read of those that have passed, those found and those unaccounted for. As I sit here writing this article on a somber Saturday morning, the crash had taken the lives of 12 cadets and left only two survivors.

An army career, with its prerequisite training is not for the faint hearted. I believe that the young men and women of the Brunei Army who were passengers of that fateful flight would have been prepared for any eventuality as par for the course in their line of work. This is why you join the army. The tragedy is not just the loss of so many young men and women but that this had occurred in peacetime during what appears to have been a routine training sortie.  

It is will perhaps give Ramadan a greater poignancy this year, while Ramadan is a time of reflection, prayer and thanksgiving, we may also wish to think about the loss and sacrifices that have been suffered by others in the service of our nation.

Al fatihah.

@emmagoodegg

For the online version click here.

The Great Balancing Act

Friday was my 4-year old daughter’s last day at kindergarten. The teachers had organized a pirate themed end of term party to celebrate. Early that morning, this working mother, who had not sorted out her daughter’s pirate outfit, grabbed a black scarf from her drawer and tied it on her daughter’s head for some pirate pizzazz. To be honest, my daughter ended up looking more like Ibu Fitri from Palembang than Izzie from “Jake and The Neverland Pirates”. Unable to attend the party due to work, I had reports that some of her classmates came to school sporting pirate vests, swords and eye-patches. Arrrr… My daughter brought “Pirate Pizzas” that had been made by the helpers, (as opposed to sandwiches and sushi lovingly made by the maternal kitchen goddess that we are all supposed to aspire to). I try you know, and I am gutted that I missed my daughter’s last day at Kindy. That unfortunately, is the price to be paid by a working mother.

The challenge of being a working mother got Cherie Blair, wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a bit of hot soup last week. Speaking at Fortune’s Magazine’s “Most Powerful Women” Event at Claridges she said “yummy mummies” who give up work and put all their effort into their children are making a dangerous mistake. Mrs. Blair, a barrister and mother of four, urged all women to remain self-sufficient. 
 She further said: “Every woman needs to be self-sufficient and in that way you really don’t have a choice - for your own satisfaction; you hear these yummy mummies talk about being the best possible mother and they put all their effort into their children. I also want to be the best possible mother, but I know that my job as a mother includes bringing my children up so actually they can live without me.”

Incidentally the term “yummy mummy” conjures an image of a design obsessed woman, thin, coiffed and be-heeled, carting her brand-attired toddler to endless expensive lunches. I should say this though, most yummy mummies are stay-at-home mums, but not all stay-at-home mums are yummy mummies.

Stay-at-home mummies all around the United Kingdom (and the world) saw red over their chai lattes and a slew of responses from all and sundry on on-line newspaper articles and their comment boxes denounced the elitist Cherie and sought to provide their views on this oft debated issue for women – should women put their children before career?

Before getting everyone’s knickers into a twist, I think the message Cherie was trying to get across is that young girls shouldn’t grow up thinking the only option in life is to look good in order to ensnare Prince Charming who will then take care of them until the end of days. To put it simply, what Cherie was trying to say is that how can we expect our daughters to aspire to a good education and a career if we as mothers have opted out and chosen to stay at home?

Then there was the article written by Anne Marie Slaughter in the Atlantic Magazine that sought to expose the lie that women can “have it all”. An intellectual giant, a Princeton Professor of Law no less, who has served as senior aide to Hillary Clinton, Slaughter says that only if you are boss of your own schedule can you really achieve any meaningful life-work balance. For most women and men its not so easy to close the shop when the school nurse rings to tell you your child has a temperature. Slaughter resigned at the high point of her career as Clinton’s aide in order to spend more time with her teenage sons. The message she is sending young women is clear, that a career is an asset, but motherhood is an imperative. I do sympathize with this; I also imagine most working mothers who have fulfilling careers can’t wait to rush home at the end of the working day.

It is also a matter of personal choice and circumstances and seeking balance.

In Brunei it is heartening to see figures indicating our lady folks preference to work as a means of being self-sufficient. Deputy Minister of Culture Youth and Sports YB Datin Paduka Hjh Adina was in the news reporting how Bruneian women now earn on average the third highest income in the world. Since 1971, the participation of women in the labour force has jumped from 20 per cent to 58 per cent in 2010. Women make up about 50.4 per cent of the civil service.

Admittedly life in Brunei is not the same as life in the United Kingdom, given the cost of living here, it is perhaps easier for a woman in Brunei to pursue a career as well as to have a family life.

YB Datin Adina went on to say that with the increase in working women, men would also need to adjust their expectations and also learn new skills. And that parenting responsibilities should be shared by both mother and father. Well said YB.

While Anne Marie Slaughter’s tale struck a chord in many working mothers, perhaps Cherie was a little harsh on the young women of this generation. It can also be said that the young men of this generation recognize that bringing up children nowadays is not solely the responsibility of the wife. At least in Brunei, most women I know are yummy mummies, working or otherwise, and are very much aware of living a balanced and fulfilled life. It may not be easy but perhaps we should all, both men and women, view a work life balance as imperative.

 @emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here.

Island Living

Lonesome George, the world’s last Galapagos Tortoise, died last Sunday at the Galapagos Islands National Park. He was believed to be about 100 years old. There will be an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but it is believed that Lonesome George died of old age. Obviously taking your time and eating your greens has its benefits.

He was discovered in 1972 in Pinta, Ecuador when the world thought giant tortoises to be extinct, and despite the best efforts of conservationists be bring in mates from other species of tortoises Lonesome George, like his namesake George Michael, remained a confirmed bachelor and failed to leave offspring. The lone tortoise became a symbol for the Galapagos Islands and for endangered species. Thankfully not every endangered species’ story has to end as Lonesome George’s did.

Islands around the world often have unique species that live there and nowhere else. Islands cover only about 3 percent of the entire planet, but is home to 20 percent of known species and 50 percent of endangered species. The Galapagos, a group of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, are well known for inspiring Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution and natural selection from what he observed there.

Our very own Borneo has plant and animal species you can’t find anywhere else on Earth. We share the Heart of Borneo, a 220,000-km² region in the mountainous centre of the island, with an estimated 10 primate species, over 350 bird species, and 150 reptiles and amphibian species. At least 15,000 plants, of which 6,000 are found nowhere else in the world, thrive in swamps, mangroves, lowland and forests of the island.

Borneo has been an interest of scientists for over 150 years, and has played a key role in the discovery of evolution. Notably, Alfred Wallace’s theories of natural selection were inspired by his travels on the island in the 19th century. Wallace was a contemporary of Darwin, his travel journal was published in a massive tome entitled, “The Malay Archipelago”.

Since that time, scientists have busied themselves discovering and naming new species, and they will continue doing so for decades to come - if the forests are not wiped out by deforestation. The island of Borneo has lost approximately half of its forest cover in the past 50 years to oil palm plantations, pulp and paper, logging, and fires. Our wildlife is amongst the most besieged in the world.

A Reforestation Project in Sabah serves a number of threatened species in Borneo, amongst others the Borneo Pygmy Elephants and Clouded Leopard. There should be global awareness, cooperation and action on an international level to stop species loss and deforestation.

It is all too easy to forget the importance of wildlife in our urbanized life, but take for example the tiny bee. Farmers depend on them to pollinate crops. If crops are not pollinated, they don't produce fruit and vegetables. Almost 70% of everything we eat is either fruit and veggies or their by-products. Without the simple bee there would be starvation on a global scale.

Indeed, islands can act as a real world Research and Development lab for discovering and ensuring the survival of threatened species. There are plenty of new threats on the horizon, like climate change, invasive species and habitat loss. These are the challenges we need to engage in if we are going to help other species avoid Lonesome George’s fate.

@emmagoodegg

Photo from the Brunei Times.

For the online version click here.

Cool Runnings

If I owned a DVD store, (which I don’t, and if I did it would be closed by now, but that’s a different story) the weekend of the 27 July 2012 at the start of the Summer Olympics I’d have these 3 movies on a special promo; Chariots of Fire, Cool Runnings and Munich. All three movies share the same Olympic theme.  I’d do it simply to participate as best I can towards a world event.  Even more so because my country is not only participating in the Opening Ceremony by taking part in the traditional march past, but will also be sending possibly 3 athletes, which includes for the first time, a woman, 19 year old 400m athlete Maziah Mahusin.

Out of the 3 movies, Cool Runnings is a favourite of mine and embodies the true spirit of the Olympic games.  A Jamaican bobsled team taking part in the Winter Olympics in Calgary 1988 is inspiring in its simple message.  An endeavour undertaken to be among the world’s best.  It doesn’t matter that your country is one of those whose athletes reign supreme, or those that are prop up the bottom of the results table, the Olympic games is not all about the medals, but it about participating and experience, striving for excellence in whatever you do.

Our athletes will most likely find it difficult or impossible to meet Olympic qualifying standards, given their lack of international experience. But the I.O.C. has long granted participation under special conditions to athletes from developing nations.

According to Wikipedia in 1988 Brunei’s first participation in the Olympic games was limited to the Opening Ceremony Parade with the lone official but no athletes.  It wasn’t until the 1996 Games in Atlanta, USA that Brunei started competing in Olympics, and then every games since (except for 2008) then with a single athlete.  In Athens 2004, Jimmy Anak Ahar competed in the 1500 meters and finished last.  Time Magazine has a wonderful story from 2004 on the ‘finished but not beaten’ participants of the 2004 Olympic games in Athens and stressed that the Olympics is not just about large countries with juggernaut proportioned sports institutions churning out platoons of medal winners, but the fact that small nations can turn out and strive to be the best that they can be. Times found greater dignity in the unfancied athlete doing his best than in the sometimes shady world of win at all costs. 

The other thing about the Olympics is that it is a great celebration of sporting diversity, athletes come in all shapes, sizes, forms, races and nationalities, all with essentially the same purpose, to do their best.

The best thing for us in competing is the human development, because no matter our results, we would have sent our boys and girls to do their best. It is the simple fact that they have devoted themselves to doing something well that is a shining beacon to future generations to excel. 

I think we should therefore take pride in our own Olympians, they just go to show that just because we are small, it doesn’t mean that we can’t strive. 

@emmagoodegg

Photo from Time.com

For the online version click here.

Sustainable Civilization: Not The Hunger Games

The Guardian’s Book Blog recently wrote about a man who posted on one of these gaming forums about how he had been playing the computer game Civilization II for the past 10 years.

The game's objective is to "Build an empire to stand the test of time". It plays for single players only who create their own civilization in a virtual world.  You start the game in 4000BC with a small settlement and then expand and develop your little settlement into an empire through the ages from the ancient era until modern and future times, building things up, searching and competing for resources with other civilizations. 

In June 2012, the man posted details of his decade long game. He found after years of game play, a world in a perpetual state of conflict, where three major civilizations have been in a constant war. The lives of the inhabitants of these civilizations are not really that much better than when the game started at 4000 BC, living in constant fear of violence and reprisal in a totalitarian dystopia much like George Orwell’s 1984. 

The man says that he is trying to find a way to end the war and to “rebuild” the world. The writer in the Guardian blog wonders whether this is how the game creators programmed the game to end, or whether this is how it will always inevitably end, when the “game” is all about competition for scarcer and scarcer resources.

Which brings us nicely to the World Oceans Day observed last week, and the announcement that Brunei is set to join the Coral Triangle Initiative, a grouping of governments who have committed to ensure that the coral reefs within their maritime boundaries are preserved and looked after.

At first sight the preservation of coral reefs may not look like much of an effort, but to really consider what it means, one will realize that looking after the reefs requires a great deal of commitment and effort, especially considering Brunei’s own efforts to industrialize and develop. The foresight of the Government in signing up to this is thus admirable.

Brunei has signed on to the Heart of Borneo Project to preserve our rain forests, and this has so far succeeded spectacularly. Look at Google earth and you will see the deep emerald green of our forests, in stark contrast to the state of the jungles across the border. But the preservation of the rainforest is relatively easy - you simply don’t touch them.

Looking after the oceans and coral reefs however, is a different kettle of fish. To start yes, it is a question of hands off - one has to insure that unsustainable practices such as the use of poison and explosives in fishing are eradicated. Then there is a need to change other fishing practices, for example to avoid overfishing and to ensure that only fully grown fish, who have had an opportunity to breed, are harvested, to rely and develop on aquaculture.   

But it’s in looking at the larger picture that one understands the deep changes that will have to be made in the way that we live and approach development in order to truly protect the marine environment.  

Coral reefs and ocean eco-systems are very complex and very sensitive to pollution from human settlements. In order to allow reefs and ocean life to flourish, coastal populations will have to think carefully about what goes into their drains, sewers, streams and rivers. The waste that goes into the environment on land will sooner or later find its way into the sea. We cannot continue to simply think that activities on land have no bearing on what happens to the oceans. As such, development has to go hand in hand with environmental awareness.

Then there is global warming. The first casualty of warming oceans are the reefs, even small changes in ocean temperature substantially effects the reefs. In order to really think about looking after the oceans, we need to consider our carbon footprint, to truly encourage the use of renewable energy and to discourage waste and inefficiency.  

In a sense, the sustainability movement follows a great deal of what our Government has been stressing of late - an individual must always consider ones’ actions, and at all times be guided by a sense of equity fairness and compassion (for others and for the environment). Avoid waste and over-consumption. Seek to live healthily.

At the end of the day, maybe if such simple messages can be communicated, there is hope for the environment and humanity yet.  

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here.

Wrestling With Coco

I am wrestling with Coco Chanel, she with her chic black bob, cool elegant demeanor, classic black skirt suit and twin set. Not just wrestling, but, in my mind we are having a full on eyes gouged, manicured taloned catfight. Yes she is the bane of my existence, but also my guilty obsession. It is a love-hate relationship. She is Scarlet to my Rhett.  

Gabriel “Coco” Bonheur Chanel was a French designer, founder of the famous luxury brand “Chanel”. In the 1920s she rose from being a simple milliner to a designer who revolutionized women fashion. By replacing the corset and other frippery with the comfort and casual elegance of simple suits, dresses and trousers, she freed women of the time from the constraints of the home and of fashion that dictated that those who could would not work.

Chanel is also known for chunky costume jewelry in gold and pearls, the musky scent of Chanel No. 5 and exquisite leather goods like the Chanel Classic Flap handbag.

The House of Chanel is one of the most enduring and well-known brands in fashion. Its stores are located in the swankiest shopping addresses across the globe. Its wares are noted for their beauty, craftsmanship, design and elegance. They are also eye wateringly expensive. Part of the mystique to me is the utter aloofness of the shop assistants. I think they have special training on Parisian “attitude” which also includes a sixth sense, so that they can tell at a glance whether you are “just looking” or “dropping thousands”.  It is part of the marketing, the selling of unobtainable dreams.

After her death in the 70’s brand Chanel took on a period of hiatus. The classic items sold reasonably, but it was considered your grandmother’s clothes shop. Karl Lagerfeld took over in the 80’s and energized the brand, giving it street credibility and at the same time not alienating its core clientele, the ones who would regularly spend thousands of dollars on a skirt and jacket.

Chanel fans range from tai-tais, ladies who lunch, Hollywood starlets, captains of industry to office workers and mistresses in tight leather. Chanel is what every grown up girl aspires to.

And that is my problem. I consider myself grown up - career, weekend column, kids in high school. But, I have never bought anything from a Chanel boutique, ever. Not even the perfume.

I have always prided myself on my quirky “alternative” tastes in fashion. My preference is for one-off designs, and outside-of-the-mainstream designers. This has suited me well in the 20 years since school.  

Is it peer pressure? One goes to a function these days, and every one has a designer bag, even the girls fresh from university just starting up their jobs. Work is taking me to London in a few days and my sister-in-law is nudging me on the bargains to be had at Chanel, Heathrow Terminal 3, and the fantastic exchange rates.

Well I don’t know, and this is the reason why I wrestle with Coco. Give in, and purchase a beautiful black leather temptation? Or stick with my alternative, and much easier on the credit card, fashion preferences? 

I would dearly love one day to bamboozle the sixth sense of the Chanel shop girls, it is one of those things that need to be ticked off the list.

But we will see. As Scarlet O Hara said to Rhett Butler, at the end of “Gone with the Wind, “tomorrow is another day…” 

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

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