LUXURIOUSLY HANDMADE PRODUCTS

 by: MisS VictoriA DaviD

Sweet coated and mass produced products prevail everywhere. You can find them by searching on the web at your fingertips or by smelling upfront in most retail stores. Am I extensively correct? 

These products which have been launched into the consumer's market were efficiently mixed and moulded by machines using the accuracy of computers. Besides, it is (still) of course supervised by adroit manpower for a period of time until the machines can guarantee to generate and function solely. What a crackerjack symbiosis for corporate heads which will result in more money to be saved and a large sum of profit to be pocketed. Don't be surprised when, in the near future, some of your friends are on their company's redundancy payee list. 

Technically speaking, the state of the art computer era will generate fast-paced productions and when this happens, it will gradually replace manual labour. This is the distressing truth, while the corporates in their ivory tower will not even give a single damn about you. Why would they when all they see are rising numbers and the bull market figure? This worrying situation has been happening already as customers are fleeced by the substandard quality of some of the products. If you ordered and received an item which is half of the quality you are expecting, you should return it right away and demand a free return label. It is your right after all and don't be intimidated by the minute terms & conditions. 

So much of that ineffable satisfaction as it's making me frown more (LOL!)... 

I have been receiving sample products from different retailing companies. For what purpose? I have to try each one of them and after that, I will compose and send to the respective people a written discourse. A constructive statement in which negative and positive criticisms are elaborately explained. If you would like me to try your product(s) in exchange for a blow-by-blow written assessment which is not less than 300 words, just send me a message! 

A year ago, a friend of ours told us about his new passion during his leisure time which has now becomes his love affair for handcrafted items. I can still vividly remember how delighted and mesmerised I was every time I received home-made occasion cards from him. Its because the cards were delicately designed and exquisitely decorated with cut-out images from recycled cards. According to our friend, the duration making of each card depends on what type of occasion but it usually takes a few days before it will be perfectly finish with an envelope. 

Three months back, our dearest and generous friend launched exclusively in front of us his luxuriously handmade products. Such as the soaps which were neatly wrapped in greaseproof wax papers and then, placed in cardboard boxes and some, in mini tin storage boxes. More than that, we were also presented with shower gels in congealed and diluted solutions in the shades of canary and transparent yellow. Both contents were in leak proof square plastic bottles with gold disc pump tops and detachable locks. Our friend wasn't just launching whim products as he even thought of our Motherly Nature, too. His modest concept of the soap boxes and shower gel containers are both recyclable and reusable!

On a split-second, I thought they were all from a skin care product store because of the classically sleek image presented to us. On the contrary, he made them from his humble abode by combining the desired ingredients, adding the pleasant fragrance oil, gently stirring and then conceptualising the finished goods using the boxes and plastic bottle containers. That was the dead ringer appearance of his handcrafted bathing products. But what about the essential quality? 

We were politely asked to closed our eyes and then, had a smell of different bar of soaps. The subtle scent of lavender oil and tea tree oil in his home-made soaps exuded right after opening each effortlessly. My palms were imbued with soothing aroma upon touching only the well-wrapped wax paper. My sense for redolence was much aroused when the soaps were uncovered and laid on my hands. I couldn't get out of my nostrils the calming lavender and the relieving tea tree fragrances. If they were edible, they would have landed in my mouth after my nose!

Enough of the pocket-sized soaps as there were shower gels, too... 

I twisted the pump top to open and the lemony scent reached directly into my nose. It was like smelling the newly cooked lemon drops or freshly squeezed lemon juice. My mouth was watering as the distinctive sour citric acid dominated; I nearly salivated... hahahaha! The viscid consistency meant I had to shake it very well before use. Also, the rich organic elements made it only ideal as a face & body wash. That's because, when I tried using it as a shampoo my hair strands formed into small, tight curls. What a frizzy and grrrr experimental moment for my silky straight locks! 

Contrastingly, the thinned version of a combined lemon oil and geranium oil had a surprising sweet orangy flavour. It was already tea time when the olfactory nerve presentation was soon to finish. That is why, my thoughts of a super moist and fluffy cake with orange glaze forked over. Apart from craving, I was also gasping for a cup of tea.

On a more serious note, the diluted version was the right and perfect alternative shampoo for my sensitive hair. Actually, I provisionally first used it when we were in Corfu, Greece and it left my hair silky soft with a fructose scent. Personally speaking, the shampoo experiment proved that it was not just for my delicate chocolate brown skin!

MR. MARKET

by: MisS VictoriA DaviD

The 'market' (bond, commodity, stock, FX, etc.) in general, is like a supernatural entity and it can bring down the Governments. For example, the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) came crashing down and adapted capitalism from the ruins of the old system. Recently, the Argentine middle classes lost there 'shirt' as the value of the peso crashed, due to Government debt.

At the moment, why there is a Greece crisis it is because they cannot afford to pay the interest of the bond debts. The money every three months become due. The recent turmoil has been caused because successive Governments had borrowed too much and can't afford the interest on the loans. These loans are called bond that are traded in the market. As Greece didn't have the money to pay the interest on their bonds they had to ask the EEC (European Economic Community) and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to rescue them. That is the historic debts!

Any new borrowing by Greece is now price at 15% per annum. This is much more than the country earns, so, there is no way to pay without going bankrupt. This is the cost of the crisis that the market will bring to the door of any 'Govt.' or 'person' who ignores it.

Don't be surprised if the Euro or Sterling drops in value because Greece problems are endemic in many European countries.

THE CAMDEN MARKET

by: MisS VictoriA DaviD

One of the nicest place in the northern part of London is the Camden Town. A place with interesting locations like the canals where you can sit and relax and their famous market named after the town called, Camden Market.

The market was once a number of buildings; stables that were used to house the horses that once toed the barges along the canal. They are now converted to rented units for stores and shops.

I have been there many times and was always fascinated to see how people with different nationalities integrated with one another. If I am not mistaken they have been there for quite a long year; their attitude towards each other seemed to understand each culture and had a cordial atmosphere too.

I went there not to be fascinated but to see what they sell for locals and tourists. They have stalls for all types of garments; stores that feature local and foreign products and delicacies that you can choose amongst their restaurants.

I had taken a few pictures that are now stored in a memory stick. One of the attractions that was placed at the back of their restaurants was the giant black unicorn moulded in cement. There is also an impressive sculpture of a blacksmith, it must have been 20 foot in height. When you enter this section of the market you will be greeted by this working class hero.

In my own opinion, Camden Market is like the Philippines famous Divisoria in Metro Manila. This is a public place/ bazaar that offers cheaply rented space for trade. There are Filipinos and other nationalities who provide and sell garments, jewellers, furnitures, footwear etc. And also around the corner, are affordable fast food places for your peckish delights.

If you are missing Divisoria, you better plan a day to go to this interesting town and don't forget to step on the ground of their market!

YEAR 2010: ECONOMY'S DIRECTION

by: MisS VictoriA DaviD

People, mainly buyers and sellers, seem to think that today or at the moment the situation of the economy is doing well, perhaps there's no direction!

Some people think the economy is doing well, mainly those people who think it goes up. A few days ago there was a news about Chinese exports and normally when you hear this type of news and when you get people analyse it you will find that the export were something like not proper goods but something else. Such as electronics stuff or components.

So far, what people are watching when comparing the 'book' is either the Chinese economy will go down or up.

A lot of people cannot see how the Chinese economy will continue growing if everyone itself is no longer buying like America, Europe, United Kingdom or the biggest market. Most of their sales are sold to those countries that reached up to 75% or 80%.

Today, all those countries are in absolute distress, so, how can their market continue growing? There are two ways they can adapt either to export more goods to the far east in which the far east has no big middle class consumers' society or its own people could be buying more goods.

The only way its own people could buy more goods would be if the Chinese government is prepared to give their people more money which would mean increasing the value of their currency. If they increase the value of their currency the prices of their goods will go up, thus, people will buy less offers so they are in catch 22; the buying dilemma!

So, on one hand a lot of people especially fund managers want to put their money into shares, earn dividend and see growth. But the more realist people are, they can see that most growth so far comes from government spending. Those from China, Europe and America, their government just about spend much they can afford to and if they keep printing money, the bond market will stop lending them money. That was happened in Greece as I said before!

So, at the moment the stock market has come to a shaky balance between buyers and sellers because there is no direction. This is because of the export growth in China that people will think and see as a sign that the world economy is picking up. Probably, this is a growth from the very lower, much lower!

The beginning of this year there was growth after a huge down-turn and most of that growth are people, factories, countries etc. that were so frightened in that banking crisis last 2008 and 2009.

A lot of 'people' recommended replenishing inventory, which is re-stopping. It is interpreted as an up-turn in the world economy but it is not really an up-turn but a job less recovery. This is nearly when people adding put-off through fear that is why the government had the cash for clankers which brings purchasing forward and gives the illusion of growth.