A couple of weeks ago when I turned on my radio first thing in the morning I heard the tail end of an interview with Prince William and Kate Middleton on the occasion of their engagement. I sighed a little sigh and thought “We will have nothing else on our news bulletins for the next few months” The next item on the early morning radio show was the Financial Report. Most of this just goes over my head and I only left it on so that I could listen to the weather forecast that would follow.
In the studio in Australia a financial expert was talking by phone to a financial expert in London. They talked of Bulls and Bears and Inflation, deflation, recession and all sorts of other things that I only have a very feint understanding of. Before signing off the Australian expert asked “And what about the news of the engagement, will this make a difference to the British economy? The British expert seemed a little surprised at the question and hummed and hawed a bit. The Australian said, “Surely it will make people feel a bit more positive, more ready to go out and spend money, happier and more relaxed, what about all those souvenirs?” The British expert said “The only economy that that is likely to benefit is the Chinese economy”. It did give me a little giggle but it is sad that all those mugs and plates and bunting will be ‘Made in China’ and it made me think of our ‘most travelled mug’
While we were in South Africa Jonny was a regular blood donor. In South Africa you were able to donate blood every three months and so at the end of the year if you had given your full four pints you were given a little token of their appreciation. One year Jonny was given a mug with the Blood Donors logo on it, a good useful gift.
Not long ago as I washed the dishes I noticed that on the base of the mug it was printed ‘Made in China and Printed in Canada’. So that mug had been shipped from the factory in China right across the world to Canada where the South African Blood Transfusion Services logo was printed on it. It would then have been shipped off again to South Africa and presented to Jonny for giving four pints in one year. It joined our collection of assorted mugs and was packed with our belongings when we came to Australia, bringing it back to almost where it started. I don’t know how long it’s round the world trip took, I don’t think it was a very fast one but a pretty long one for a little mug. I think as a family we are rather “well travelled” but maybe the mug out does us.
Talking of mugs reminds me. The other day I was making a mug of coffee and saw that there was a warning on the box. “Hot drinks are Hot”. Oh well, it was packaged in Thailand so maybe it had lost something in the translation.
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