Mum bless her had given me lai see or as she calls it fung bao, the red envelope with money inside. She then said I can have the money but just give her the red envelope back as she didn't have many. Ok mum. According to the chinese calendar, it's a brand new year of the dog.
I was excited to receive some money and said well lets go to the garden centre. Mum was suspicious...to buy plants? No mum, I need compost and lime for my new garden bed. Mum had no choice but to come along because I sweetened the deal by saying we could go to Massey Pak n Save on the way back, which she claims has a better butchery than Lincoln Rd. We then went to Palmers Planet, for the compost and lime because mum made a fuss about going directly to Kings. She must have known the plants are so much more expensive at Palmers and no chance I would buy any there.
The other things I needed were new bras and undies, to replace my holy ones. So we also made a trip to K Mart the next day. I must report that K mart has plant pots, but no real plants. They only have plastic plants. I think it defeats the purpose, because instead of removing noxious fumes and giving you oxygen the plastic plants remove the oxygen and breathe out noxious chemical plastic formaldehyde PVC. While they slowly fade and crack in the sun, and possibly give you cancer.
I wonder if anyone has called Kmart management and said to them, you know you tried to sell these indoor plants, well, they are fake! Who are you trying to fool?
But it's no use because merchants have no conscience, it's all caveat emptor. It's like dairy owners. They know what they sell is rubbish like cigarettes and lollies, but who are the stupid people buying them, it's their fault for parting with their cash. Or people who eat too much and then complain they eat too much. Well stop eating too much then, nobody else is putting food in your mouth except for you.
I have a neighbour who complains he has too many books, dvds and teddy bears. But everytime I hear from him, he tells me he went to the market and bought more books, dvds and teddybears. I'm trying to cut down, he says. He thinks cutting back is only buying 2 instead of 3. Um, how about not buying any. How about...going to the library and borrowing books and dvds? For free! And then returning them? This despite my many years of being a librarian I never saw him once enter the library to borrow anything. I don't know about the teddy bear thing though. I am afraid that if I visit, he will want to show me his teddy bear room and then I can't escape.
I have this folder I found at the book exchange called 'Consumer' Home and Garden. It's from the 90s and is a collection of magazines basically telling people what to buy for their home and garden. Their whole agenda is to 'increase consumption of garden products' and has articles on what to spend your money on. Of course I am fascinated. Why don't they name it something more exciting though like Devourer Home and Garden or Gluttons Home and Garden, because surely nobody needs to do this much gardening...? I note that it does not say anything about plastic plants from Kmart.
I did not buy any new plants because my garden bed is seeded with coriander, and I have placed geranium cuttings, the plumbago, and lemon balm and mint cuttings by the fence. So basically I used what I already had. I also found a packet of stock a friend had given me so sowed that too. I saw Martha trying to dig up my seeds, but I have an extra packet of silverbeet seeds Yates have given me as back up.
I have found a solution though for people who really don't want to buy any plants, you can just grow a free diverse weed collection of privet, (trees) tradescantia, (groundcover) moth plant (climber) and deadly nightshade (shrub) and anything else you can just kikuyu it. You will have the greenest home and garden of the lot, and you will save heaps of money. Must tell mum.
