Import-ant.......!!

Rob and I went shopping last Tuesday morning. I love going shopping with him because we go early and pop into the Mall to have breakfast! Our local pizza parlour has breakfast specials, either a breakfast pizza which doesn't really appeal, or the good old fashioned bacon, eggs, tomato and toast with a cup of coffee! And no hassle with 'previously lit' problems as they specially advertise the fact that they have a generator to keep the lights (and stoves) working! A perfect way to start the day, and no washing up afterwards!

So, after our leisurely breakfast, we meandered off to Checkers, our local supermarket. We always look for the cheapest items, being poor pensioners, and found some lovely pure orange juice that was a couple of rand cheaper than any other brand.

So, it came home with us and into the fridge.

The next morning at breakfast Rob was reading the blurb on the side of the box.
'This is by appointment to the Queen', he said.
'Really?' I answered. 'Wow, a South African product by appointment to the Queen!' I was impressed!

See the crown above the flying 'e'?

Until we looked at where it was produced. England! Now, England doesn't grow oranges. We do.
We also produce orange juice. But so does England by obviously importing either the whole oranges, or the pulp which they then re-construct. And then they sell it to us! And it is cheaper to buy than our own juice that is grown, squeezed and packaged here.

Home grown, South African oranges!!

And we have cows.

Alfie cow-watching!

Those large rectangular brown or black and white animals with a leg at each corner, that produce enough gas to run a small factory. Alfie's favourite animals, we have to call them 'Charlie-Oscar-Whiskeys' if we see them when Alfie is with us and sleeping in the car. Otherwise we stop the car and they stare at each other, Alfie quivering with excitement  while the cows shove their tongue up their nostrils. My point is this. We buy milk every week and always choose Long Life milk that will last in the cupboard. Again, we look for the cheapest available for the week and on Tuesday we found a new brand called 'Crystal Valley' which was several rand cheaper than our normal brand.

Guess where it is from?

Guess where it is from as I discovered once I had opened the box and put the individual boxes in the cupboard? Three guesses and you still won't know...................Poland!

Here is some useful information if you buy Polish milk. The Polish word for 'milk' is 'mleko' and Polish for 'cow' is 'krowa'. There are several Polish words for 'why?', 'dlaczego' or' czemu' or 'wszak' or 'po co' or 'na co', so choose one! I couldn't find the Polish for 'rip-off', but you catch my drift?

If I had to remove all the imported items from Checkers, the shop would be absolutely empty except for a few items.

This really makes me cross actually, that items that should be 'home-grown' are not. A case in point is snoek. Now, snoek is as South African as bangers and mash is British. And here on the West Coast, we have lots of fishermen who rely on the local market to buy it when they have caught it. But, when we looked at the smoked snoek in Pick and Pay (another supermarket chain) it was all imported from New Zealand! Ditto with lamb. And cheaper! It's not right! Or fair!

In our little village we have a Crayfish 'factory' and an abalone 'farm'. In Saldanha there are huge mussel 'farms' in the bay, we sit and watch them being harvested. Can us locals buy them? Of course not. It is exported. But most of our shellfish comes from abroad, India mostly.

Why?

Don't quote things like GNP and rate-of-exchange. The words 'carbon footprint' are banded about like a mantra. Footprint? The way we import things is more like a huge boot print, and getting larger by the day.

Our Chinese made South African mascot.......

From clothing (often with a label that says 'Proudly South African made from imported fabric'), to toys to food to cars to whatever you can think of, we import. And we can buy it cheaper than our own home-produced items. Even Zakumi, the 2010 World Cup Soccer toys were made in China!

I am going to boycott imported goods. I shall end up wearing rags and eating grass, but there comes a time when you have to make a stand!

I shall only buy locally made items.

Oh, except for chocolate.............