Oil touched an unthinkable $128 today, now double of $65 it was a year back. At this rate it is expected to cross $200 soon and then $300 in not much time.

Since everything runs on oil, from farm machinery to goods transport, factories, most electric plants, cars, ships, etc, it is likely that the cost of everything including basics such as food, house electricity and commuting is likely to zoom, most probably increase by as much 2 times over the next 1 year.

Thus if your basics form around 30% of your household costs, these will become 60% of your costs. This means savings and luxuries such as new cars, travel, new clothes, wine, parties, detox adventures, etc will considerably shrink. Which means end of the good life and onto a very basic life.

Do you think this is what is about to happen? Or do you think that maybe we’ll set-up Nuclear power plants superfast and keep the cost of energy sane ?

 The best bit about my breakfast this morning - ahead of a hectic day?? I had a bowl of fruit n’ fibre.

The great thing about this cereal is that the raisins are heavier than the rest of the fruit pieces so they all sink to the bottom of the bowl and you get a big spoonful of them right at the end.

What small thing have you found enjoyment in today? And what do you think it will be tomorrow? Mine won’t be fruit n’ fibre as I used the last of it this morning! boo-hoo! 

Competition time again at Flowers! Your chance to win $60 of flowers delivered anywhere in the world courtesy of our partners Flora 2000, the International delivery experts.

To enter make up a fun connection between the four people below and leave your answer in the comments and include something about yourself, your blog, your website or you in the answer. Your chance to have fun and promote yourself.

So he we GO!

You could always send flowers to someone right now, anywhere in the world . Simply use code GSTF00 if you send someone flowers and you’ll be entitled to a bit of flower smelling discount!Contest ends on Thursday 22nd May Midnight Dubai time. Good luck flower smellers!

I lost something in the house today…well actually my 5-year old son did. And I couldn’t find it anywhere. Do you know that feeling you get when you’ve lost something? It consumes you…your every thought! I couldn’t even work until I found that one thing. I ended up leaving the house because I felt trapped that I couldn’t find it. So on my way back a thought came back to me…the last time I saw this item it was at my desk. So there I went into the house and I looked under the desk…THERE IT WAS!

So all I needed was something else to distract me so I could think straight. How about you? How do you distract yourself when you can’t stop thinking?

You may or may not have heard about the UEFA cup final in Manchester, UK last night (although to be fair there has been bigger news, see Gareth in Chinas post below)

But I’m angry and want other people to be angry about this too.

Imagine the place that you call home, the place that you live in, work in and gradually over time the place that you, well, quite love.

 This first photo was taken a few hundred feet from my office yesterday morning when 175,000 rangers fans descended on Manchester city centre. A city centre that put up big screens everywhere so that these visiting fans could see their beloved team lose a match, and provided open air bars to quench their thirst for buckfast.

This second photo was taken during the rioting where they’d hurled missiles at the police (hurting 15 of them and 1 police dog), smashed a couple of shops up (and 1 bar), stabbed a Russian fan and generally desecrated Manchester.

This third photo was what I woke up to this morning, along with the rest of Manchester.

What.a.bunch.of.tossers.

I think my colleague said it all today really in the Manchester Evening News.

Whilst I agree that most of the time the atmosphere has been light hearted and fun during the past couple of days . . . and yes, I do mean couple of days . . . when I came across town on Tuesday at 8am there were Rangers fans drinking heavily even then, it must be clear to see that the result of a drinking binge which was approaching 36hours for some so called fans could only be trouble. I strongly disagree with the comments made that the organisation of the events was a shambles, the screen failing was obviously an unexpected technical error, surely this one fault cannot be deemed representative of the whole of the operation. And what about the response of the “fans” to this? Did they offer a well thought out and reasoned response? No, they did the only thing they know how to do. . . they rioted, destroyed the city centre and chanted Manchester is sh*t while they were doing so - these guys were actually enjoying themselves. These animals are not football supporters, they’re louts and idiots who came here for one reason only, to get drunk and cause trouble. It’s 9am now on the day after. I’m sat in my office at Piccadilly Gardens looking out on the carnage. What else can I see? Rangers hooligans stood on the street drinking vodka out of a bottle while they’re waiting for the pub to open. . . .great. Same story tonight as well then. Well done Scotland, you should be proud.

Matthew H, Manchester

This came to me from a Chinese colleague of mine - I helped the English interpretation a little;

I don’t know how well you know this disaster but I know you will be deeply shocked

 I don’t know how many towns were destroyed but I know many people lost their homes

I don’t know how his house looked before but I know he can’t rebuild it by himself

I don’t know how many schools were destroyed but I know the classrooms were full

I don’t know whose satchel this was but I know it was a child’s

I don’t know if this mother saw her child still alive but I know the child is the treasure of the family

I don’t know if the child was found dead but I know the mother will cry a long time

I don’t know how many people are under these ruins but I know most will not survive

I don’t know if these hands are a boy or a girl but I know they want to touch their parents again

I don’t know what time it is here but I know it is a horrible time

I dont’ know why they embrace so tightly but I know there is good reason

I don’t what this man is looking for but I know the chances of finding it are low

I don’t know why they are crying but I know the tears are heartfelt

I don’t know if this child can survive or not but I know in her heart there is already pain

I don’t know how long he was buried but I know he is now one of the lucky ones

I don’t know what she is signalling but I know it isn’t victory

I don’t know if the driver escaped but I know the supply road is now blocked

I don’t know where they are going but I know they are leaving their homes

I don’t know if they will sleep well here but I know they have no choice

I don’t know how many people are here but I know there will be trouble if there is no food and water

I don’t know how he escaped but I know he doesn’t have an easy future

I don’t know their destination but I know only they can help themselves right now

I don’t know where they are but I know its not their home

I don’t know if these babies know their tough situation but I know when they grow up their parents will tell them

I don’t know what they are thinking but I know there is still hope

Give a helping hand, warm the hearts of people who are in big trouble, support them to gain courage to face life and rebuild a bright future.

 Here’s an exact copy of the post I just put up at my GSTF Portal on Xanga for The Blue Collar Goddess —–>
 
 ”Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries.”

Let’s spend some time tomorrow with this cause and spread the word!

Find badges for your website HERE.  Or, you can make one yourself! [like yours truly did by snagging OUR flower and putting it on one of the badges that I found most appealing!]

If you choose to join up with the Bloggers, leave me a comment so people elsewhere can find you, and link up with you. 

Feel free to join the Go! Smell The Flowers blogring here at Xanga for more updates on worthwhile endeavors across the net and especially with us. <——- End o’ the blah-g at my place.

… and now, it’s here at OUR place!

Think y’all are up for what we tend to do best anyway?

It’s my blog birthday today! Taylor’s Entertainment News has turned ONE!

I started up over a year ago with a little mom’s blog but it wasn’t doing very good and I was looking for success right away! I noticed I loved celebrity gossip…so that is how my celebrity blog came into being. I really sucked at the whole blog thing. But Jim And Em and Confessing were my first blog friends (and still are) and made me realize that they were just learning too.

In December I finally moved to my .com, where I have been hacked, and lost everything and had to rebuild again, twice!!! But I did it…I also work at two other celebrity gossip blogs so I keep busy.

How old is your blog?

Hi  GO! Smell the flowers from  the Spa Koh Chang. Our final day here having completed the cleansing program and we’ve both lost eleven pounds each in weight, feel clear headed, healthier inside & out and generally more chilled out.

To ‘keep it real’ we’ll report back on our result in 3-4 months time. Before the cleanse Jim had blood pressure, pulse and  blood work done (his biggest fear - needles  ) to measure pre-cleanse lipid profile, (cholesterol & triglycerides), Biochemistry (Blood glucose) , Endocrinology (testosterone) and thyroid.

The immediate step-on-the-scales-whoop-whooop-high-5 results but that could be down to water loss, clearly a lack of carbs and just giving the body a break so time will tell and getting back amongst ‘reality’.

We ‘broke-fast’ with Papaya, mango and bee pollen:

Back for more general abuse with Thai massage:

Smell the flowers, Em:

We’ll reflect on the key things we learned and share them with you here when we return to Dubai  in the next couple of days. It’s been great learning and laughing at the threads here at GO! Smell the flowers, at times when we barely had the energy or the inclination so thanks for all your interest, support and comments.

NOW! Where did we put that hose pipe?  Do share how you’ve found our detox diaries and this whole experience we’ve shared with GO! Smell the flowers and feel free to add a few captions to the photos above just for fun as we leave ourselves wide open as ever, which, after 8 days of colonics could be interesting - Cheers!

Seems its not easy being a man these days (alhtough the woman didn’t do too well either),

Of course a little more sense and care would help.

A friend of mine managed to burn himself a few years ago. He’d taken the little blue diamond pill for an extended bout of action. His apartment’s hot water had packed up so he boiled a pan of water as one of his lady friends wanted to wash. As he began to walk up the stairs his old boy hit the bottom of the pan - he then howled, dropped the water and scalded his feet.

What is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done that incurred an injury?

Just as mobiles have become an extension of many peoples lives,are things about to go one step further……

Ryanair are currently working on installing equipment on twenty of their fleet,to allow mobile phone calls from 35,000ft,they are anticipating lucrative profits from the service. Emirates have recently equipped an A340 with the needed equipment.

So as the Dom Jolly gag was almost forgotten,what are your thoughts on this,will it be convenient or a nuisance….necessary or not…txt ur ansrs 2….

Our final day of the cleanse! Energy levels are pretty high considering it’s 7 days since we’ve consumed any solids and drink with the exception of water, coconut water, Wheatgrass:

Cocktails of Carrot juice…

And Oolong tea, a herb popular in China we understand, it may look familiar to some of you…

So, with only 1 final flush to go (pure water first thing tomorrow morning) and a few ‘flora grow’ bacteria tablets we’re done! Then after breaking our fast we can star gradually re-introducing solids back into our day to day lives.

What would you break your fast with? Comments welcomed as we prepare to post how we feel after this intensive cleansing experience. Cheers!

I sometimes feel like this poor bushbaby! All I wanna do is show everyone that I am sad…but instead I get all smiley and happy!

What do you do when you are sad?

Photo Courtesy: Cute Overload 

Mike here

I’m reading James Meek’s book We Are Now Beginning Our Descent to prepare for an interview I’m doing with him shortly.

So you are in a plane, over the intercom you hear …
” We are now beginning our descent.”

How do you feel? Are you scared of flying or is the landing the exciting part?

Or the other meaning in the book ….

You are descending into a nervous breakdown. How do you get out of the nose dive? How do you survive? What have your experiences been and do you think admiting to a breakdown still has the stigma attached to it that it once did?

Hi from the Spa Koh Chang with less than 48 hours to GO! before we break the fast with only 4 more colonics remaining.

To help keep things moving we’ve tried our hand at Yoga, first thing, in the morning to help us stay us on track and our bodies active without food.  Whatever your capabilities it can aid relaxation, improve flexibility, help with detox and massage the organs of the body - always a bonus, right?

Pictured above with Yoga instructor Cliff on Day 5 of our fast we declined to bring our feet together like that - maybe another time, after a few ice cold Chang beers perhaps (B)  A big thanks to our teacher Cliff who taught us a few stretches that’ll keep tension at bay and exercise our eyes whilst we tip-tap away on the laptop.

Emma managed to strike this pose:

Whist Jim struck a ‘half a McDonalds M’ post to beat the BIG MAC craving.

So anyone ever tried Yoga? How do you help stay / get  in physical and mental shape and as the years catch up with you?  Do tell, hold that pose and release!

 Mighty Morgan here with my latest post.

When I woke up today I was greeted by the bright blue of the morning sky and the first thoughts that came to mind were…

“Thank you.”

This time of year is often a reference point of how far I have traveled in my own journey of self-discovery. It is the time when I allowed myself to finally free myself from the ideas and beliefs that served only in keeping me trapped on the merry-go round of frustration that was my life.

It’s the point in time when I woke up and became willing to fully and completely participate within the framework of my own life. Initially everything appeared to get much worse before it got better. But from where I am at the present point in time I see that the entire process of me losing my mind were the first steps in me finding myself in within the bigger picture of life.

I have allowed myself to wilt into the garden here at Go! But with this spring season of rebirth that is occurring all around me, I feel as though I too am blossoming again and thought it appropriate to take a moment in time to re-introduce myself to the garden.

I am Mighty Morgan, an addict living in the solution of recovery, a woman in the process of becoming and a traveler in this journey of life and you are????

Well GO! Smell the flowers we can hardly believe that it is day 6 of our detox – only 2 more days and we are allowed food! We are craving fish & chips, chocolate and bacon sandwiches and we’ve already been warned that the food we break our fast with will have to be raw so that our system will not be shocked by processed ‘poison’ as the spa puts it to avoid any ’shocks to the system’.

So with this philosophy in mind (please keep an open one as you read) GO! Smell the flowers would like to introduce two raw food experts we met here at the Spa Koh Chang.

There is much to be said for including raw foods in our diet but we wanted to know more so welcome Matt Monarch, motivational speaker and author of Raw Spirit and Raw Success and Angela Stokes author of RawReform. Pictured above.

They are both 100% raw ‘foodies’ and switching to a totally raw diet has completely changed their lives, not only in what they eat, but who their friends are and their outlook on life. We were really curious – just what would make you forgo the Big Macs and Bacon sandwiches and live off fruit and veg? So before they left we asked them….

“I read the book Become Younger by Dr. Norman Walker and changed my diet over night. Everything in the book made perfect sense that I realised eating up to 6 Double Doubles (bigger than the MacDonalds Big Macs) was not going to do me any favours” Said Matt, aged 33.

“Although I wouldn’t recommend anyone do the switch over night! I had withdrawals from all the junk I was eating and got sick. Introduce a raw diet slowly and look at the other stuff you are eating. Processed sugars and starches are the most harmful to our bodies, so if these are cut out and a percentage of your diet is raw, then this can be a very healthy diet.”

“ I have been living a raw food way of life now for 8 years and never looked back. I have amazing energy, sleep well and know that I am fully nourishing my body in the best way possible.”

Angela, also a published Author and originally from the UK has been a raw ‘foodie’ for 6 years. She read The Raw Family by the Boutenkos and went raw over night which was too much and she lasted a week. She then went to a 75% raw diet for 2 years while her system adjusted. She has lost 160 pounds in a year and rediscovered what her body looked like as her collar bones, cheekbones and ribs became defined.

“There is no other animal in nature that eats cooked or processed food. Raw food is the ultimate and healthy way to nourish the body.” Says Angela 29. “For so long I used food as an emotional crutch and now I realise what abuse I was doing to my body.”

They are both now Flower Smellers in every sense of the word and have both changed careers to follow a path that they are truly passionate about. A path that is a now way of life and an example to everyone as to how you can follow what you truly believe in.

Matt left MTV as a business manager and now runs an online store for raw food whilst Angela moved from volunteer work all around the world and now runs her raw community and online business.

So, how does a raw food lifestyle grab you? It suits a rare few to GO! 100% raw but we ask you- what raw food do you enjoy at mealtime, if at all any? We’d love your thoughts & insights on their story, raw food lifestyle and any other raw food experiences you wish to share! Do tell - All comments welcomed.

One of the things that erks me big time is miss pronounciations.

It sounds silly but it really bugs me.  The worst is place names. You see if you travel the one thing you need to know is how to say the place names like a local, it is how we tell you are tourist.  If you have an accent but say the name like a local then your in.

So here is my little contribution to solving this puzzle.

Here is a list of the most mis pronounced Aussie Cities and the correct way to say them.

Please add yours in the comments so we can all share in this language exchange.

Newcastle: tourist say New Ca sel, correct New Car sel

Sydney: tourist Sid in nee, correct Sid nee

Melbourne: tourist Mel  born, correct Mel Bin

Brisbane: tourist Bris Bain, correct Bris bin

Canberra: tourist Can Berra, correct Can Bra

Uluru tourist Uluru, correct Ayres Rock

Australia: tourist Au stra li a, correct ost stral ya

So there you have it, if you are coming to Oz practice these before you come and you’ll be treated like a local. Just dont order Fosters at the Pub, thats a dead give away.

Arvind here, reminding you that it is mother’s day on Sunday in the USA and also many other countries around the world, though here in the UK we normally have it in March.

If you have left it too late to send some flowers to your mother, you still can in the coming week using the Flora2000 button on the right! And also how can you ever possibly run out of excuses to send flowers to your mother?!

I have just posted on my blog about how it was time to celebrate and honour your mother whilst you still can.

So how you will be celebrating your mother’s special day today?

And even if you are in the UK, where mother’s day was in March, what will you be doing to celebrate and honour your mother, today and in the coming days?

As if we weren’t busy enough here at Fabulous Photo Gifts, I also do a bit of web design for other local companies.Recently, a chance meeting with an old colleague, she told me she was starting a local community magazine - mix of local stories and advertisers etc.

So I offered to do a website design and now she’s coming up on issue 7 (she publishes every two months)!

My point is that these local publications do offer local people a chance to keep up to speed with the activities and events, services and businesses local to them that perhaps they were unaware of before.

Of course we advertise in it and get our share of local response. The wider picture is that the next time you get such a publication through your door, don’t bin it! It’s a handy reference - hers has doctors and schools numbers etc as well as all the local clubs and community groups and their contact details.

Of course i’m chuffed because she thinks the websites marvelous and its been well received by our local community - so much so that i’m going to suggest a blog to her to publish all the little one off snippets that don’t make the regular pages on the website.

What do you think? Do you get a local publication round your way? Has it helped you?(here’s the link to her site - http://www.allthingslocal.co.uk) 

Arvind here back from a self-enforced “detox” from the online world.

It is a gloriously sunny day here in London and I am just off to Somerset House to take part in Pangea Day!

So what is Pangea Day? It is nothing less than a global event bringing the world together through film.

Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, differences, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.

Starting at 18:00 GMT today, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.

Check out the Pangea video and website here

So what are you doing today and how will you celebrate Pangea Day?

How can we remind ourselves in our daily lives that despite people being so often divided by borders, differences, and conflict, we all have so much in common?

And how can we here at “GO! Smell the Flowers” play our part in making this happen?!

We’ve only just realised it’s Saturday so happy weekend to all from us here mid De-tox at the rainy & chilled out Spa Koh Chang, Thailand.

So, getting straight down to the process of our bi-daily flush out we thought we’d share some of the finer highlights of our stay. DON’T try this at home - not even gardeners who KNOW their hosepipes:

Step 1 - Fill a 16 litre bucket full of coffee solution:

Step 2 - Lie down, insert and RELEASE as the next 20 -30 minutes ‘pass’:

We’ll spare you the detail of sharing with you what ends up in the pink plastic sieve after emptying but it’s far from smelling of flowers

We’re feeling far more ‘human’ today and are getting into the early doors exercises, detox drinks and the general way of the spa here. Time for our Midday broth, carrot juice and detox drink - more on that tomorrow.

The key to success in this procedure is to relax and let it GO! on every level so we ask YOU - how do you relax and ‘let it go’ in your day to day life generally? Do tell!

Hold the front page! - Phew - just finished uploading and testing the 2008 incarnation of Fabulous Photo Gifts website. We have a bit of a metamorphosis each year - just to keep things fresh. The facelift includes a new ‘logo’ (a cut out jigsaw piece outline) and a new side panel with instant links to our individual photo gift ideas. Hope you like the new look - it’s been a few months in the planning and execution but we got there. Here’s the link - http://www.fabulousphotogifts.co.uk - thanks for taking a look and leaving a comment?….. Just wanted you all to be the first to know. 

http://purple13.blogspot.com/2008/03/derby-cathedral-peregrine-falcons.html Is a reminder of the original blog post I wrote back in April about a pair of nesting Peregrine Falcons atop Derby Cathedral.Well, they laid 4 eggs, sat tight and now we have 4 chicks - little fluff balls!So re-visit the link and select the live web cam feed. 

Well gang despite having BIG plans to post photos of our progress there’s a photo uploading techy hitch this end plus we’re totally washed out - all part of the process we’re told as we stick with it. With even the local Mosquitoes taking quite a shine to us we feel popular.

‘I find it hard to be compassionate towards Mosquitoes’ - The Dali Lama

Our tongues are turning from white to yellow (metallic toxins coming out apparently) with lighter headaches and dizzy spells (real dizzy spells - not blond moments) and we’re sleeping very deeply amongst the pit-patter of the rain pink sieves are being filled with digested matter of yesteryear as our coffee & garlic buckets are emptied.

On the way over to Bangkok we watched a film called ‘The Bucket List‘. Two terminally ill men make a wish list of the things they’d like to do before they die and then set about doing it.

So we ask you to share with the garden some of the things that would feature on your bucket list! Do tell……

Just the other night while I was setting up a new site (I’m excited!!) which I will let you into shortly, I was following my twitters (I believe twitter is banned in Dubai so I grabbed a screenshot) when this site grabbed my attention.

This image will take you to the Story of Stuff site where you can watch a fast paced 20 minute very informative and educational interactive movie about consumerism and why we buy stuff and where it all goes when we are done with it, or not. Watch and see what I mean. Then tell me what makes you purchase the stuff you do and if you have to keep up with the Jones’ and why?