cheeba cheeba

'black swan' swimming
the lock off the window
still no plant to make history in the room.

morning, morning

m-am intors pe la 7.30 - era asa frumos ceru! o combinatie de bleuri cu roz si pete de galbui deschis. iar marea era turcoaz spalacit. pe strada pustiu, dar geamurile barului hotel de pe colt desenate cu ketchup. parea un pollock brightonian. si chips, no fish, pe jos.
frumos; sau cel putin nou.

dialog nocturn pe ymess

baiatul1: esti un golan al internetului si tu
baiatul1: cauti cyber puicute
baiatul2: deloc
baiatul2: ma uitam la poze din filme vechi

An_Other_ View of Fair Trade

One of the thigs that struck me during my first days of being in Brighton was the almost omnipresence of fair trade goods - mostly coffee, tea, sugar or cereal bars (the berries Geobars are really good!!). It caught my attention so I started hunting for places that sold such products. Most of the bars and cafes on campus ('proudly' and ethically correct) sell such products; similar products are available in the Oxfam shops as well. I liked the idea even if I still had some doubts about it (is it just some sort of redemption for the loads of goods brought from several places for barely nothing?). I started spreading the word about fair trade, telling my friends about it in an overly-excited manner. I even went to a first meeting of a student society on fair trade and browsed the internet to get more info - read several 'success stories'. I was in the game.
My excitement slowly, but surely, tempered when I read this article:
http://www.mujereslibres.org/FairTrade.htm
Still, without completely dismissing the 'fair trade' idea, I'm just wondering to what extent it might work as a marketing strategy?

Story of flexibile labour market in London

Before coming to Sussex, Claudette spent more than a year in London working several jobs, including waitress at some pubs and shop assistant at Pizza Hut, amongst others. She needed the money to live in London, but she was also thinking of saving some cash to apply for University. Waitressing was ok, she says, even if she regrets leaving the job after a month - cause usually 'they don't hire if they know you don't intend to stay longer'. One of her flat mates helped her get the job and she felt sorry for quitting, worried that she might get him into trouble. Pizza Hut was a different experience. They have this policy of timing the hours employees work. If it happened that the store was not busy, they'd be sent home half or quarter of an hour earlier, being paid only for the 30 or 45 minutes they had been working. Conversely, were they to do extra-hours, they'd get the regular hourly rate only if they covered a full hour.
One night she tried to do this "strange job". It implied inviting and persuading people walking around to enter a night club. It was up to her how much they'd be charged and she'd get 50% of the money. But, first night was only a trial and, in case the bar management decided they did well, they'd get the job. The job was from 10pm to 3pm, she left after two hours, being convinced she wouldn't pass the test. Or, as she clearly put it, 'they probably get the money of this first night and never call me back'. In fact, Claudette adds, lots of jobs in London are based on a "daily trial system", as employees pay nothing and there are plenty of other immigrants to fill in the work in a similar vein.
Flexible, effective, and cost-free...