I had an idea that I might be able to salvage some of my old posts thanks to Google’s Caching system, and I came across the infamous Ebay Banana stuff, but stuff I haven’t seen yet… until now that is. It would appear that while a lot of pepople over here thought the Banana was funny, a lot of people were really taking the piss… Observe these forum posts:
- DriverHeaven.net: where I am referred to as ‘A Stupid Brit’, where ‘renovation’ reveals himself as the guy who went to pay £30,000 for the Banana, ‘MIG-31′ implys he’s bought two things off eBay without paying, and British irony seems to be lost on these people.
- PCA Forums: which looks to be the same site, where the original SS Blog post was quoted, the potential buyer gives a sarcastic apology, and informs us that this was reported to eBay before the high price appeared.
However, a few important points are made here – well, one – and that is that the Ebay Banana would have cost me in listing fees, especially should it have gone through at £30,100. I’m not sure how much I would have owed Ebay had that have happened, but even so it is a good point they have there.
Still, I got my fifteen minutes of fame out of it.
What does £50 get you? For me, it’s a tank of petrol which will last about a week and a half. For others, it’s a week’s shopping money. A 200 pack of cigarettes costs just over that amount. Tearfund say that “£51 a month could teach a whole community about HIV, breaking down fears and stigma and exploring safer cultural practices, while also giving a child in Africa an HIV-free start in life, by testing mothers and providing counselling and crucial information and training a group of churches to prevent HIV, care for orphans and support those affected by AIDS.” Other charities
can help feed families, give clean water, give children a chance of education for about £50 a month.
On a Thursday, I work 5 and a half hours at about £5.10/hr, earning about £28. As I was going to the staff rooms to get my stuff and swipe out, I saw a bin bag, full of unsold items from the bakery department; loaves of bread, bread rolls, doughnuts, cookies, etc. There was a sticker on this bag which told whoever looked at it how much the items inside
were worth all added together. This bag of wasted food was worth just over £50.
This happens day in, day out at the Morrisons in which I work, and probably every other supermarket throughout the country. This doesn’t count some of the other waste that is wasted. And that’s what it is: waste. There are billions of people in this world who are crying out for food, even just clean drinking water, while over here we are just throwing away fifty pounds worth of bread without a moments thought, and it’s not right.
Think about what’s being done, and if you can, set up a standing order from your bank account to one of the many charities that work in these countries that are crying for help. Please.
