To "e" buy or not to "e" buy? That is the question.

I was recently chatting to hubby about the GFC and how the economic world is clearly changing, how so many businesses and consumers have to look to the world of 'e' buying and just what this means to the retail world and indeed the changing economic world.

I mentioned during our conversation that, just prior to Christmas, I was listening to one of my fav radio stations and one of the two female presenters was telling the listeners how she had purchased all of her Christmas presents via the Internet this year. Her co-presenter then informed us that she had never purchased anything over the Internet. Naturally the Internet savvy presenter was stunned (as I was) that this was the case. Being a very keen eBay shopper myself and purchasing most of my adornments for my handbags/ handbag business via the Internet, you can appreciate my surprise and hubby’s as I told him this fact.

Later that week, I met up with some girlfriends for a "girly" lunch. One advised us that she too, had purchased all of her Christmas gifts via the net. Again, another girlfriend advised us of her having never made any net purchases. I was once again very interested and surprised.

This clearly growing trend of Internet purchasing bought me back to the conversation hubby and I was having. We both agreed that the number of shops closing down has been caused by a number of factors, one being the number of people purchasing goods online instead of physically walking into shops and making purchases. He advised me of one particular Australian businessman who actually wants the government to bring in a tax for online shopping, clearly due to his business suffering. Hubby also explained that some retail shops want to charge shoppers who come in, try on items of clothing and then leave without making a purchase. Apparently the trend is for the savvy internet shopper to go into a shop and try on items, work out the correct size and then go home and purchase that item online, thus saving you quite a substantial amount.

I can certainly see the retailer's points of view. After all they have staff to pay, rent to pay and clearly along with the GFC and the increase in Internet shopping, the retail shops are certainly suffering.

As we all know, we can now read the local papers, even any overseas newspapers/magazines online are available to us through the press of a button without having to leave the house let alone the country to purchase them and I for one love this technology and reading The New York Times too! I have a friend who purchased their house online without stepping one foot into it before signing on the dotted line. Crazy? In my opinion yes, but who am I to say what is right? Australia Post has even set up a 24 hour post office in our city to help cater for the ever increasing Internet shoppers and their purchases/returns. The facilities will soon be spreading too many other post offices to accommodate all of us.

After much deliberation, I decided to set up my business website for this exact reason. I want everyone out there to be able to purchase my goods no matter where you live.  Though I absolutely love attending our market each week to sell my wares (www.louisedempsterbags.com) I, too, came to the realisation that if you are not Internet savvy with your business, eventually you are going to be left behind.

There are a plethora of reasons for not shopping online. One reason for me being that I have declined to grocery shop online due to my preference for being a touchy-freely grocery shopper. I do not want someone else choosing my tomatoes, apples, shallots. I like choosing my fruit and veg by touching, feeling and smelling. How can I possibly use an avocado tonight for that guacamole if it is as hard as a rock when it arrives today via my online shopping? What about that lovely pineapple that grandmother taught us to smell before we bought, to test how ripe it was? You see it isn't going to work for me in this way because I need that ripe avocado for tonight and Mr online fruit and veg packing person doesn't know that.

As I sit and write these words, I must lament about how one day, I will have to succumb and abandon my touchy-feely grocery shopping and join the band wagon of online grocery shoppers. If the rest of you dictate that this is the way the world is going, then so must I. I can't see my local greengrocer leaving my local shop opened for little old me!

Until then, my friends, I hope that the world will allow me to continue to 'talk' to the fruit and veg in my shop of choice. I enjoy voicing my opinion of them and their suitability for consumption whilst standing alone chatting to 'them' whilst other shoppers wonder if I have recently escaped from a psychiatric facility due to my conversing with the item in my hand. Oh and I will continue to walk into shops and purchase that item of clothing or pair of shoes so that I get the right fit the first time and help keep the staff remain employed.

So, until you all force me to do such online shopping my friends, I remain the touchy-feely shopper today. Tomorrow? We will all have to wait and see.

Christmas gift giving and please take it back?

Here we are and it's the day after the day we celebrate when the Saviour was born. The day we celebrate Jesus Christ's birth day and we do have reason to thank Him for so many things.

On the lighter side of Christmas, it would be far too serious of me not to mention the topic that most media seem to trigger off on Boxing Day in a light hearted way and that is the day after the gift giving and oh not again! The day when we have time to reflect on those gifts we received yesterday. The day when can finally admit out loud, without having the gift-givers in the same room and within audible distance when  may have offended them. We can now voice our opinions on those Christmas presents received that we just won't be using and our plethora of audible reasons we have: it's too small; too big; not my colour; not my style; I have absolutely no use for Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook because I don't cook, never have and if I have anything to do with it, I never will during the remainder of my lifetime (of course that certainly would not be the response from me if i had received the gorgeous Mr Oliver's cookbook because those who have read various blogs know that not only do I adore him but that I adore cooking too.)

I know, I am hearing you loud and clear. So what do we do with them? Shove them in the top of that cupboard and hopefully forget they are there? Regift (I can honestly say I have never regifted though I do know that many humans walking this earth have carried out this interesting act.) Do I sell it on eBay and pray that that gift-giver is not an ebayer and discovers their gift for sale whilst they are perusing the website whilst searching for a bargain? Do we put that gift aside and donate it to the local charity shop? You must hope that that giver of the gift does not happen upon your item whilst they are, let's say in that particular charity shop, purchasing let's say some preloved denim jeans they need for their new-to-the-retail-world fabulous up cycled denim hand bag business??? Anyone you know? www.louisedempsterbags.com

This, readers, is your dilemma and decision. Personally I would choose the latter. I don'tknow, I guess it is my Catholic upbringing but I would rather a piece of clothing I wouldn't wear "in a month of Sundays" (as the chances of me fitting into that shirt in my post menopausal years-to-come is less than zero) and so I would let it go to a charity shop and to someone who would appreciate it. I would rather this than allow it to sit in a cupboard for months only to be left prey to the moths, silverfish etc then to be thrown in the bin later due to the plethora of holes in it. But hey that's just me.

On the brighter side of Christmas gift giving, this is one dilemma that I am not faced with this year. I received everything that was practical and might I add there was not one piece of clothing intended for me.....a nice change I must say. No, all my prezzies were suggested by me to my darling family and clearly they have great hearing.

So, allow me to wish you all a fun Boxing Day and I will leave you to lament on what is now your problem on just what to do with those challenging gifts you now own and don't require and no, I am not interested in your outcomes. I am sure you will handle it all admirably!

Hi, I'm Australia's correspondent for the New York Times....Nice to meet you!

Have you ever turned your current thought whilst you create that next email to send to your fellow work colleagues advising them of the next management meeting and turning that thought into something quite mesmerizing, pondering and imagining yourself in another job. You know, that dream job where you are earning twice your current salary and loving every second of that new job? Well I certainly hope you have. I for one do this regularly. Earning twice my current salary would put me barely as the average wage earner which would be nice (being self-employed having just ventured into my new business of designer handbags www.louisedempsterbags.com  is a tough gig I’m telling you, but I am loving it regardless and would love to write professionally as well.)

Moving on....so whilst I ponder this dream every now and then, whilst bent over my sewing machine, creating another handbag and thinking of the monies spent at Christmas and how I would love to buy my hubby that new car without having to take out a loan etc etc led me down this path of what if? You see loving putting my fingers to keys and create something to read regularly, takes me into this world of  standing next to a make-believe person, obviously my employer or maybe just a work colleague at a networking event and being introduced as “and I would like you to meet Australia’s correspondent for the New York Times” when I would smile, shake ‘their’ hand and say “lovely to meet you” and hoping my new acquaintances response would be “oh really, how incredibly exciting.”

Okay and now I am hearing many of you giggle under your breath and shake that head of yours whilst thinking she is such a dreamer. Yep, you are correct but I for one know that anything can happen in life...just ask Barak Obama if he ever dreamed of being president of the USA? If you don’t dream, how can you look forward to anything? My other current dreams are making a princely sum from my handbags, holidaying in Ireland and Italy, losing a number of kilograms in weight and publishing my own book! All achievable too.

Now one would naturally assume that wanting to work for NYT one would be an avid reader of NYT and that my friends has not been the case until the last few days. Due to the ever-improving world of incredible internet technology I can access this newspaper via the net and have read various articles in this large newspaper. I am really enjoying perusing the plethora of articles and choosing those of interest to read whilst sipping a cup of tea, poised over my PC. It is interesting whilst reading that it is indeed a small world regarding their similarity of articles compared to our Australian newspapers and that, although they already have a plethora of contributors, what is one more? Who can resist an Aussie?

What are my qualifications I can “hear” the editor asking me during my Skype interview? The fact that I lack a degree in journalism, in my opinion, is irrelevant. How many current authors have qualifications in literacy? Not many I am pretty sure. "How long have I been writing for?" Since grade 1 I presume. My 50 year old memory takes me back to Sister Marcelina in the classroom showing me how to hold my pencil so, yes, that must have been the beginning of my writing prowess. "My life’s experiences?" Heaps already and no doubt heaps more to come. "My interests?" Family; current affairs’ the stock exchange;  humour; the world of medicine (being a nurse); fashion; conversing with people in general; counselling; music; cooking; gardening (hence my Lady Lou Lettuce blog) designing and creating my handbags and putting fingers to keys and expressing my points of view.

So would this be enough to impress the editor? Well, frankly, why not? After all what does he/she want? This is me they are talking to. I am not the average overindulging-alcohol-consuming, cigarette-smoking desperate journalist. Well this was certainly the case some thirty years ago when I met numerous 'journos' via a family friend. I casually warned her about being careful not to go down the same dodgy road as her journo ‘friends’ whom seemed to be perpetually intoxicated whenever we met and who seemed  to be willing to sell their soul just to have an article published. I discovered this whilst chatting to them. I was advised of some of them turning up to work and submitting their work on time, and many not. At the age of 50, alcohol and me get together far less than in my younger years and my employment record re punctuality over the vast years has been A1 so who wouldn't want to employ me? Oh dear, am I dreaming again? Nah, I don't think so........

Well, let’s just wait and see if I get any offers. Maybe someone reading this fabulous blog of mine is in The States (and yes I do have readers in the USA) who might just be related/knows the editor of the NYT, mentions my blog, the editor reads it and hey presto.......yep I am dreaming again and I can dream because it is healthy and stimulating and goodness knows I love doing it.

Merry Christmas and thank you

As it is the season to be jolly (and goodness knows after this challenging year I certainly need some jollying-up) I want to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a fabulous 2012.

You, my followers, have been quite incredible and as I reach my 800th visitor in the next few days, I want to thank you all for reading this blog which was only created in July this year. I have readers from all over the world and I am quite humbled knowing this fact.

Thank you for taking the time to read my points-of-view on various life issues. I hope I have put some smiles on some faces with my words and I look forward to writing more in the future and putting more smiles on faces.

Blokey blokes v girly girls

I have just returned home early from my selling my wares at the local Saturday markets, I now await the 'breakdown' guy to arrive to tell me what is wrong with my little car and hopefully repair it. I was told it would be a 90 minute window either side of 2pm (the time I requested him to come) so I have been given an early pass by hubby and daughter to make sure I am here when he turns up.

Trying to organise this visit took nearly a ‘cast of thousands’ though slightly exaggerated, that should be myself, hubby and at least five phone calls to organise it. Now, hubby has quite a decent Scottish brogue left over from his first sixteen years growing up in Scotland. When he converses on the phone, more than often, the person at the other end of the phone finds it difficult to understand him so after him advising me that they couldn’t find my car’s details on the breakdown companie's computer, regardless of the registration being at hand for them and that I needed to phone them with the VIN, which did not satisfy me at all so I took matters into my own hands. Yes, we were on their computer file and yes they would organise the breakdown man to visit us at home and to be there at a certain time etc etc once I chatted to them. Naturally, hubby was a little frustrated to think I had managed to organise it without the VIN and so be it my little Scottish thistle! Regardless, I did feel a little sorry for hubby as I realise that females organising male ‘car business’ would not have sat well with him and his maleness.

This had me wondering about female v male ‘jobs’ or ‘roles’ in general. I know the word ‘equality’ is a word that we are constantly reminded of and one which will hopefully break that ‘glass ceiling’ we girls talk about so often as the hinderer to our ‘climbing that corporate ladder’ and bringing home that equal pay. We do have a while to go and hearing recently via a third party that a young relative of mine, graduated and now in the world of laws, is quite horrified how male-dominated this profession is, regardless of the amazing increase in female lawyers. I can only hope that she and my darling daughter, who is about to commence B Laws, will be able to aid in the change this current male-dominated situation.

I however, and ladies don’t judge me too quickly here, feel quite sorry for the blokes of today. With the increased number of females qualifying and taking on what were predominantly male jobs eg medicine, engineering, accounting,  mechanics, plumbers, not to mention the fabulous Gayle Kelly now CEO of Westpac , and are now first Australian female Prime Minister, I often wonder if there is a possibility of one day having absolutely no need for males in the world and how sad that would be for all concerned. We all know the one thing men can’t do and women can is fall pregnant and carry that babe for nine months then deliver. To replace their contribution to this miracle of life is store some frozen sperm and we are it....all powerful.....finally a world dominated by females.....I am kidding myself, we already dominate the world and yes we can run the world single-handedly, possibly. It’s true though sad too.

I was brought up in a very strict and traditional Roman Catholic household where dad was the breadwinner and ex-army. Our family consists of four children, three females followed by a male. The three girls are tertiary educated and so was little bro until he gave uni away for a job in tourism. The three of us girls are very pro-female equality and dad over the years has sometimes found the three of us a little overbearing at times and I have no problem with that. ‘All’s fair in love and war’ as the saying goes.

Along with this feminist attitude during my upbringing, I ended up being a single mum of two for some eight years after a marital breakdown. I can honestly say that as shocking as this time was, it was also the time where I truly grew as a female and came to be a woman of substance. Matters when my ex would normally have dealt with, now needed my supervision and responsibility. It was I who went to visit the bank manager (female) and to give her the ‘heads up’ as hubby had left the country and it was now me she would need to liaise with. She was wonderful and we became really good friends until her transfer to a branch quite a way away. I grew an amazing backbone during these years, needing to advise hospitals (eldest was a transplant recipient), schools, kindergartens, utility companies etc etc that it was now me in charge of bills etc and as initially devastating and embarrassing it was to admit to a marital breakdown, it became the making of me as a mother and as a woman. It was now me who had to deal with everyone and everything that involved any of the three of us. I remember during my nursing training back in the early 80’s a doctor referred to me as a suffragette (I was only 19 at the time) and I was unsure how to take this. I now own that word with pride after going through the last decades.

Which brings me back to female v blokes scenario. I don’t find it daunting ringing up the breakdown service or the car service department or anyone or thing that has to do with what was once traditionally male role-taking and I think this is becoming more and more prevalent with females in today’s world. Wives/partners of our servicemen and women come to mind when I think of this fact. The waves of farewell to the brave people who travel overseas to defend our country are owned by the partners left behind to look after the families. These are the people, predominantly women, who are now left with the responsibility to raise these children in every way possible. These are the women who will have to produce a balanced life for these children she is now solely responsible for. She will be the one they rely on each and every day for every single need they have and not knowing if she will have that partner to welcome home at the end of their deployment. It is now totally up to her and oh how my admiration for these women sky rockets each time I see them on the TV. This is how I felt for those eight years as a single mum. As those of us who have been in that position knows, you don’t think about it, you just do it.

So are we becoming a ‘near’ male less society? Not according to the birth rates but in a strange way, yes. Do some men already feel they have been made redundant due to the changing roles of women? Many I am sure would say yes. I however never want that to happen. I don’t like having to take on male roles and I try to avoid them at all costs. Yes, I can even admit I sit and play ‘dumb’ sometimes when I see hubby struggling with changing that light bulb or when looking for that screw driver (the tool, not the drink) which I managed to use just last week to tighten the door hinge, constructing that new table I purchased from IKEA and fixing the sinkerator. Who fixed that hinge and that sinkerator? I think it is necessary to play the ‘maiden in distress’ occasionally. I think it is good for their manhood for them to puff out that chest whilst looking for a ‘pat on the back’ having finally completed that task set some six months ago by you and what is now finally, finally finished.

The last think I want to have to do is carry those trestles into the market for my market stall from the car park, only to slip another disc in my back whilst doing it. Nope, leave that to him. He is good at it, he has much more strength than me when it comes to carrying things and I will just sit back, smile and nod and say ‘thanks so much darling’ and just be glad that I am woman and I know I can do anything but sometimes I just don’t want to and there’s nothing wrong with that.