WE DIDN'T HAVE THE GREEN THING BACK THEN

No plastic bags. Bring your own bag. Go Green. (The Star)

This little story has been making the rounds on the internet. If it hasn't reached you yet, here it is, with images added. Enjoy!

Being Green

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

Cloth diapers hanging out to dry

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

I used to go to school in a trishaw much
like this one till I learnt to cycle in 1960.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

MALAYSIA - A RETIREMENT HAVEN?

Hiroko, 64, and her husband Hiroyuki, 67,
find Malaysia an ideal place for a second home.
Pic: The Star

My retired friends, kindly take note. Some of you may find it hard to believe this, but Malaysia has consistently been voted among the top places in the world to retire in. I know the grass is always greener on the other side, but if you look at Malaysia through the eyes of a retiree from a country where the winters are long and cold, where the cost of living is high and where natural disasters are common, it is easy to understand why Malaysia My Second Home Programme has been quite successful. It has attracted over 18,000 foreigners to settle in Malaysia as of March 2012.

Of all the best places to live in Malaysia, Penang captures the top spot hands down. It's not only the hawker food, the sunny weather and the friendly people, but also the relatively low cost of living. It is among the cheapest places to set up home. That's according to Living International Magazine which recently voted Malaysia 3rd on the list of the world's top Retirement Havens 2013. I share this write-up by Keith Hockton.

For a complete list, you can read the full article here.

3. Malaysia: Asia’s Most Desirable Destination

By Keith Hockton

“Go back to New York to live? Never!” says 65-year-old Lorna Taylor. “We moved to Malaysia because of the weather, the golf and the low prices; our costs are now a third to a quarter of what they were in the U.S. We even have a maid come in and clean four times a week. We couldn’t do that in New York. No, we’ll never leave Penang.”

I’m 30 years younger than Lorna and her husband John, and yet they still manage to beat my wife Lisa and me convincingly at tennis. They have a coach who comes twice a week, and for $10 a lesson I can see his efforts are clearly paying off.

I also completely understand and agree with their view about Malaysia. It has everything. Its weather is a tropical 82 F all year round and its beaches, islands and jungles are pristine. It has some of the region’s best street food, great restaurants, bars, shopping malls and movie theaters—and it’s all affordable.

Lisa and I rent a sea-view apartment for $1,000 a month—it comes with a shared pool and gym. We eat out five nights a week, keep a small sailboat, and our total budget is $1,719 a month. Two people can have a three-course meal here for $10.

A bagful of fresh fruit costs around $4. We also have a maid that comes once a week for four hours at a cost of $12.

Malaysia’s an easy place to make friends and integrate as English is the unofficial first language. Lots of expats live in Kuala Lumpur and Penang and numerous organizations here can help you get settled and integrated. For example, the International Women’s Association (formally The American Woman’s Association) has just over 500 members who organize activities on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. On Mondays there are jungle walks, Tuesdays mah-jong (a type of card game), Wednesdays sewing. They sponsor trivia night once a week at a local pub and put on a ball once a year. 

Penang and Kuala Lumpur are also medical centers of excellence and every day two planeloads of medical tourists arrive in Malaysia for various treatments. Not only is the health care amazing but it’s among the world’s cheapest. And prescriptions here cost a fifth of what you pay at home.

The last time I was at the dentist I got a filling and a cleaning, which cost $22.50. In the U.S. this would set me back around $180. We can also buy property, land, and houses and condominiums freehold—something you can’t do elsewhere in Asia.

The streets of old Penang. Trishaws are still a common sight.

And here is a typical monthly budget for a couple living in Penang, taken from International Living magazine. (Currency: USD)

Rent: $500
Electricity: $100
Water: $10
Cell phone: $10
Gas: $4
Internet: $30
TV: $40
Maid (four hours a week): $15
Transportation: $34 for gas
Health insurance: $33
Dining out/Entertainment: $300 (and that’s eating out five nights a week, alcohol not included)
Monthly total: $1,076

Hard to beat such prices

An entire bagful of fresh fruit, including mangoes, bananas, apples, oranges, and pineapples costs just $4. High-speed Internet is reliable and costs $30 a month, and a premier cable TV package for $40 includes favorites like HBO, CNN, and the BBC. And a couple can eat out well for less than $10. Go to night bazaars, and you can dine for much less than that: Chicken-and-rice meals are often only $1.

Expats from rich developed countries can easily retire to a life of comfort and luxury for $2000 a month. No wonder our close cousins from neighbouring Singapore have been snapping up property in Johor.

For more about why these expats have chosen Malaysia as the ideal place to retire in, click here.

Now aren't we blessed to call Malaysia our home?