Shopping

Shopping Shopping is an art. Most girls and women learn this art instinctively. They take to it like ducks to water. Perhaps it is in their genes. Usually, when a man needs a shirt or a pair of shoes, he goes to the nearest shop and picks one out. He is seldom worried about the colour or the design. He is happy as long as he is comfortable in it, he looks good in it and the price fits his budget. On the other hand, the situation is vastly different with a girl or a woman. She will go to a dozen shops. She will compare designs, prices and fittings. She will try everything on, even those she does not like. After that, she haggles about the price. Only then she will buy what she wants. Of course, this is a general statement. There are some men who love to shop and some women who hate it. However, on the whole, they are few and far between. As proof, we need only to go to any shopping mall during a festival or holiday sale. Who forms the majority of shoppers? Women of course. Who has the saddest and longest faces among the shoppers? Why, it is the men, who have to accompany their wives, mothers or girlfriends. In fact, in Malaysia especially, it can be said that shopping is the number one most favoured leisure activity. A scientific study made on shopping has produced interesting information. It says that shopping is a very good physical exercise. When people walk for hours up and down the shops, they are burning hundreds of calories. When they do this while carrying heavy bags of shopping, even more calories are burned. What a fun way to exercise! The study has also revealed why women are more alert than men in their old age. It is due all to shopping. A retired man usually spends most of his time in front of the television with a remote control in one hand and a bag of potato chips in the other. A retired woman prefers to occupy herself at the mall. Even if she does not buy anything, she keeps her mind active by merely browsing, windowshopping and walking around. When brain cells are kept alert and busy, there is less chance of getting diseases such as Alzheimer’s. One also needs to spend less money buying gingko biloba or other health supplements to stay alert. Therefore, one can say that shopping is good for you. Besides all the health benefits, shopping, even window-shopping, gives us an opportunity to look at, touch, feel and try on beautiful things. That in itself is a pleasure.

The Sea The sea is a friend. It is also an enemy. It is the giver of life. It takes away life. It refreshes and inspires. It frightens and threatens. The many faces of the sea never fail to excite me and fill me with wonder. The sea is a beautiful friend. When I rush down the beach to jump into the water, it fills me with joy. As I float on the water, it embraces me lovingly like a caring friend. Waves washing the beach, waves playing upon each other – these scenes lighten the heart so that all my troubles fly far away. It refreshes my heart and gives me new energy. It is indeed no wonder that tourists flock to the beach everywhere in the world. Tropical and island beaches with their white sands and blue waters draw tourists like bees to honey. Some tourists end up staying for years, making their home in these places while others return every year. The sea inspires and fires the imagination. Countless poets and writers have written about the pull of the sea and how it has filled their dreams, longings and even fears. They have explored everything about it from the frothy water, seaweeds and mermaids to sunken ships, lighthouses and pirates. From poets such as Homer, Coleridge and Wordsworth to writers such as Joseph Conrad, Jack Higgins and many others, the sea has always attracted them all. The sea is a giver of life. It feeds the millions of people on the planet with fish from its waters. It gives millions of fishermen all over the world, their means of earning money. Add these numbers to boatmen, sailors and navy personnel, we can see that the sea gives life to so many. However, the sea can be deadly enemy as well. The recent tsunami disaster on 26 December, 2004 killed nearly two hundred thousand people and flattened homes. It destroyed entire communities and took away the livelihood of others in Aceh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and South India. This was one of the worst natural disasters of the country. Apart from that, the sea can kill in others ways. It can drown people and sink ships. It can flood low-lying areas and wash away people and things. The many faces of the sea show that it must always be treated with respect. We must never take it for granted. It can give us joy and yet kill us. It can be refreshing friend and yet a fatal enemy.