Ladies and gentlemen. We’re now at that time of the year where it’s almost valentine’s
day(VD) which is a time of year which i must that I look forward to with some
trepidation(fear and nervousness). Vd is probably one of the worst days of the year.
Certainly one of the most pointless(useless) exercises in consumer-driver idiocy. There
may once have been a point(purpose, use for) to st valentine, but I think that it’s long
been forgotten. Other than a way of making pp spend a lot of money, well usually making
men spend lots of money, which of course makes it a lot worse. And believe me, even
these times of economic downturn won’t prevent “ your significant other”(your spouse)
from expecting something on vd.
I’ve had some very unfortunate experiences on st vd, and the worst was probably a few
years ago. It was a Sunday and I’d really forgotten what day it was. And, I was supposed
to be playing rugby, but the game got cancelled because of the weather. So, a friend of
mine and I decided to have a proper lunch instead for a change on Sunday, rather than
running around in the mud, which is what we normally did on Sunday. But, unbeknown
to us(we didn’t know) it was vd, and of course, we couldn’t get any space in any
restaurant, however much we tried. When we eventually did get a space in a restaurant
and sat down, we realized that all the other tables around us were taken by
moonstruck(madly in love) couples gazing into each other’s eyes while holding hands.
And then it actually hit us that it was the 14
th
of February. My friend was
utterly(completely) mortified(very embarrassed) because he came to the conclusion that
pp must think that we were a gay couple because everyone else in the restaurant was a
couple. Nobody else but couples goes out on vd. And this was a terrible blow to his self-
esteem(pride, how one thinks about one’s self). He was so desperate that he thought of
calling all the girls he knew who lived in central Brussels to see If one of them would
come and sit at our table and rescue us and make it look slightly less “loosh”(I don’t
know. It must be british slang). And so, I found the whole thing silly and a bit unpleasant
as I said.
There are people who look forward to vd with a great deal of excitement and hope. And I
don’t mean just the ones expecting presents. I’m referring here to pp who sell gifts and
particularly, flowers. Because for florists, vd can be the biggest day of the year. The year
may depend on whether they have a good vd. It’s the difference between going into
bankruptcy and actually making a profit. And I think in these hard economic times when
pp are cutting back on a lot of essentials, flower shops “will be setting great store”(will
be placing great significance) by what happens on February 14. During economic
downturns, pp tend to cut back on overheads(expenses) and discretionary
spending(optional spending. Spending for non-essential things)., on things they don’t
really need to buy. They’ll be cutting back on gifts and so forth(other things similar to
gifts). They’ll be cutting back on flowers that they normally buy during the year. But on
vd, you have to buy something and flowers are actually the simplest thing to buy and
comparatively cheaper. Certainly cheaper than jewelery. So if anything, pp are more
likely to buy flowers during these harsh economic times. So, it might make up for the loss
in flower sales during the previous months. So, I think it’s going to be quite an important
day for the flower growing and selling industry.
And now, maybe I should say something about that industry, at least from the british
point of view. Because in Britain we’ve always assumed that most flowers that were sold
came from the netherland(neth). We don’t grow enough flowers in the uk, though we do
grow some of the nicest ones. And of course, our roses are second to none(are the best)
but we don’t have enough of them. So most of them come from the wholesale market in
the neth. And I think that traditionally that has been the case, but it’s beginning to
change. And I found out recently that more and more of our cut flowers don’t come from
the neth. In fact, they don’t come from Europe at all. They come from far-flung(distant
and scattered) places like Zimbabwe, gambia, Kenya and mauritia(???), south Africa.
Also, parts of latin America, though latin America mainly focuses on the north American
market. I think that more than 50% of the cut flowers sold in the us come from costa rica.
So, flowers are actually flown, usually flown, though sometimes shipped but usually
flown halfway across the world to sell in your local florist’s, around the corner(in your
neighborhood).
This may sound like a pretty silly idea and in particular, it may strike you(it may give you
the idea) that this is a terrible waste of resources, particularly in these times of concern
about global warming and our carbon footprint(how much pollution we create). After all,
surely, to get a bunch of roses from Kenya is much worse from an environmental point of
view than to get them across the channel (the English channel, the body of water
separating England from the European continent) from Amsterdam. Actually, you’d be
wrong if you thought that. It’s about 270 miles, let’s say 400 kmsfrom Amsterdam to
London. It’s about 6500 kms from Kenya. So, there’s a clear difference in distance. But,
when they did their calculations, they found out that the carbon emissions for roses in
comparison were much lower if they came from Kenya than if they were brought from
amsteridam. And this is because, of course Amsterdam is closer, and so the transport
carbon emissions are much lower than the air freight emissions all the way from Kenya.
But you have to bear in mind(consider, remember) that in ((looking after those
roses(growing those roses) and growing them and nurturing them))(he’s saying basically
the same thing 3different ways) in the neth, the costs and the energy input(energy used)
were far higher than growing those roses naturally in kenya. Because in the neth, pretty
much everything has to be grown in a greenhouse. The greenhouse has to be heated, it
has to be lit, it has to be ventilated. The plants have to be not just irrigated that usually
requires some kind of complex, energy-intensive(requires a lot of energy/electricity)
pumping system. They also have to be given fertilizers which are often based on fossil
fuels. They also have to be given some pesticides which also contain chemicals that are
based on hydrocarbon which ultimately come from oil. And, basically, if you add up all
these inputs and all the energy that has gone into the process of getting the rose ready to
be sent to London, you get a huge amount of carbon dioxide being produced. In Kenya,
during the growing process of plants there is virtually no input(of carbon/of energy) at all
—a little bit of fertilizer, a little bit of pesticide, but basically the temperature takes care
of itself. The plants are grown outside. They are getting the light and the rain and the
sunshine they need and their carbon footprint is virtually nil(almost zero).
So, that by the time you total everything up, it’s actually a lot lower in carbon emissions
to get your flowers, in this case, from Kenya than it would be to bring them from the
neth. With the other advantage that in Kenya, those roses are being grown in a more
generally friendly environmental way with fewer pesticides and things like that are going
to be used. It’s not going to damage the environment so much. And furthermore, you are
providing jobs for pp In a third world country who otherwise would not find it easy to
generate an income. These roses sell for a premium(a very high price) and therefore
something that’s even good for rural development and for development in general in
countries like Kenya, where they need all the help they can get.
So there you go(so, that’s what I wanted to tell you). If you’re going to be foolish enough
to buy anybody roses on vd, make sure they come from Kenya, not from the neth.
Thankyou.
. Ladies and gentlemen. We’re now at that time of the year where it’s almost valentine’s
day( VD) which is a time of year which i must that I look forward to with. vd, and the worst was probably a few
years ago. It was a Sunday and I’d really forgotten what day it was. And, I was supposed
to be playing rugby, but the