The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

Izzie has been a very good serpent keeping away from temptation. Managed to slip in another “Buy Nothing Day” in the midst of some very hectic holidays. Slinked about the Lair in the afternoon indulging in sunshine and doing a bit of gardening. Even managed a feeble attempt at cooking dinner rather than going for the usual fix of bread, cheese and peanut butter. It is the peanut butter that has become a bit of a worry of late. Aside from the half blind serpent eyes now struggling to read the labels, the food labeling laws here in Oz are a complete joke. Made in Australia from ‘local and imported’ ingredients is such a meaningless load of twaddle and a bit of serious arse covering. The usual excuse spouted by the juice manufacturers in particular is that it is too expensive changing the labels throughout the year as their fruit supplies go in and out of season

( Munchies and other mundane matters )

But the one thing on the supermarket shelves that makes all this junk look perfectly sensible are those pathetic plastic bottles of water. Not the distilled stuff you put in your steam iron so that it does not rust but plain boring old drinking water.
Why do people drink the stuff when it doesn’t even have bubbles and you can get a thousand litres of perfectly decent drinking water delivered to your tap for less than half the price of a mere litre of this plastic stagnant muck?

There’s no refunds on the plastic bottles so they end up in the bin or strewn all over the streets and beaches.
Giggled with amusement at the Mount Franklin stuff from the eastern states provided by the same folks that gave us the corn syrup confection known as Coca Cola. Then there is Fiji Water and the ridiculous yuppie Norwegian stuff in the designer glass and metal bottle that costs more than a bottle of decent red wine.

Even the supermarkets have jumped on the band wagon with their own brands which are probably straight out of the tap.
They all loudly proclaim their green credentials if not in the name then a whole bunch of ticks, pictures of frogs or associations with environmental causes.

But the best ever and seemingly the new kid on the block has recently made an appearance at the local supermarket. There was a huge pile of these blue plastic bottles at the end of one of the centre aisles in one of the best spots of real estate in the whole store.

The brand name was Masafi and it pictured a fern and all sorts of intriguing details about some ancient source of spring water, nature’s gift and the usual spin. Oh and of course the plastic bottle was recyclable (but no refundable deposit as proof of genuine green credentials)
But the killer was the small print. Had guessed at New Zealand, Nauru or some other cash strapped Pacific Island. Not at all. Izzie was not fooled by the ominous initials U.A.E. In fact they were the source of much glee and hysterical cackling. You know the world is gone stark raving mad when the Arabs are exporting water to the rest of the world. Proof positive that the oil must be really running out.

They will be selling us ice cubes next.

Just been googling this strange brew only to discover that the company has been at the centre of assorted scandals and recalls of its bottles due to high levels of bromates. Looks like the recall centre has turned out to be the local IGA supermarket in this far flung corner of Oz.
But they have just unveiled a new marketing campaign so we can all sip safely knowing that the spin doctors are strutting their stuff.


The 'Drink Natural' campaign, which runs till June 30, 2012, is focused on the 100% natural freshness of Masafi mineral water, reinforcing its core message through a slogan - 'Naturally Natural'.
The campaign communicates the natural attributes of Masafi mineral water, which has been executed with an emotional touch, effortlessly reflecting human's oneness with nature.


Izzie can sniff the source of a juicy story a mile away and this is the sort of stuff you could not make up. Even a visit to the supermarket can provide hours of inspiration