Sue’s Blog

Its raining here, in Mauritius, and has been for the last 48 hours. Not that we let that stop us we are still out and about in shorts and t shirts; all be it with umbrella in hand! So, apart from disturbing our sleep drumming on the tin roof of the front patio and setting off the aforesaid alarm, life goes on and the men are still working on our house and it is growing beautifully! And; the tourists are off the beach and spending their money in Grand Baie, which has to be good!!!!

Next doors burglar alarm goes off, probably set off by the heavy rain, and within minutes two guys here with a torch checking it out, not very conducive to a good nights sleep however,,,,,,,,,,,,

Today we put a deposit down on our swimming pool, it is very modest in size, but we decided that with the glorious Indian Ocean only 5 minutes walk from out door; serious swimmers can swim to their hearts content there! Our pool will be wonderful for keeping cool, sitting around with friends and family; a cold drink in hand! We don’t wish to overpower the garden with anything too large; but we did consider it!

Well I have been back here in Mauritius a week, what is life like? Part holiday; walking along the coast, swimming every day, watching fabulous sunsets, precious phone calls, e-mails and online conversations home, quality family time, shopping and home making, a surprise wedding and very sadly a funeral in the family, a little boy days from his first birthday and a faith that gives his family the strength to go forward with courage and dignity.

Frank Furedi (2007) asked ‘How can there possibly be too many of us?’ and in the same article said:

‘To put it bluntly: it is difficult to celebrate human life in any meaningful way when people – or at least the growth of the number of people – are regarded as the source of the world’s problems.’

Why am I thinking about this?… well I was walking through Port Louis market yesterday and it was heaving with people coming and going which I am sure is common to all big cities, I was enjoying the hustle and bustle and noise and buzz that is in the air, when I saw a bucket of large flat fish who appeared to be looking at me… well it struck me that these once beautiful fish have to die in increasing numbers to feed us all, which started me thinking about our ever increasing global population.

I am concerned about our environment and the fact that our increasing numbers appear to be damaging our beautiful planet, so population control has to be discussed, sod a persons rights to have 10 children if they want to…We should value all people who are alive today, but we but we must stop increasing the population of this small world at such a rate, but how?

…..hence I come to be reading Frank Furedi

And would you believe this very subject is being discussed with Jeffrey Sachs on radio five live as I write!