A goat and heaps of chickens walk into a fairtrade cafe...

Thanks guys.  The Oxfam wishlist is going pretty well.  If you would like to sponsor me and cheer me on please click on the link.

I just wanted to explain a few things that will help this to make a little more sense.  Why AU$2?

1.4 billion of the world's population live in poverty.  The "poverty line" is living entirely on an amount approximately equivalent to AU$2 per day.  Not for food, but for everything.  Housing, medication, education, clothing, food, drink, transport... everything.  That figure is not calculated using an exchange rate but rather PPP (purchasing power parity), that is to say what you can buy in Australia for $2; so that's not very flash.  And it's not to say that people living below the poverty line spend $2 per day to buy stuff.  Rather, that is the value of the items included in the calculation.  It includes items they grow at home, begging for food, taking scraps from the rubbish etc. etc.

So this leads me to my point.  The rules.  People have said to me "Can't you just get free food?  Like go to your Mum's for tea?".  No.  Not unless I count the value of that food into my $2.  "Can't you just pick apples off the neighbour's tree?"  No.  Not unless I count the value of that food into my $2.  "Could you set up busking outside the shopping centre and then use that money to buy takeaways?"  No.  Not unless I count the value of that food into my $2.  "What about the timtams that Deb puts in the cookie jar for you at work?" Nope.  No I can't eat them.  I could probably look at them, perhaps I could crack open the lid a little and smell the delicious chocolatey smell.  Probably not a smart idea, to be honest.

But I will still be living in my home, putting on the heater at night, brushing my teeth and cooking in my pretty blue pots.

So look forward to a hungry, tired and cranky Victoria.  But a grateful Victoria that I can go home and sleep in my warm dry bed.