Safety in a Wedge
Product Review: Ila Wedge
There have been times during my travels when I’ve compromised my personal safety — unknowingly and deliberately — just to get where I wanted to go. When I think back on these moments I shiver. Yes I was naive and possibly insane.
The idea of riding through backwater roads in rural China with no one but a non-English speaking driver or clambering down a muddy mosquito infested path in an unknown part of Myanmar may sound adventurous but I had to rely on the people around me and my wits.
Yet no matter where I was during the day, it was the nights that made me incredibly uncomfortable. Left alone in a unlisted hotel or hostel with people who not only looked different but spoke differently from me, I was largely viewed as a crazy foreign woman travelling around with no friends and worse — no man to protect me. I was also seen as wealthy in their eyes because I could travel.
Little did they know that I was nervous about being alone not knowing who might force their way into my room. These nights were often spent in a restless state of sleep waking at the slightest noise, keeping a makeshift weapon within close distance for that “just in case” moment and trying whatever I could to fortify the doors and windows.
Back then — and it was only a few years ago — there was little in the way of practical personal safety gadgets that women could use. Now thanks to advances in technology and companies like Ila, personal security has evolved. No longer do women have to compromise their personal security in their home or when travelling.
Using the doorstop concept Ila has created the Wedge with a built-in alarm that emits a piercing siren should someone try to open the door. The siren is loud enough to scare off any hearing able intruder as well as freak out your neighbours and dogs within metres of your home.
Ila has kept the Wedge design simple but stylish constructing the product out of a hard plastic and adding a feminine touch to keep the product from looking drab. It is inexpensive considering the added sense of security it offers: $19.95 for the US market and £14.50 for the UK.
Anyone who takes their travel and personal safety seriously should add this product to their travel list or their friend’s travel list.Detailed information on the Wedge and other security gadgets is available at Ila Security.
Ila Wedge
Caffeinated Traveller
It’s been a while….
The wait is over. In fact it has been over since early September but only now have I been able to sit down and smell the roses. After fifteen months, twenty-five days and numerous minutes of energy zapping waiting, the light turned green and I became an official permanent resident of the States.
It was a quiet celebration more of a huge sigh of relief than a cork popping champagne sipping party. I knew there was still a part of the hill to climb and it was going to be slow going clambering over rocks and crags. Despite having legal permission to work, I still had to find a job.
I was mentally prepared to slug it out with the mass of intelligent professionals also seeking work around me. What I wasn’t prepared for nor expected was to find myself signing an employment contract within weeks of receiving my green card.
So here I am, employed, legal, able to leave the US and come back without visa hassles, able to earn after months of not doing so and able to recognise and appreciate my good fortune. On the downside (short-term) I have found I am trying to find a routine that lets me sit down for an hour or two, respond to the countless email requests and wonderful comments left on my blog site, as well as stay consistent with posts. It’s a work in progress that needs fine tuning but I’m getting there.
I do have a few things I’d like to say:
- My heartfelt sympathy and thoughts go out to the New Zealand miners who died this week and their families and friends; and the people of New Zealand working their way through this national tragedy while I write this.
- Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate this special day.
- Thank you Homeland Security for the smooth processing of my permanent residency application.
- Thank you Joe for being understanding and loving during the times I drove you crazy.
- And, thanks to all the wonderful insightful, humorous bloggers and readers I have met on this journey, you have been inspirational.
The plan is to continue this blog but move it from twice weekly to once a week until my holidays when I plan on annoying you all as often as I can. The travel plans are being dusted off but the problem is how to choose only one place instead of several.
Happy holidays and stay safe.
by Cate
Caffeinated Traveller
A Call to Arms
Last Saturday morning 2500 people took up a call to arms. Passionate, proud and generally all round fun seekers these people walked — with their cameras — along Florida’s coastline from its eastern shores to its western shores and whatever parts in between. The aim was to take as many pictures of the coast and beaches as possible and upload these images before 11 am Saturday. It was a challenge particularly for me, because up to now my motto has been: Never rise before the sun unless there is a plane to catch or a mountain to snowboard down.
There I was along with my husband, bundled up in cold weather clothes (it was unseasonably cool that morning), walking along Juno Beach’s pristine shoreline, about 30 minutes north from my place.
The Walk-a-thon was a way of getting a message out to the wider audience, a message that will continually need repeating in the future — “Florida’s beaches are clean and safe.”
Thanks to the grim image portrayed by the news media the public have stayed away from Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and continue to do so.
Instead of waiting on the media to solve this tourist problem volunteer groups have taken up the call for action. Who better knows the state of the local beaches than the locals.
And to prove to those skeptics out there just how clean and oil-free these waters and beaches are around Florida, take a look at these shots.
by Cate
by Cate
by Cate
A little on the brisk side but the morning walk was worth it. In fact I may have to reconsider my early morning motto.
I recommend taking a look at some very good images taken that morning by some talented photographers: Florida’s Great Walk
How about you readers? Have you done something like this to get a message out to the public? Would love to hear your stories.
Caffeinated Traveller
Jimmie’s: tempering chocolate since 1947
It starts with an idea; a light that suddenly switches on in the middle of an ordinary day or during an ordinary person’s REM time. A light bright enough to germinate an idea and take it onto a path of growth and success, or see it shrivel and die.
In 1947, many lights were switched on around the US including a momentous one from the founders of a company called Intel who thought it would be cool to do something with the transistor.
But this post isn’t about technology as such nor computers, it’s about one man and his love for a bean called Cacao. In 1947 Jimmie Vonglis along with his beloved wife Gussie had an idea about chocolate in a place called Dania Beach.
by Cate
It began with chocolate: dark, milk and white, before moving into candy production further down the road. Jimmie’s business was a small family owned place but locals knew it as a chocolate haven; a place where tempered gems were innovative and delicious with a capital D.
Some time later — 1997 — Jimmie’s went outside the family but still kept the small business operational thing. The original premises were changed to include a café (closed when I visited) and the new owners opened a second shop further down the road in Wilton Manors.
Truffles are large in size and taste big enough for you the chocoholic to share with someone you love. I opted to try some traditional liqueur flavours Grand Marnier and Crème de Menthe plus an espresso treat which tasted more like orange than coffee.
by Cate
The shop in Dania Beach is located just off the main road, in a old house amongst a cool garden setting. This is a place that needs to visited and often.
by Cate
All that’s needed to compliment this scene is a shot of caffeine or a wee dram of whisky.
Getting to Jimmie’s Chocolatier is easy if you happen to be around Miami perferably Fort Lauderdale:
148 N Federal Hwy (US-1), Dania Beach, Florida.
Open each weekday @ 11:30am, Saturdays @ 12p, and Sundays @ 1p.
Call (954) 922-0441 for more details
Caffeinated Traveller
