PIGFACE + mobile phone camera MP3 player

Word for the Day Our faces

Home March's challenge is to pack one item each day in a Survival Bag, in order to be prepared for an emergency.  

In my Survival Bag, I have already packed 

1. my emergency foil blanket, plus silk sheet-bag and a sleeping bag. 

2. a mosquito head net and a tube aloe vera
3. my clothing
4. my food and my drink bottles
5. my first aid kit
6. eating and cooking utensils
7. my Tommy Cooker Hexi Stove and fuel tablets
8. Windproof and Waterproof Matches (or a fire flint or cigarette lighter)

9. my torches
10. my washbag 
11. soap for washing dishes and clothes
12. whistle & glowstick 

Today I will pack a small camera, my MP3player & my mobile phone with accessories
I have chosen a small camera with a charged battery.

My MP3player has some cheery music on it.

My phone  accessories include: 
*recharger 
  
*earphones
    
*an Amaysim sim card and a $40 Amaysim phone voucher ready to be registered with free Australian calls and 4GB internet (for an extra small fee, international calls are very reasonable)  from an Australian  local store e.g. Woolworths.
If I don't use the voucher immediately, I have to re-write the info on the phone voucher because the print on these shop dockets generally fades within a short time! 

*NOTE: An EMERGENCY CALL to 000 or whatever the emergency number is in a person's country, can be made by any mobile phone with a sim card from that country, even if there is no money on the card.

The Qualcomm QCP-2700, a mid-1990s candybar style phone, and an iPhone 5, a currepnt production smartphone.

A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone and a hand phone) is a device that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link while moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator, allowing access to the public telephone network. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the short range of a single, private base station.

In addition to telephony, modern mobile phones also support a wide variety of other services such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming and photography. Mobile phones that offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

The first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing around 2.2 pounds (1 kg). In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first to be commercially available. From 1990 to 2011, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 6 billion, penetrating about 87% of the global population and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid.

In 2012, for the first time since 2009 mobile phone sales to end users is declining by 1.7 percent to 1.75 billion units which is dominated by Samsung for 385 million units (53.5 percent is smartphones) and Apple for 130 million units of all smartphones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone

Garden  Pigface Coastal Tucker

Pigface grows in the sands at our local beaches on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. 

Recently I tasted the juice from the leaf, and found it to have something of a sharp flavour. 

I brought a small plant home and have potted it in soil where it is happily growing! 

 

http://www.apstas.com/carpobrotus.htm

Pigface is a useful plant. Along with being decorative and colourful, it is one of the bush tucker plants used by the Indiginous Australians. The leaves and fruits were used as a kind of relish to be eaten with meat. The juice from the leaves is also said to be an insect repellant.
http://malleenativeplants.com.au/carpobrotus-rossii-pig-face-in-flower/

When the petals of the flower drop off, the fruiting base of the flower swells up and turns a purple-red colour. When fully mature, these succulent fruits become very sweet, and can be eaten fresh or dried. While the Aborigines used to dry these fruits, the early European settlers used them for jam making.  I have a friend who knows a lot about Aboriginal foods and their uses,  having grown up with Aboriginal friends, and he told me that the juice of the leaves can be swallowed to help alleviate headache symptoms.  

Carpobrotus rossii

'Pigface' was Tasmania's first Bush Tucker 

Tasman's voyage of 1642 was not only historically significant as the arrival of the first explorers in Tasmania. During the voyage, 'Greens' were collected by the crew, and this collection of edible greens was the start of the Australian bush tucker for white man. 

Many diaries of early explorers and settlers not only record positive entries on the edibility of these 'Greens' but also draw attention to the unique strawberry-fig-like flavour of the Native Pigface's fruits. 

Settlers at Collin's first settlement at the 'Camp' (Risdon Cove) collected Ice Plants for nutritious 'Greens' whilst inland explorer Edward John Eyre partook of Pigface fruits freely, noting the ripe fruit was rich, sweet and refreshing in hot weather. 

http://www.apstas.com/iceplants.html

If I was having one of my worst days, 

One of those hot and thirst days,

I'd head for the beach -

For a pig-face I'd reach, 

And I'd suck on the juice 

Of that succulent leaf.

Robyn

Wishing you happy days, whether you are in a desert, in the bush, or at the beach!

from Robyn

 painting of robin by Brenda, my mum.