SPOLIT FOR CHOICE?

What does it mean, to be spoilt for choice? Ruination through variation? Is choice a luxury, a necessity, or just plain puzzling?

Tescos, Sainsburys, Waitros, Morrisons, Co-op, the list of supermarkets in England is scarily extensive. Big ones, little ones, cheap ones and expensive ones. Take your pick. We are simply Spoilt for Choice. Brands baffle your mind and types tipple your thoughts.
A trip to the supermarket becomes a marathon of aisles and endless food alternatives. Step onto the street and the calamity continues.
A hazy cacophony of coffee shops confuse every street corner, boasting an identical glittering array of hot drinks of all different shapes and sizes; cafe mocha, choca, cappuccino, decaf, late, Americano, espresso (skimmed, semi or full fat milk) with shots of ginger, cinnamon, chocolate. The list continues. The options available are truly disorientating. At what point did the idea of so much choice stop being a luxury and start to feel downright daunting? I just want a cup of coffee!!

Here in Luderitz, A trip to the shops takes half the time because you don’t have to wade your way through twenty types of tinned tomatoes. If you’re looking for a hot drink you choose simply between whether you want a sea or town view. Simple. You can have your morning coffee without a degree in beverages and you don’t have to endlessly trawl the streets or menus in search of your weekly shopping and quick caffeine fix. Perfect.

Of course in life it is important to have the freedom to choose, variety indeed being “the spice of life”. Choosing for instance what to study, who to spend time with, what will become of your future, these are the choices that matter and make you who you are, not the type of tomatoes which you eventually settle upon.
Namibia fought for its independence finally winning the right to choose its own path in 1990. It is pleasant to be able to pick your way through groceries and coffee shops, but is it necessary? We seem to have a tendency to lose sight of what exactly it is important to choose. Was bloodshed on the battle field for a wider array of chocolate bars?

We’re simple creatures really and when it comes down to it, pretty easy to please. Over the past 10 months I have not missed pretentious cups of coffee or supermarkets so big you need a map to find the milk. I have not missed the endless dithering on decisions that Don’t Matter. I certainly have not missed being Spoilt for Choice.

Here in Luderitz we have all we need. The freedom to choose the important things without being weighed down by insignificant details, without being “ruined through variety”. Although I will go back in August to England where I will undoubtedly and unavoidably be; “Spoilt for Choice”, I sincerely hope however that this simple town remains exactly as it is. “Unspoilt for Choice”
By Emily Keen