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Day: 28 August 2020

The Notorious teams up with Princess Charlene for training

by: Stephanie Horsman
28/08/2020

Despite being on opposing teams, Princess Charlene and Irish fighter Conor McGregor have been training together for the upcoming water bike race across the Med benefitting the Princess’s Foundation.
The Princess and the Fighter may sound like the title of a romantic comedy film, but in reality, it is the real-life pairing of Princess Charlene of Monaco and UFC star Conor McGregor, who have paired up for training ahead of the Princess’s charity event coming up next month.

Instagram post by Conor McGregor

The Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation has organised a 180 kilometre endurance relay race from Calvi, Corsica to Monaco called the Calvi-Monaco Water Bike Challenge, which will take place over a 24-hour period on 12th to 13th September.
Known as The Notorious MMA, McGregor has jumped in with both feet and has been training hard for the race, saying as much on his Instagram page: “Great work today with her highness Princess Charlene of Monaco! Training between the elements of night and day to prepare for our 180km voyage from Corsica to Monaco by sea bike. We are estimating upwards of 30 hours for completion. This September 12th! We are ready!”
Instagram post by Conor McGregor

McGregor is part of the Notorious team, headed up by Princess Charlene’s brother Gareth Wittstock, whilst the Princess is leader of her own team, Serenity. Proceeds from the race will go toward water safety and awareness programmes sponsored by the Foundation.
 
Top photo from Conor McGregor’s Instagram
 
 

Town Hall agrees to more funding for Jardin Exotique

by: Stephanie Horsman
28/08/2020

Monaco’s municipal council has met in a special session to discuss amending the 2020 budget for the second time this year and included new expenses incurred, with the lion’s share going towards financing additional works at the Jardin Exotique.
A revised budget has been approved by the Monaco Town Hall for the second time since the Covid crisis began, this time revising upward to pay for additional expenses to make repairs at the Jardin Exotique.
Work at the Jardin Exotique has been overdue, but also necessary as there have been reports that some bridges are in need of repair as well as several false rocks which are unstable.
As was laid out in the meeting, “This work is made necessary following an audit concluding that there is imminent danger concerning some of these bridges as well as several false rocks. It was therefore decided to take the opportunity of closing the garden to the public until the end of 2020 to carry out all of this work.”
An additional €50,000 was approved for footbridge reparation, on top of the original estimate of €450,000. For the false rocks, a sum of €660,000 has been approved after an estimate made by the municipal technical services department.
The rocks, many of which are a hazard, will either be removed and replaced with plants or will be resealed with a new coating to make them safe once more.
In total, therefore, a new investment of €710,000 will be financed by a levy on the municipal financial fund. This increases the total number for the current year to €3,135,000 while the forecasts of income and expenditure are increased to €71,372,000.
The budget was also altered to reflect another increase of €113,000 for management costs and a decrease in €133,000 for entertainment, events and communication costs.
After these revisions, the revenue of the municipal budget is established with a lump-sum operating allowance €47,516,700 including a provision of equipment and intervention on behalf of the State equalling €6,510,600, products of the municipality coming to €14,209,700; and exceptional revenue, meaning deductions from the municipal financial fund, of €135,000.
Additionally, in light of this year’s special situation, mayor Georges Marsan has decided that, “in order to encourage economic recovery and limit the negative impact of this health crisis, not to increase the prices of the municipal service – shops, halls and markets for the year 2021.” This proposal, like the others, was passed unanimously.
 
 

Favourite Principality tradition cancelled

by: Stephanie Horsman
28/08/2020

U Cavagnëtu, the traditional end of summer Monegasque picnic with the Princely family, has been cancelled due to concerns about the current health situation.

The Mairie announced the decision to cancel “with great regret”, maintaining that preserving the health of the general public was more important than going ahead with the event as planned.

First held in 1931, the picnic symbolises the end of the summer and the beginning of the new school year. The event was once called Festin Munegascu, but changed the name to U Cavagnëtu, which in the vernacular means picnic basket.

In normal times, the Princely family attends, rubbing shoulders with residents, and an outdoor mass is held followed by tastings of local specialities.

The gathering usually brings together a large number of people, basking in the late summer sun at Princess Antoinette Park, but social distancing regulations have made this year’s picnic impossible given the configuration of the space, says the Mairie.

 
Photo by Mairie de Monaco
 
 

Covid and excess eye strain

by: Staff Writer
28/08/2020

Amid lockdowns and teleworking, school closures and keeping kids amused, it feels as though we have never been more focused on our digital screens. Maintaining good eyesight, therefore, is essential, and French Optician Ksenia Jarnova has offered to give us some simple exercises to help prevent eye strain and maintain healthy eyes.
After 10 years of working in various optical establishments, I realised that an alternative solution to better eyesight existed and that it could be natural and accessible for most of the population.
How much time do you spend in front of the screen for work? How much time do you spend on your phone with social media? How much time do you spend leisurely scrolling over an iPad?
You are mostly likely aware that, in general, we spend over eight to 10 hours or more in front of screens daily, and most of our work and personal-leisure activities are related to screens and close distance use of our vision.
Due to the Covid crisis, work has also transferred online in many cases, increasing this time in front of a screen. You can only imagine what damage it does to our eyesight.
Even though technology has made our lives better and faster, sometimes eliminating the need for a shared workspace for many, we do understand that our eyes are over used in close distances and that eyestrain is an enormous issue.
A study by researchers at the Brien Holden Vision Institute predicts that nearly five billion people will become myopic by 2050, affecting 50% of the world’s population. Myopia, otherwise known as near-sightedness or short-sightedness, is an eye disorder where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina, causing distant objects to be blurry.
The researchers mainly attribute this to the use of computers and too much time spent within a four-wall distance.
While I agree that too much time spent in front of screens is a problem, we cannot avoid using them in our modern world. However, we can change and adapt our way of working with screens so that eyestrain is reduced and the side effects of over using screens is less harmful.
Did you know that there is such a thing as basic eye hygiene and that there are ways to rest our vision to make screen overuse less dangerous? It is possible to prevent eyestrain by doing some simple techniques at your work space or home, and I am not simply talking about the blue light filters for computer screens or taking a pause every two hours. There are many things that even I, as a professional optician, did not not consider.
Easy, daily techniques
There are simple and sometimes fun activities that we can all use at our work space which allow us to rest, stimulate and energise our vision for only couple of minutes.
Simply by changing our habits slightly and understanding the needs of our vision, we can make a significant improvement in our performances at work and daily lives.
Did you know that the distance of rest for our vison is over five metres? That means that any distance between our eyes and five meters demands effort from our visual system. Now, let’s do some exercise for visual comfort:
After reading this sentence, look beyond five meters – if possible at something in nature, trees on the mountains, the horizon etc. Now add rapid blinking, like a butterfly with its wings, for 10 to 15 seconds. Do this every two to three hours when working with screens.
We can also do a bit of “eye yoga”. This involves moving our eyes in every direction, so we make our six eye muscles more tonic.
If you wear prescription glasses while doing those little techniques please take them off. If you have contact lenses, do it any way while wearing them in order not to interfere with eye hygiene.
In order to prevent eyestrain, we need to learn how to give rest to our vison, how to keep it dynamic and sharp at every distance that the eyes need to see.
Nutrition is also very important for our vision to perform at its optimum.
We should reconsider how we are using our vision in front of screens in order to regain the visual comfort and pleasure in using them again!
To learn more about preserving eyesight and preventing eye strain, click here.