Spotted this recently on a toilet paper dispenser in Luton airport:
The text reads: "NOW PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS".
Isn't this great? You are sitting there, doing what you have to do and then somebody nice tells you what to do next with your life...
I live in a flatshare (shortlet) and love my little room. It has old wooden-flooring and a beautiful view to the backyard. Only thing that troubled me was the single-glazed windows. Most time of the year that might be ok, but right now, at night, there is a cold and constant draught right next to my head.
Went to the local hardware shop and got some scrap-wood and nails, tape and clingwrap came from a one-pound-store. Soon a little frame emerged that would fit neatly inside the window surround.
It works perfectly and insulates very well. Square middle-class happiness.
I take it down during the day though...
Beautiful handmade display in a gardener's supplies on Stoke Newington Church Street.
Where else can you buy pebbles with names like York Gold or Green Slate?
Streetfurniture like lamp posts, distributing centres, switch cabinets and dust bins follow the strict rules of functionality and utility. They house a city's infrastructure and facilitate electricity, public transport or refuse collection.
Normally these profane functions are followed by profane design: grey is the colour of streetfurniture.
Lately I have seen two rule-breaking examples: Hand-painted (!) transformer boxes in the city of Geneva and cow-patterned Hackney recycle bins on Stoke Newington Church Street:
Is there a link between theses two neighbourhoods that are more community-orientated, organic and "conscious" than the average?
Did my shopping in a nearby grocery store today and – inspired by the recent I`m-not-a-plastic-bag-frenzy – I brought my string bag with me.
String bags are very practical: they weigh near-to nothing, expand impressively and mine is said to carry up to 11 lb.
But: When I carried the stuff home, I wondered whether people would like using these bags a lot because everybody can see what you bought. It felt a bit weird, this kind of public shopping. Not that I had to hide anything, but I guess there is stuff to buy in supermarkets you wouldn't want to be bringing home so highly visible...
In 50s and 60s Germany string bags were very common and used widely: Different norms of display then?
Seen today in a One-Pound-Shop in Stoke Newington, London: Face-Paint Set with everything an Englishman needs to paint his face with the Cross of St. George. Great example for the ongoing customization of the face-paint industry.
Potential here for subversion of the manufacturer's intention by Japanese, Canadian or Danish soccer fans...
