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However many shopping days to go, and all that. The weekend papers fill up with more supplements of presents to buy that promise to help you control your kitchen, your bathroom, cats that visit your garden. Meanwhile, Lakeland continues to attempt to take over the universe…or at least, tries to add to the prospect of taming chaos, all with a nice biscuit to hand.
I have a slightly love-hate relationship with Lakeland (formerly Lakeland Plastics). I suspect quite a lot of women do. One of the Times columnists who writes in the T2 supplement during the week confessed her excitement, earlier in the year, at the latest catalogue arriving - and how many of her friends she would then have Lakeland discussions with. Another friend on Facebook seems to have a fairly similar reaction.
What is it about Lakeland? They are clearly doing something right, yet a bit different, with ever more stores opening up, yet still none in central London, for example. I should be properly grateful that Edinburgh is considered nice enough to have a store - along with other gentle (or is that genteel?) destinations like Bath, Canterbury and York. I’m told that the customer service over the phone is second to none, though the ladies who police the Edinburgh store tend to be slightly on the officious side, on the whole.
And this, it seems, is how Lakeland divides - as well as conquers. As does the list of products. Because for every item that seems over fussy and controlling, or rather too twee, there are some tremendous ones that find you circling items, or even, bending down the page too, so that the male of the household might find them and respond appropriately.
No to tea bag squeezers. To washing up gloves with very long sleeves. To water carafes with matching glasses painted with spring flowers. But yes to yoghurt makers, silicone baking tins, to sets of stacking bowls that get constant use. And they are very good at adding new products, so you have to look at the next catalogue…hmmm.
The bit that confuses me more is where kitchen items, cleaning items, are not enough - Lakeland must also be the first thought when you want to buy craft materials, or, now, toiletries, and other items that Boots would probably prefer to monopolise. I’m not sure what their main age range demographic is for customers, but clearly, they are very sure that their customers want to be clean, tidy, good at thoughtful presents, and at times, creative too.
What interests me is that you’re not being sold just one lifestyle, as you are with a lot of other brands or stores. But I do think that, ultimately, Lakeland conspires to sell you products to make you feel that some things are working properly in a few key parts of life - perhaps a very female wish, and part of the reason for their success.
It’s not just men that want new gadgets. It’s just that they don’t seem to need as many ‘inverted commas’ statements in the advertising copy to encourage them to do so.
December 8th, 2008
Next door bought a large trampoline earlier in the year. Perfect child magnet. (It works quite well as an adult magnet too, but only as long as the adults consent to have their performance critiqued by the kids). We haven’t yet been asked if we want a go, but as long as we keep making approving noises at our neighbour’s routines on the trampoline, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before we’re given a shot.
But what happens when the year turns cold, and there’s no time to play out? You need a few other options up your sleeve. Many of our readers are familiar with our yellow friend Eric - and for those who aren’t, type in ‘Eric Frydman’ on Facebook and see what you find. Eric is happy to add child magnet to his list of abilities (as well as conducting, playing charades, and general making us laugh duty).
In fact, such is Eric’s appeal that we had to find additional Erics for our friends in Italy, and Dan’s small cousin on the west coast. Other friends’ children have wised up to Eric’s importance in the household - when I got in the car to get a lift from the family a month or two back, the first question was ‘Is the yellow thing with you?’ Eric consents to dance, hang upside down, spin round and round, be tied in knots, quite apart from laughing obligingly at each ‘look at this!’
For parties, we have another trick up our sleeves - or in the box we bring out for parties involving small children (that is to say, all parties now, pretty much). One of my toys from my childhood is a Viewmaster - essentially a way to view pictures in 3D, by inserting a disc of images in the viewer and looking at the overlapped images. Despite the fact that kids now have lots of access to films and cartoons, this always gets played with and marvelled over by new visitors, particularly when they get the hang of working it themselves.
Tall bloke, child magnet. Dan discovered on our recent trip to Italy just how tempting it is for kids to have a moving climbing frame that will also tickle you and hold you upside down. Unless of course three medium sized kids jump on the climbing frame at the same time…and even then, there’s a happy balance between pretending you’re completely outnumbered and actually being so.
Meanwhile, I’m off for my tea - food being a long favoured magnet of most children, and thankfully, adults too.
December 8th, 2008
So which is the Christmas song that does it for you - that let’s you know Christmas is here? Do you need to stand up and bellow “it’s Christ-mas!” to get in the mood? Do you need some sleigh bells to jingle in the snow?
I am intrigued to know, because I am attempting to listen to Christmas-related music while Dan writes Christmas cards - and clearly, Christmas songs are a broad church. Admittedly, I’m listening to an Ultralounge Christmas collection, which makes it a slightly more chi-chi experience, but there’s certainly some stuff there that I struggle to relate to Christmas, apart from the slight note of cheese, which probably has to accompany many seasonal song collections.
Clearly, it’s something people take seriously, because otherwise, why would there be so many Christmas compilations on sale in the shops? And admittedly, if you give lots of parties at that time of year, it could be handy to have a collection of songs to put on that help your guests get in the mood.
Dan points out at this point (clearly he’s not concentrating that hard on the cards) that you could have a variety of Christmas collections, according to the various groups you might be dealing with at the meet and greet time of year. The subsets appear to be: cheesy, carols, classical music that makes you think of Christmas, rock Christmas.
So, for your entertainment, we present some of the music that helps us start to feel a bit more ready for/interested in Christmas. Mine combines classical and cheese, as I grew up listening to James Last German Christmas carols and classical music most years, while decorating the Christmas tree with my family. I downloaded it recently, and now the cheese factor does come through more than it did when I was 7, shall we say. But heck, German Christmas carols are really good, and bring us close to the second entry, which is Christmas related choral music.
When I was at secondary school, and getting into singing, we attempted our first oratorio type stuff in school choir: Vivaldi’s Gloria, plus Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. Not hugely well known, but a good excuse to sing a bit of Latin, bit of medieval English. The older the carol, the more it’s likely to challenge what you think the season is about. “This little babe, so few days old, is come to rifle Satan’s hold…” Not a crowd pleaser chorus, no mention of figgy pudding, but one that sticks in the mind.
While I’m at it, I’ll add my favourite carol, the Coventry Carol (Lullay, thou little tiny child). It does that great thing of being mysterious, beautiful, a bit scary (Herod the king, in his raging…), and uplifting (the wonderful change to a major key at the end of the piece).
We have to even the score at this point, and let Dan have an entry. His Christmas album is Take 6’s ‘He is Christmas’, which has probably become our joint ‘getting ready for Christmas’ album to put on. Lots of joy, lots of peace. I have also just consulted Dan on his favourite carol, which is Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
So there you have it. Feel free to add your own faves below. I’ve just realised that I have to add Mike Oldfield’s “In Dulci Jubilo” for a bit more cheese but good quality jingling. Moreish, these Christmas tunes.
December 7th, 2008
When it’s a Friday night, when you want some uncomplicated entertainment, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Dan discovered that three out of four of them at work were very keen on the film, and suggested watching it again last night. Feeble protest from me. More, “I’ll get the film ready, then.”
Ghostbusters was probably my first real recollection of a film phenomenon. Now, with monthly passes for cinemas, or renting recent releases through the telly, it’s harder to get a sense of a big film even, for all of the efforts of bus advertising to make you think so. My upbringing was one of cinema being a treat, so when you went, you wanted it to be GOOD.
So, what of Ghostbusters? The first time we tried to see it, we queued round three sides of the block to get in to the cinema - and were turned away, with only 10 people in front of us, because the cinema was full. That makes it an Event. Thankfully we persevered and came back another time, without quite such a queue, and were able to get in. And yes, it was well worth it.
It’s also an early awareness of a film soundtrack being significant. Part of the continuing to enjoy the film, for me, was listening to the soundtrack again…and again…I even bought it on record, which shows that life and technology has moved on just a tad. But there’s so much humour and enjoyment in the soundtrack, as well as atmosphere - it does what you want it to, in underpinning and enhancing the story.
Despite 80s fashion reappearing (neon socks anyone? Seemingly very fashionable again), and 80s music being played in shops, watching an 80s film does show you that time does move on. The amount of casual smoking is a bit of a surprise. The haircuts are always good for a giggle. And in a film like Ghostbusters, where a certain amount of ‘kit’ is required for the story, carrying a tape recorder on a strap doesn’t really look like big science any more.
So why watch it? Because the humour is still good. It’s fun to be reminded of just how sharp the timing between Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd is. The effects are there to make you laugh, the slapstick is there too, but the verbal humour still sings, and not many films even bother with that now.
I rest my case. And my photon accelerator.
November 29th, 2008
We don’t go passing round the wafers, if that’s what you are thinking. But in terms of a Sabbath, as a day of rest, our main shot at resting does seem to coincide with Saturday mornings. Time to sit with Dan and chat, drink a coffee, unpack the week, hold out a little longer, drink another coffee…
For those with kids, where days of the week start at pretty much the same time every day, I don’t mind if you feel you need to turn away. It is a bit indulgent still to have this space. And it’s not so much about not doing as the chance to talk, and say where our thoughts and feelings have been going over the previous few days.
Resting is all about recharging, if you get a shot at it. Similar to a post about learning to relax, that I wrote a month or two back, it’s about things that are consistently good in enabling you to unwind, and feel better afterwards. Or be ready to tackle a bit of life again.
Part of the treat, for me at least, is also having some time where there’s nothing written against it, in a real or mental diary. I need some headspace to explore, to pick things up and put them down again. These things may not form part of a ‘to do’ list, but that’s their very appeal.
Was remembering about The Idler - can’t quite tell whether it’s now a book, or a blog, or multiples of all of that. http://idler.co.uk/ - see what you make of it. But part of what they are talking about is giving yourself time to think, rather than just doing.
For someone like me, who can be fairly said to be a Protestant with a work ethic, it’s invaluable to be reminded to find this space. I enjoy doing, of various kinds, and I’d never claim we can get through life without doing, but I am certainly thinking more and more that just being is a pretty good pursuit.
When we think back to treasured memories, holidays, that kind of thing, often what we’re remembering is the space to be; to idle; not just to let our mind work out what is really going on, but to allow our heart to be part of that too.
Too much gobbledy-gook? Well, I’m good at that too. But along that path, sooner or later, some wisdom comes out, something to help me be happy in my own skin and at peace with God. I’ll raise a mug of coffee to that.
November 29th, 2008
It’s not something I want to promote about myself. But a little bit of virtual aggro, via the Heroes application on Facebook, does seem to help when winding down for the day. (I can at this point blame David Wilson, who invited me to try this application. It all started with fast cars, too. It’s a slippery slope.)
Something funny seems to happen in your thirties, when it comes to letting go of what’s happening in the day. There’s not much of the day left to disconnect from, by the time you get home. How do you do it, without taking the evening over it?
Not being much of a drinker, alcohol got left out of the picture as a way to unwind, for a long time, but I think it’s trying to make more of an appearance on my weekends. That sense of ‘phew, got to the end of the week’ seems to need more celebration as I go on. (Food is clearly enough of a companion to my days, as you already know, so it’s not necessarily helping me hit the ’stop’ button in the same way.) Let’s say I appreciate the treat when it comes.
Gardening started trying to enter the race this year. And yes, coming home from work, and saying hello to the plants (watering them too, on occasion) was a good option. But now it’s wet, or cold, or both, and the garden is back into that phase of being left to its own survival mechanisms for the next few months.
There is blog writing - though perhaps I need a new injection of ideas. Perhaps time to start listening into other people’s mobile phone conversations a bit more. (As if. I could probably write a new radio show a week on what I ‘overhead’ (without trying) on the bus each day.)
And for points of trying to make mind and body agree to slow down in the adrenaline rush, there can be su doku. A nice long bath is a winner in this department.
Recently, I have been feeling more and more that my earlier ambitions to make a difference in the world, to contribute, are getting worn away in the need to keep up - and then recover afterwards - day by day. No claims of special workplace trauma - we all have it, in fairly intense ways for many.
Is the solution to find a ‘quicker’ way to unwind, so that I can make the most of time outside of work? I’m coming to the conclusion that letting go of one set of lists at work, only to pick up another at home, doesn’t seem that attractive.
Probably the thing that cheers me up, and therefore helps me let go of work, is finding out how other people are doing. Ergo Facebook in general. I might even finally put up some photos of my own, given how much I like seeing other people’s.
Perhaps it comes down to holding on, rather than just letting go - holding on to what is important to you, day by day. And on that note, I’m off to hug the hugsband.
October 6th, 2008
Shock and amazement - sunshine two days running! Pretty much sun all day today! Any time now someone’ll suggest it’s a Scottish summer (apart from the normal three-days-in-May kind of summer we come to hope for).
At any rate, it allowed for a bit of gardening yesterday, aided by my parents. With all the rain of late, I had pretty much given it over to snails, but lo and behold, there were some potatoes to crop, and a new plant to put in the side border. We may even be able to gather a whole three beetroot, and perhaps the odd carrot or two…
Back in May, I had a bit of a garden breakthrough. I got into planting vegetables from seeds, and tried lots of different types. Perhaps not the full Good Life - still had to be in the office during the week - but a bit more sense of progress in the garden.
Sadly, the slugs and snails appeared to have eaten more than their fair share. My pea and bean seedlings were completely nobbled. Lettuces did OK, but sweet peas (a favourite) also got eaten, and as a result, the borders remained good on leaf, but not much on flower.
Perhaps I have to take heart on what worked. I learned that I can raise plants from seed. I just need to work on helping them to survive…I also discovered that the attic is pretty good as a greenhouse, as long as I can keep watering things enough. We sat outside more than before. I learned how to make elderflower cordial, which worked fine with elderflowers hanging over the back of the garden. These are steps forward.
It’s the creatures great and small that are needing taking in hand - both the cats which pursue any bare earth, and the smaller beasties that can clearly identify flourishing seedlings much faster than I can.
Hopefully, my rhubarb cuttings and I can fight back a bit next year. And perhaps there will still be some brambles left, if the sun remains, and I can manage a walk down the cycle paths near to home.
September 22nd, 2008
That’s Valentine’s Day to you. I just fancied writing it. “Valentinky” has quite a nice ring to it too.
Why Walentynki? I don’t really subscribe to the common concept of what Valentine’s Day is about in the UK.
As a teenager, you just kind of sulk about it (though there are so many things to sulk about as a teenager, I’m not sure how much others perceive the difference on this occasion).
As a young adult, the pang increases a little. Now people possibly have some money to spend on the day. But as much as anything, it’s just a reminder that others have someone in their lives and you don’t. Which is not always a good thing to dwell on. (At this stage you dwell on things, rather than sulking, possibly because you only have one main room to hang out in, so you can’t exactly run off to your room when it gets too much.)
In this stage of life, I happened to be in Poland during Valentine’s Day. Both times were memorable, for different reasons. The first time, I received a Valentine’s fax from a family friend.
Firstly, receiving a fax made quite an impact in the boarding school/convent where I was staying, and secondly, it reminded me that a world existed beyond the one in Poland I had joined just a week before. (My family didn’t hear from me for a fortnight, the length of time it took to me first to remember and then to work out how to post my first letter from Poland. Life pre-mobile eh?)
The second time, a sudden change in circumstances. I had someone, I hadn’t been together with them the previous Valentine’s Day, and all of a sudden, this year, I was engaged. And he was in a different country. But I learned to be upbeat - particularly aided by seeing the enthusiasm with which Poles had taken to Valentine’s Day.
This was a holiday adopted after the end of Communism. The flashy thing to do was take your true love out to McDonalds. In fact, the drive-through McDonalds round the corner from where I lived had a photo montage of happy couples in McDonalds over Valentine’s Day.
From a UK perspective, it doesn’t seem very romantic. But I liked the enthusiasm, the sense of rising to the occasion. Rather than a slushfest, Valentine’s Day had become fun, cheerful even.
I didn’t take myself out for a McDonald’s that year, you may be pleased to hear. I did buy myself flowers. But I developed a liking for a sense of what a particular day could mean in a new context.
Walentynki. You can’t just buy it in the shops. But it’s what every relationship needs from time to time.
(Footnote: despite telling my colleagues that Dan and I don’t really ‘do’ Valentine’s, I returned home to a little parcel of Italian deli goodies that he had happily selected. There’s another good aspect of Walentynki - having your expectations changed. It’s a wise man that knows that a woman also appreciates the ‘way to one’s heart is through one’s stomach’.)
So, I salute Valentine perspectives with Peroni beer - and will save mention of the outcome of the other ingredients for another day.
February 14th, 2008
The home improvements continue…well, not apace, but at least they continue.
Part of the grand plan is to get more storage inside our wardrobes, and thankfully, the powers that be at IKEA foresaw that people would want to shift things around at different times, and created lots of nice holes to move new shelves into.
I wouldn’t put us as IKEA frequent flyers - it’s more like a once a year military operation, once we have secured someone’s car to make it worth our while. But I do love a good kit to put together. I do obviously let Dan have a go too, but I will even volunteer to put other people’s IKEA units together.
Why the appeal? Kits are good news for those of us who aren’t so hot on drawing, or cutting things terribly accurately, but still want to make things. It’s also quite fun to see things assemble gradually, particularly if they are a) big and b) handy for moving stuff off the floor/bottom of other wardrobes etc.
I tend to think that liking kits is also part of learned behaviour. Dad was very into model making when I was little, and I graduated to this myself in various forms: plaster of Paris moulds for various things you could then paint, peg dolls, soft toys.
Best of all was a model theatre - first you made the theatre from card, then you had a full opera and ballet with backdrops, bits to move on from the sides, fiddly characters to cut round, the works. I even learned the story of ’La Boheme’ from the synopsis they included with the kit, which comes in handy for watching ‘Moonstruck’ in later life.
Recently, makers of kits have been staging a comeback. Makers of Airfix kits - model aeroplanes and so on - decided to run an ‘experiment’ where one group of kids got to make a model, and the others got to play on their Playstations, or something similar. At the end of the time, those making models were asked if they would do it again, and if they liked it more than their usual computer game type hobbies.
I’m never too sure with tests like this how representative the findings are, but evidently a good number of the kids said yes, they’d give it another go. Besides, there are still kit cars you can make (and get a Q at the start of your number plate - a definite incentive), and even kit houses for those who want to build their own but fancy a bit of help. Onwards and upwards, see.
February 12th, 2008
Honest, ossifer, not even once. But I couldn’t resist the title.
Little by little, the Frydman decorating project moves on, and the next stage is to get some rooms replastered. This gives us the opportunity to move furniture from room to room in order to clear the rooms that need plastered…Thank goodness for a spare room at the moment, otherwise we would be struggling a bit to find space to put things into.
So far, it’s mostly the bookcases that are getting moved. I’m quite pleased to see that the study walls stay up without their usual counterweight of books. With the annual bookfair in Peebles next month, it’s also a good time to do our usual book cull, and decide what can be donated for the fair.
The biggest excitement will be getting the kitchen replastered, which should mean we can finally paint it white, and banish the last trace of terracotta paint. (Apologies if you are of a burnt umber persuasion. It’s nice and warm, sure, but in small dark spaces lit by a still pretty dark Scottish winter, the desire for more light is going to win out.) But it seemed like a good opportunity to tidy up the sitting room and the study at the same time, so we’re hoping to get all three done around the same time.
But the final aim is an even better one - get the plaster and paint done, then finally replace the carpet. If terracotta walls get me down, don’t get me started on the sitting room carpet. Hopefully we can now get something we’d like. It was good enough getting Mum to make us curtains of our choice - carpet as well will be tremendous. (You’ll be pleased to hear we aren’t forcing Mum to make the carpets as well. Talk about nose to the grindstone.)
Is it all needed? Less than the leaky bathroom project. But learning from the enjoyment we have of a bathroom that we actually chose, I think it’s well worth it, particularly for the sitting room which we spend a lot of time in.
You never know. I may even learn to upload some photos, finally, to show off the finished product. A few more bookcases to move first, though.
February 11th, 2008
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