Just gorgeous.  Fan-crowdsourced webcamed music video from Japanese band Sour’s ‘Hibi no Neiro’ (Tone of everyday).  Via crackunit.

Evolution of the vacuum cleaner, 1975ish – 2009

Evolution of the Dyson, DC01 – DC14

note my family’s ‘when in doubt, bodge the handle with gaffer tape’ approach to vacuum cleaner repair…

I was standing in my dad’s garage this week, staring at his Shelves of Stuff which (since he hasn’t moved house for 35 years) offer a great history of design in DIY and car care product packaging.

The Mobil de icer and Holts tyrewall black packaging are so retro that they actually look fresh, clean and modern:

then we have this of-it’s-time packaging for Shell’s Damp Start:

and finally, it would be fair to say that this design has not really stood the test of time:

We had another office move-around this past week.  I struck lucky just in time for the heatwave as I am now situated next to a window which actually opens and I managed to hold on to my electric fan in the move, so the temperature at my desk only hit a high of 30C this week…

I find office moves quite therapeutic, if only for the opportunity to have a really good clear out and bin/archive tons of stuff.  It always feels like starting afresh, especially as you usually end up with a different set of desk-mates to boot.

The agency’s well-oiled moving machine geared into action on Monday afternoon, with the movers arriving and the computer network switched off at 5.01pm.  As a bonus, since I no longer had access to my computer, phone, files or desk, my evening started 29 minutes early :)

I’ve been shopping for a very small, very basic horsebox (actually more of a horsevan).  In the process of comparing different suppliers, I ended up in a little industrial estate in the North East, where just the kind of thing I was looking for was being turned out of a tiny workshop.

Since just one of these horsevans pretty much filled the workshop, I was wondering how they managed to make a business from it, until they offered to show me vans at different stages of completion, which involved driving round the industrial estate to visit neighbouring businesses.

It was a brilliant example of a good, old fashioned, non-digital networked economy.  The paint job was done round the corner, servicing and MOT was across the road and the flooring for the van’s storage area was offcuts from a shopfitters down the street.

By working collaboratively, all these businesses were punching above their weight and also bringing in cross-referrals.  As a bonus, being able to chat to the people who are actually going to paint, service, build and finish your vehicle has to be a big selling tool.

The Marvellous Tea Dance Company

The Cromer end-of-the-pier Seaside Special show

Garden Croquet

ilike postcards

O2 scrum on the beach (via Amelia)

While I was off on bridesmaid duty is seems that it has been scorchio in the office.  No thermometer needed – I just checked out the number of blokes in shorts (with accompanying footwear crisis) and girls trying to pull off sundresses as office attire…

update, 02/07/09 – today the thermometer is pushing 30C and even my chief exec is wearing shorts…

My sister and her new husband are off on their mini honeymoon today to the Lake District (with an exotic maxi-moon to follow later in the year).  They’re going Glamping (Glamorous Camping) – staying in a luxury yurt, complete with double bed, wood burning stove and decking. 

I was telling some family friends at the wedding what the honeymoon plans were and all about Glamping when they pointed out that it’s not exactly a hot new trend.  For twenty years this particular couple have been kitting out their tent with carpet, duvets, wash stands and even rocking chairs and can’t understand what all the fuss is about.

My hairdresser tells me that business is booming for him and I’m not surprised.  Apart from the fact that he is some kind of hair genius who manages to turn my uncooperative mane into a series of non-stop good hair days, as a village operation he charges about half of what city centre salons do.

He tells me that the industry is reporting clients increasingly trading down from paying over £100 for a cut and colour in a high profile, prime location salon to more affordable rates nearer to home.

However it seems that the problem comes for the suburban salons that five or ten years ago were flying, with more business than they knew what to do with and were advised to steeply increase their prices. 

The expectation was that although some customers might leave, they would still be doing less work for the same amount of money and could start behaving more like the branded urban businesses who were charging the same money.  A brilliant plan until their recessionista clients started tightening their belts.

Now apparently some of these upwardly mobile salons are £4k down a week, whereas on a wet Wednesday morning at my local salon you can hardly swing a hairdryer for clients.

In the unlikely event that my Dad ever had to fill in a TGI lifestyle survey he would tick the box marked yes next to ‘do you use email’.  But this is how he actually emails:

- I check for new email on the home computer and print out anything intended for him
- he reads the print out and drafts a reply longhand
- which I then type up and send

His version of shopping online involves sitting next to me at the computer while I find what he wants and then passing his credit card over.

There must be a fair few 60-something captains of industry and retired 70-somethings that have the world convinced that they have cracked this internet malarkey, when in fact they just have very accommodating secretaries or daughters.

Yet again, the data only tells half the story.