At the place which provides me with both (a) a job and (b) blogging time, there's a bunch of nice people, which I sometimes think is even more important than (a) or (b).
So I guess I've hit the jackpot (although I'm planning to leave work soon - I need more time in the kitchen and the garden and walking the dog and blogging ... and ... and ...).
They all have their little ways, however. Like G.
So G. comes back from lunchtime shopping expeditions loaded with boxes. She does this most weeks. The stores seem to be forever having sales nowadays, and G. is forever saying I got 30% off this and 50% off that.
Which is fine, except poor G. is always complaining about never being able to pay off her credit card and never being able to afford to buy the house of her dreams, which of course is a mansion. So she spends like thousands of dollars a month on upscale junk.
Yesterday, G. went shopping at lunchtime and came back with cutlery. Not nice cutlery. Ugly cutlery. Ugly 'cutting edge' cutlery. Ugly expensive 'cutting edge' cutlery. Even at the '40% off' price tag.
So G. drags a knife and fork out and waves them in the air and says:
- How cool is this, 40% off! Dinner party, here I come!
I'm like, what is that, dangerous daggers made from scrap metal offcuts? That is cutlery?
That's what happens when a fashion label decides to go into homewares, gets some jumped-up square-spectacled designer to come up with some 'cutting edge' designs (we can't be seen to be mainstream, can we?), has them manufactured in China or somewhere for next to nix, packages them in faux-cool packaging to appeal to the designer set for whom even the packaging must pass the cool test, and sells them at stratospheric prices.
Plus, instead of a normal canteen, these pieces were sold in individual 'per person' packs, allowing the manufacturer to hike the price up even further.
I just don't get 'edgy' design, especially for anything to do with the home. It is often hard-angled and impractical; more about attitude than usability.
And for special occasions, I prefer the rounded, flowing beauty of traditional items, even when the patina of age or the occasional chip may have dulled their previous splendour.
I didn't say any of this to G., of course. I just smiled and said, 'Looks like you got yourself a bargain, G. Again! Don't cut yourself, now!'
So I guess I've hit the jackpot (although I'm planning to leave work soon - I need more time in the kitchen and the garden and walking the dog and blogging ... and ... and ...).
They all have their little ways, however. Like G.
So G. comes back from lunchtime shopping expeditions loaded with boxes. She does this most weeks. The stores seem to be forever having sales nowadays, and G. is forever saying I got 30% off this and 50% off that.
Which is fine, except poor G. is always complaining about never being able to pay off her credit card and never being able to afford to buy the house of her dreams, which of course is a mansion. So she spends like thousands of dollars a month on upscale junk.
Yesterday, G. went shopping at lunchtime and came back with cutlery. Not nice cutlery. Ugly cutlery. Ugly 'cutting edge' cutlery. Ugly expensive 'cutting edge' cutlery. Even at the '40% off' price tag.
So G. drags a knife and fork out and waves them in the air and says:
- How cool is this, 40% off! Dinner party, here I come!
I'm like, what is that, dangerous daggers made from scrap metal offcuts? That is cutlery?
That's what happens when a fashion label decides to go into homewares, gets some jumped-up square-spectacled designer to come up with some 'cutting edge' designs (we can't be seen to be mainstream, can we?), has them manufactured in China or somewhere for next to nix, packages them in faux-cool packaging to appeal to the designer set for whom even the packaging must pass the cool test, and sells them at stratospheric prices.
Plus, instead of a normal canteen, these pieces were sold in individual 'per person' packs, allowing the manufacturer to hike the price up even further.
I just don't get 'edgy' design, especially for anything to do with the home. It is often hard-angled and impractical; more about attitude than usability.
And for special occasions, I prefer the rounded, flowing beauty of traditional items, even when the patina of age or the occasional chip may have dulled their previous splendour.
I didn't say any of this to G., of course. I just smiled and said, 'Looks like you got yourself a bargain, G. Again! Don't cut yourself, now!'
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