Everyone's doing it

[ladyofastolat]

I've just caught up with a programme on last year's retail trends, a subject which I find very interesting, even though almost all of the trends have entirely passed me by. I found the programme simultaneously very interesting and very annoying, largely for its habit of making sweeping statements about how "we were ALL" doing something or other, when the figures quoted revealed that although there was indeed a note-worthy increase on last year, it was still very much a minority thing, no matter how much trendy media types might have written about it. They were very fond of saying that "a staggering £x million" was spent on such and such, when a quick bit of mental arithmetic on the likely price of the product and the adult population of the country revealed that this was actually a fairly unimpressive number. Sometimes they even made this easy for us. After one little piece about how "we were ALL" buying something or other, some trendy media type said that "it became more a case of who DIDN'T have one than who did." Yes, revealed the presenter, by the end of the year a staggering one household in 60 had one of these things. I expect there are things sneered at by the media as sad minority interests that are actually indulged in by individuals in more households than that.

We also had a use of one of the Standard Units of Measurement - in this case, the Olympic Swimming Pool. Last year, due to a massive explosion of beards that I had remained completely unaware of, enough beard trimmers were sold to fill three Olympic swimming pools. I never find the Olympic swimming pool / football pitch / London bus school of measurement remotely impressive. To me, it turns "Big Number!" into "something you can fit into a fairly small patch of ground that can be seen by one person without them even moving." "Big Number!" sounds impressive - at least if you don't think about it, and realise that it works out as only one per sixty households. Something that can fit under one roof sounds far less impressive to me, even if the roof is a big one, and each thing is very small.

As for me, the programme revealed that I have indulged in precisely two of this year's retail trends. Despite not being a huge fan of fizzy drinks - although I tolerate them more than I used to - I've bought Prosecco, since they kept plying us with free Prosecco when we were in Sorrento, and ever since then, the drink has reminded me of that holiday. I also have an adult colouring book. It's a Game of Thrones one, which I got for Christmas. I had no idea that such things promoted mindfulness! I've heard of mindfulness, but never really known what it was, or bothered to find out. I had no idea that when I spent quite a ridiculous amount of time colouring in a joust scene the other day that I was indulging in mindfulness. I thought I was just colouring in a picture.

I still have no Christmas jumper.

Comments

[leesa_perrie]

One in sixty households equals everyone is buying it? And it's easier to say who hasn't got one, than who has? Yeah, riiiight! *rolls eyes* They do like to big things up, don't they?!!

I think the adult colouring books could work for me if I was on holiday, away from the computer, and needed a break from reading. Of course, that's usually when the Kriss Kross puzzle books come out, but maybe I should try colouring in for a change.

I, also, don't have a Christmas jumper. Fortunately.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

The colouring book I've got takes AGES - 6 hours plus per picture, and there are 40 or so in the book. I found it a fun thing to do when away visiting at Christmas, since it occupied my hands while leaving me free to join in with conversation. I've tried doing it while watching DVDs, but it doesn't really work. While cross-stich allows you to look up from your work for half the time, you need to focus on the colouring all the time, so all you can do is listen. Good with the radio or audio books, I suppose...