Monday 8 July 2013

Hotseats, highjumps and ugly ducklings.


This good weather is very distracting. While pottering around doing chores I was really considering where I would be going for a run. Work is piling up and surely this good spell will end, and I can return to cycling to work through the rain and stop looking out the window feeling I am morally obliged to go running.




Scooby Doo Island

I put my sunglasses half out their case on the window. They claim to be the sort that react to sunlight and go darker when exposed to bright light. I am not so sure they do. How do I test this? Put them in the bright sunlight of the window ledge but keep one lens in their black cloth case - in a while take them out put them over a sheet of paper and photograph the massive difference between lens transparency.




Hoka's strap line is Time to Fly. 

I should be painting out samples but I go for a haircut. I do the dishes then decide not to go for a big run just around and about the Seat. The hot Seat. I hang out the second wash before I go - if I do enough chores I shouldn't feel guilty. If I wear my mp3 I can drown out the voice in my ear saying work! If I put on dark glasses no-one will see me skiving. Now where are my sunglasses? I am about to text my brother to see if I left them in his car when I see them on the window. Ahh yes, are the 2 lenses completely different? No. (As I suspected.) But I had left them there so long the sun sped across the sky and they were out the direct light. I'll maybe try again tomorrow. How long are they supposed to retain their adaptability? And when did it become reasonable to pay three figure sums for sunglasses? (Not that these are that. I am a cheapskate.) Is it sensible that sunglasses should cost as much as the rest of the clothes you are wearing, combined? Was that idea promoted by the dude who said "let's bottle water and see if folk buy it - you never know."




Or the people who invented the £60 haircut. Mine was £8 from Romeo (previously International Barbers) on Leith Walk. And it includes having your neck shaved and the hairs growing out your ears flambéd with a naked flame. I think a series of blind tests should be insisted upon. Folk lined up to try wines that cost £5, £10, £50 and £100. Haircuts that cost similarly and a range of Sunglasses from inexpensive to Oakley*. And maybe handbags and perfumes while we're at it.




I see minimal running shoes are coming down in price. That didn't last long then. And yet we have always had racing flats. So in a way they have always been around, just not so many people felt the need to buy them. I wore a pair to the barbers. Not because I needed to run there quickly but because they are pretty. I changed into my Hokas to go for a run. I seem to be running every day and I can feel twinges of PF-ness creeping into the peripheries of my right foot (last year it was my left foot.) I hardly dare say it in case I open the door and it jumps in. Must go and do some stretches. And remember to do recovery runs every second day.



*A quick google of "expensive sunglasses" is worth a laugh. If you go really high end you can get a pair of jewel encrusted beauties looking like they might have been worn by Ken Russell or Jane Fonda in the 70s, for more than the price of a car or a house. More pertinently it would seem most sunglasses are manufactured by Luxottica and it is not in their interest to compete with themselves and lower prices. On the contrary they almost compete with other companies to see who can hike their prices up to outwith the realm of common sense.


shit glasses for thousands


4 comments:

  1. Peter,
    The lenses you describe are great for welding but
    for running?! Anything I can't make, I tend to get from Lidl or Aldi, so HERE you go!
    As for hair cuts, the best one I had recently was in Shanghai for the princely sum of £1. Some tense negotiations ensued in sign language regarding length etc but it turned out OK. I even had a charming lady pop up half way through and ask if I wanted a massage (which I declined, as I suspected it was more "happy ending massage" rather than easing of calves that she had in mind). On reflection, I think the haircut offer may have been a loss-leader just to get folk through the door.

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  2. I wonder if those £2.99 glasses are uv protective? I like the look of a lot of the stuff though.

    I may suggest the Shanghai business plan to my Turkish Barber friends.

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  3. 100%, according to the ad. So if you burn holes in your retinae, I'm sure you'd get your £2.99 back!

    ReplyDelete
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