Electrical beauty

Posted 16 Sep 2008

Daily Life, Places | 9 Comments 

So, yesterday I popped into Boots (a British version of Walgreens, for our American readers) to pick up a few items for the family. Upon making my purchase, I was handed a gift voucher for credit towards a future purchase. It wasn’t until I was seated in my car that I looked at the voucher.

Electrical beauty?! What is that?! It definitely sounds cool. I wondered if I was ‘electrically beautiful’, or perhaps if purchasing £30.00 worth of electrical beauty would help me achieve energised pulchritude.

Only upon closer inspection of the voucher did I realise the meaning of the phrase:

(For accessibility reasons, we’ve reproduced the important wording here: Offer refers to electrical beauty items including hairdryers, hair straighteners, electrical toothbrushes and ladies & men’s shavers)

Aha! So that’s what electrical beauty is. The definition is much less cool than the phrase itself. Still, kudos to whoever coined the phrase. We like it!

Online dating doesn’t work for you?

Posted 15 Sep 2008

People | 6 Comments 

Well, then, here’s your solution … um … more online dating.

Advertisement as seen on Facebook.

That’s the Olympic spirit!

Posted 12 Sep 2008

Signs | 8 Comments 

Whilst waiting to head home from London earlier this week, I came across a bus stop that clearly demonstrated proper respect for the amount of time, energy and commitment that coaching staff put into the Olympics.

Would you look at that! London has already started getting ready for 2012: they are making bus stops just for coaches. That’s great. That’s a wonderful way to welcome the world to the athletic competition that will be London in 2012. Way to go, Boris!

(We won’t talk about the transportation issues likely to arise in 2012. That will be a post for another day and perhaps even another blog.)

You know you’re in a martini bar when…

Posted 11 Sep 2008

Drinks, Food, Places | 5 Comments 

Below is a photo of my tab from a recent trip to Bossa Nova, a tapas restaurant in Pittsburgh with a very large ‘chill’ bar area.

As I glanced over the tab, I suddenly realised that this place was pretty much exclusively a Martini and wine bar. My tab was labeled simply ‘Penn Pilsner’ because I was the only one in the bar drinking beer!

More Penguin signage?

Posted 10 Sep 2008

Guest Post, Places, Signs | 1 Comment 

Today’s post comes to us from a reader in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, who saw the following just in front of Pier 39 in San Francisco, California.

Our reader writes to chickenmonkeydog via email:

My thoughts on the attached photo – does this indicate no littering, or does it ask people to not pick up trash?

Our own thoughts are perhaps even more confused: Is this another one of those signs aimed at The Penguin? And if so, what is it ordering him not to do?

Really, Sign Making Department at the City of San Francisco, if you’re going to spend tax-payers’ money on signage, could you at least spend a little of it on hiring a proper illustrator to create clear and meaningful graphics?

Our many thanks to the reader who shot the picture for this post! As always, we welcome contributions via email. Vive le mercedi!

(On a related note, check out the crop of the parking sign that our reader captured whilst taking the picture. ‘Time for towed cars’ is brilliant and perhaps a post for another day.)