Feral

The photoshopped stag staring out of the window of a multi-storey car park on the cover of George Monbiot's recent Feral: Searching for enchantment on the frontiers of rewilding, is a rather accurate, if heavy-handed analogy of my current emotional state as a city dweller.

The text itself consists of a gentle, yet consistently persuasive critique of contemporary ecological conservation methodologies, with Monbiot in favour of what he terms 'rewilding'; allowing ecosystems to return to a completely self-regulated natural state, read wilderness, by the reintroduction of 'keystone species', animals that have been made extinct from a given ecosystem and yet underpin many of the processes which maintain this natural equilibrium.

If the intensifying regulation of even our psycho-geographical wild-places is something that bothers you then this it's well worth picking up a copy.

Falcon Enamelware

If you go and take a look at the website of Falcon Enamelware, it tells intriguingly that they are currently 'revitalising the Falcon range'. I'm always one for a design classic, so I'm pleased to see they're not messing with the formula; just sticking to their iconic white w/ blue rim, plus a handful of Farrow & Ball-style heritage colours, paired with the timeless, functional & elegant shapes the brand is so recognisable for.

While I'm aware this stuff is of course bang-on, shabby-chic trendy these days, I'd argue that this is for reasons way beyond fashion. Enamelware is beautiful, functional, incredibly hard-wearing & cheap; a combination of attributes you can't say about many things. I'm looking forward to seeing how they develop the range, and to many year's enjoyment from my little collection of Falcon cookware.

P.S. Top tip for those of you living in S.E. London, a great range of Falcon stuff is available for £Cheap at Peter & Joan, 119 Deptford High Street.

Rite In The Rain

Cleaning out my email inbox I came across a mailshot from weatherproofpaper.co.uk who are a UK distributor for, you guessed it, weatherproof paper - specifically US-made Rite In The Rain waterproof notebooks.

While I'm not sure why I'm on their mailing list, I'm into the product; nice aesthetics, nice price points and a heritage tracing back to the Pacific Northwest logging industry of the 1920's. If you're in the market for waterproof paper, head on over.