Hot water bottles, retro phones and many other unusual gifts
The common hot water bottle seems to do the opposite to some furry mammals, who at this time of the year are beginning to hibernate. It stays hidden in some dark corner of a cupboard until it feels the first sign of a chill. Then, voila! It can be found lurking at the end of the bed
Of course this is nonsense, but I just wanted to highlight that for most of us a hot water bottle is an aesthetically-challenged object. It has been such a long time since I bought one, I can’t even remember when it was. It would probably have been a last minute idea for dear old Granny’s Christmas.
We as as nation still appear to be ‘tied’ totally to them. In fact we were once lampooned by a Hungarian born author by the name of George Mikes. In his hilarious book ‘How to be an Alien’ he remarks “Continental people have sex lives, the English have hot water bottles’. It is possible that there was an element of truth in the parody, especially in the days when designs were bland and uninteresting. These are adjectives that probably match a typical continental view of Anglo Saxon sex.
But wait! Many things have changed since then. i wouldn’t have believed it, but these things are actually now considered to be ’sexy’? I found a site that other day that stocks many styles and shapes that are different from those that you would normally see. If I was ever searching for an unusual gift to buy, special objects not normally seen in the shops, this place would be the place begin looking. They have everything here, from buddhas to retro phones, and most things in between!
For anyone interested solely in hot water bottles, the ones that appealed to me were the cushioned shaped products. What i saw looked very comfortable and probably had therapeutic values, for those of us who suffer from lower back pain. They are made with recyclable materials and are guaranteed not to fade – perfect for those individuals who care about the environment.
