I've got a guilty fascination for those videos they play in kitchen and DIY shops. You know, the ones plugging ingenious whatnots with 97 attachments that will sand down doors, cut pipes, make yogurt, remove unsightly hair from the bikini area and do your tax return. Simultaneously.Yesterday I was out buying drill bits, or some similar nadir of tedium, when I was transfixed by a TV screen. All the components were present and correct: jaunty music; soothing yet authoritative voiceover; middle-class couple doing mundane tasks with smiles on their faces, thanks to miracle gadget with vaguely Teutonic name. They didn't mention the thing that gets stones out of horses' hooves, or vice versa, but I'm sure it was there. Lights, camera and pastel knitwear were in place to ensure an instant, impulsive sale. Until the narrator (who sounded almost, but not quite, like the sainted Martin Jarvis) uttered with the killer line: "It's the most universal tool on earth." Which put me into such a linguistic, metaphysical, not to mention geographical tizzy that I've clean forgotten the name of the product.
PS: Yet more examples of the latest craze to hit the blogosphere: from Orange Anubis; and the meta-megamix from Murph.
