I wonder what Burberry will make of the Norwegian artist who has painted the exterior of his house, which used to be a public toilet, in the brand’s signature Haymarket check?
Artist Jens Werner, 33, has covered his entire house in the famous beige, black and red tartan design. Jens Werner lives in Larvik, and he said the painting took several weeks and cost thousands of pounds.
Jens said he thought it would be ‘a fun idea’ to repaint his house, which he has owned for six years.

Burberry is over 150 years old, and is worn by lots of celebrities including Alexa Chung and Agyness Deyn.
The Burberry brand was commissioned by the War Office to adapt coats for officers which would be suitable for the conditions of contemporary warfare. When the war ended the macs became popular with civilians.
Burberry’s signature print, the Haymarket check, became incredibly popular in the 1990’s with football fans and then the chav generation took a liking for the design, and millions of cheap imitations were sold at markets across Britain.
Daniella Westbrook, an actress on the BBC 1 soap EastEnders, is often blamed for the chav love affair with Burberry after she was papped whilst out with her daughter, both of them were dressed head-to-toe in Burberry tartan, even the pushchair was in the matching design.
Burberry fought hard to rid itself of its association, with ‘Chavs’ and U.S. businesswoman Rose Marie Bravo transformed the brand’s image after joining the company in 1998. She set about Burberry’s renaissance using Kate Moss, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Watson to star in its advertising campaigns.

I’m not sure Rose Marie Bravo has completely managed to rid Burberry of its Chav associations, as the Haymarket check is still pretty common.
I definitely wouldn’t wear it, or any other piece of Burberry clothing for that matter, which is a shame as I do like some of their stuff, especially their coats, but I still associate Burberry with the word chav!

When I first saw the photos of Jens Werner’s Burberry check painted house I thought it was a photoshop project - maybe it is!

Posted on Zeutgeist

Life in France

A chimpanzee riding a segway.
No doubt health and safety will be happy as the chimp was wearing a helmet and overalls!

I only watched this video because Tim Lovejoy mentioned it yesterday morning on ‘Something For The Weekend’ which is why I am blaming him for the segway song now being stuck in my head for the rest of the day!

Posted on ZEITGEIST

ZOQY ~ Zeitgeist Opinions Questions Yatter

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It’s been on YouTube for a couple of years, so it’s not new, but this video of polar bears playing with Husky Dogs is pretty cool.

Polar bears and dogs playing

It’s wonderful to see how gentle the polar bears are as they play with the dogs. I love it.

Posted on Zeitgeist

LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE

An artist nicknamed Flychelangelo creates drawings using dead insects.
Flychelangelo positions the body of dead insects, including flies, and then draws on arms and legs using a pencil to transform them into stick figures which he arranges in different amusing poses.

No flies were hurt in the making of Flychelangelo’s art!

I don’t like flies, they are horrible dirty little things, but I do like these pictures. Very simple and very amusing.

Posted on Zeitgeist

Life in France

Micro Pigs are the latest must have pet craze to hit Britain.
The tiny pigs have become so popular and difficult to buy that they are now selling for up to £700 each.

Jane Croft, 42, who gave up her job to breed them full time said, “Demand for micro pigs is soaring and we are inundated with inquiries every day.
“It’s amazing how popular they have suddenly become and just how many people want pigs as pets.”

Micro pigs weigh 9oz, about the size of a tea cup when they are born, they are fully grown at two years old, weigh about 40-65lb and are about knee height at 12-16in tall.
They can live for up to 18 years, but make popular pets because they are low maintenance, quiet, and surprisingly clean.

Micro pig breeder Jane Croft said, “Micro pigs make fantastic pets as they are very low maintenance. “You don’t have to take them for walks and they have very few health issues.
“They don’t make much noise, they are easy to toilet train and once they have bonded with you they are very loving.
“They are actually very clean and never mess in their bedding and are just so adorable.
“They are also highly intelligent and are the fourth most intelligent species after man, monkey and dolphin.
“They really are the perfect pets, I don’t know why people haven’t thought of them before.”

Micro pigs are also reportedly goo pets for people with allergies, and they don’t grow any larger than a Labrador dog.
Jane Croft said,”Lots of people are allergic to cats and dogs but you can’t get allergies from pigs as their skin is very similar to ours, and the have hair not fur.
“We’ve had many parents buy pigs for their children who suffer from fur allergies.”

Jane Croft set up her micro pig breeding business five months ago at Little Pig Farm in Christchurch, Cambridgeshire, England.
She has 50 micro pigs currently, and says she’s been busy working 14 hours a day, seven days a week to keep up with demand from customers.
Jane’s company website gets 4,000 hits a week, and she receives approximately 60 e-mails, and 40 phone calls every day from people from all over the world, including Spain, Australia, Russia and America.
Jane said, “I have always adored pigs and I love the famous Winston Churchill quote about a pig being man’s equal. I have been breeding pigs on and off as a hobby for 15 years.
“I saw some micro pigs on television and fell in love with them. They have become so popular as pets they were impossible to get hold of so I began breeding them myself.
“I spent months researching and finding suitable pigs and now at last I am able to do my dream job full-time.”

The pigs are crosses of Miniature Pot Bellied pigs with Tamworths, Kune Kunes, and Gloucester Old Spots to create their tiny, colourful Micro Pigs. They sell for various prices from between £195 and £700.
The pigs enjoy good food, playing with lots of toys, and they have Classic FM piped to their bedrooms.
The size of the piglets gets smaller with every litter, and Peanut the piglet is believed to be one of the smallest adult pigs in Europe.
Peanut, who weighed just under 2kg at twelve weeks old, now lives indoors with Jane Croft and her fiance Chris Baxter where she sleeps on the sofa and is a companion to her dog.
At 13 months Peanut has almost stopped growing and is only 12 inches tall.
Jane Croft said, “They really are fantastic fun, highly sociable and make amazing pets.
“They will sit on your lap while you watch TV so you can scratch their belly. They will even talk to you and have you giggling for hours.”

It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Pygmy Hedgehog was the must have pet, now it’s the micro pig. I think the Micro Pigs are very cute and I’d love one. I could suggest getting a micro pig to my hubby, but knowing him he’d probably say it would be lovely slapped between a couple of slices of bread with lashings of HP sauce!

Published on Zeitgeist

LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE

Anjana, a chimp, cuddles her latest foster child, a cute puma cub named Sierra.
Anjana reportedly loves nuzzling and bottle feeding her furry friend at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species Preserve in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Puma cub Sierra is just nine weeks old, and she has recently arrived at wildlife centre.
Chimp Anjana, aged three, is an orphan and she has helped to raise some of the world’s most endangered animals at the centre.
Anjana has previously played mummy to a couple of two-month-old white tigers, Mitra ans Shiva. Anjana grew so close to Mitra and Shiva that she joined in with their rough games and showed off her maternal side by hugging them to her chest.

I love stories like this one that have a happy ending, and the photos are seriously sweet.

The Wine Connoisseur

Louise Fairburn, 38, a shepherdess got married in a wedding dress that was made entirely from the wool of one of her sheep.

Louise designed the dress made from the fleece of a rare Lincoln Longwool sheep called Olivia.
The groom Ian, 42, wore a woollen waistcoat.
Louise, of Market Rasen, Lincs, said, “I’m sheep-crackers. I want to prove wool is not just something for knitting bobble hats.”
Sheep breeder Ian, who first saw the dress as Louise walked down the aisle, said, “I took one look at her, my lip curled like a young sheep’s does and I started blubbering.”

Brings a new meaning to the term close-knit.
Louise looked beautiful, her dress is lovely and pretty unique too.
Congratulations to Louise and Ian.

The Wine Connoisseur

A wannabe Rambo zip-lines down a telephone wire.
Nothing particularly unusual about that, except that this Rambo is not a man, he’s a ram!

The ram was reportedly eager to get closer the the ewes in the field below, when his horns got snagged on the cable, which runs close to ground level on a hill.
The ram slid down the cable before coming to a halt 15 ft in the air by a telegraph pole at Helgoysund, Norway.
Tourists who were staying with local man Geir Landsnes, 45, spent an hour roping the ram and hauling it to safety.
He said, “My wife saw something surreal from the kitchen window and realised it was the sheep hanging off the ground from the wire.
“As a reward for his embarrassing predicament we helped him achieve his quest by allowing him access to the ladies.”
Geir Landsnes’ daughter Marita, 13, took the photos.

My brother forwarded this video to me earlier today. I’m really pleased he did as it’s very funny.

It’s hilarious, it made me laugh so much that I cried.

RICHARDS REALM