A Little Autumn Colour 2016

I wasn't at all sure we would get much autumn colour in London this year. One or two trees that changed colour dropped their leaves the very next day so this week I took pictures wherever I went. These photographs were all taken this last week of October. And as I write I see that the Japanese Maple across the road is just turning red. It was green yesterday. So there may be more interesting colour to come. Maybe some more red and orange. There seems to be a lot of yellow around this year so far.

Exotic Packaging: Boots Original Formula Oil of Evening Primrose

Back in the 1980s when Boots the Chemist had a brand called Original Formula. And here we have the packaging from the rich moisture balm and the skin balm carefully preserved by my mother. She thought it was a pretty design and so do I.

Exotic Packaging: Australian Golden Wattle Soap

I can only suppose I bought this soap when I was in Sydney in 1993/4. But I don't remember that at all. I don't recall the soap itself either Never mind; it's a very Australian design.

Exotic Packaging: Disney Store

I am not a mad keen Disney fan. I've never liked Micky Mouse (too squeaky) or Donald Duck (too bad tempered), and I have an absolute horror of people dressed up as creatures so you'll never catch me at a Disney theme park for fear that Micky will leap out at me and expect a selfie.

However, I did have cause to buy a Disney product recently and I have to admit their packaging design is great. What more could you want? This is only the cardboard box that arrives in the post! Brilliant.

I really really like that the images are simple black and white and immediately recognisable. Subtle, simple and brilliant.

Plus my order arrived very quickly. Well done all round Disney.

Exotic packaging: National Trust Melon Flower Soap

This Melon Flower soap was made for the National Trust by Yardley of London.

Not perhaps a very pretty soap box and very thick card, but my mother bothered to collect it.

I wonder what Melon Flower smells of?

Exotic Packaging: Taylor of London Cucumber Foaming Bath Seeds

I think I remember these packets of "foaming bath seeds".

I think the outer paper packet had a plastic packet inside and you used half that packet at a time. You might think it would be easier to have two smaller inside packets perhaps, but they didn't. Just thinking about this reminds me of the bathroom in my mother's house with fish and flower transfers on the tiles, fish patterned fablon (sticky back plastic) on the panel along the side of the bath, and initially, at least, fish patterned black towelling curtains.

I had forgotten all about those curtains. They were OK when the bathroom walls were green, but when I got a bit older and painted the walls a primrose yellow (my mother let me paint the walls whatever colour I fancied), I got some pretty curtains from John Lewis with a wild flower design instead. And spent ages trying to scrape the transfers off the tiles. It never really happened. Those transfers last forever.

I wonder if anyone still has patterned towelling curtains in the bathroom?
Probably only grannies and grandpas who haven't change their bathroom decoration for 50 years, or supercool people from Hackney at the cutting edge of a trend no-one has yet caught up with.

Exotic Packaging: Caswell-Massey Orchard Soap Plum

This is another of the soaps I bought for my mother in New York City in late autumn 1993.
Lovely soaps, wonderfully wrapped in richly coloured tissue paper inside beautifully designed boxes.

Caswell-Massey were the oldest chemists and perfumers in America, established in 1752. Amazing! I remember it was a wonderful shop and I am delighted to report the company is still going strong. Although nothing on their website today is quite as lovely to look at as this packaging... but you can't smell the products online can you? Well, perhaps I should take myself off to Fortnum & Mason because apparently you can buy their products there. OK.