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This silver tin brightened up our back-to-work Monday this week. While packing up my desk for our office move (of a few feet), I came across a pot of what can only be described as flourescent pink ‘Goo’ from the lovely people at Imagesource.

Sadly, it neither smells like, or is as malleable as Play-Doh. And, I’m not sure what you do with it. I’m presuming it’s some sort of stress toy, and obviously very much a shameless marketing plug.

But, we’ll let them off, as they do send us nice sweets (which can also be seen in the picture), even though we don’t actually buy that many images from them.

Strangely, the research for this post, turned up endless pages of recipes like this one, to make your own version of the original Seventies best-seller, as well as the news that a fragrance has been made to celebrate the toy’s fiftieth birthday.

It always smelt so lovely as a small child, but I’m not sure I’d want to smell of it now, some twenty-six years later…

…do they mean anything?

To me, yes. And, after musical exposure on both The OC and Party Animals this week, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s beautiful ‘5:55‘ collection of songs deserves to mean something more to a wider audience. Released last year, the album is truly wonderful, and quite rightly grabbed a good review or two.

With a stellar songwriting team including Air, Jarvis Cocker, and Neil Hannon, it’s about time that more music lovers succumb to her lush, dreamy, late-night, and piano-driven soundscapes.

So, the songs that she sings, do they mean anything to the people she’s singing them to?

People like you?

Tonight they do.

This was the sight that greeted us as we crossed town for a quiet coffee on the waterfront at Ipswich today, after spending an hour criss-crossing furniture and DIY stores. Becoming something of a regular habit, as we sat outside with the warming sun beating down on us, we could easily have been somewhere in the south of France, or another quiet riverfront town on the Mediterranean coast.

It was very idyllic, and proof, if proof were needed, that the clock change has finally happened, and, once the April showers have sent us scurrying for cover, summer begins its journey towards us.

The locally-produced Tottenham Cake and cheese rusks we bought also proved to be ’sunny’, and tasted as good as they looked.

A very nice way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon, and the first longer day of the year.

To mark my new link to my Flickr online photo albums (which feature a set of London) and the Museum of London’s recent small but informative ‘Bravo Barbican!’ exhibition, this post celebrates the 25-year history of the City’s most arguably historical and architectural landmark.

Completed in 1982, with architectural plans drawn up as long ago as the 1960s, the unmistakable 35-acre Barbican complex rose from the ashes of post-war London. Conceived in the 1950s by architects Chamberlain, Powell and Bon, it was charged with bringing people back into the City. With its precinct of residential flats, entertainment venues, schools, shops, and open spaces, it wowed and displeased with equal measure.

Costing £161 million to build (around £400 million in today’s money), in 2007 it houses a concert hall, two theatres, two art galleries, and a library. In addition, three restaurants, a lakeside terrace, a conference centre, and even a tropical conservatory, ensure its standing on the cultural landscape is a valid one.

I’ve always been a fan of its brutal concrete architecture, and now, I realise why. Le Corbusier heavily influenced Chamberlain, Powell, and Bon, and the three architects’ single vision for modernist living relied strongly on the values of Brutalism and Modernism.

I too am an admirer of Le Corbusier’s work, and of the 1920s/1930s Modernism movement, so it could be that the stark lines of the Barbican estate were always going to appeal to my subconscious mind. With its almost cubist lines, sharp angles, cylindrical pillars and plant tubs, at first glance it appears to be a melting pot of styles, but look harder and the stark modernist values are clear to see.

The skywalks are the threads which hold the estate together, and they make it very easy to walk a distance without crossing a single road, and can give some impressive vistas of the City. The vast groups of buildings on the feel very self-contained and give off an air of community, but the derelict pubs that are dotted around the centre suggest a somewhat different story.

With a manmade lake at its centre with gushing fountains, living there would certainly be an unusual experience, especially if everyday business is gone about cast in the shadows of the three sky scraping residential tower blocks.

I walk through the estate every day on my way from Liverpool Street to Holborn, and constantly marvel at its almost bleak beauty. The thing I particularly like is the entrance halls to some of the lower level flats, which have angled windows lining the thin galley-like rooms.

Residents’ books, clothes, shoes, and other belongings are paraded for all to see. They’re not only in the hallways themselves either, but often on the windows, therefore painting a very small picture of the person living there, and giving equally small glimpses into their lives.

Voted both the best-loved and least-liked building in London, the Barbican embodies an architectural vision for post-war modern living, and it is one that, despite its detractors and critics, still stands as proudly as it did in 1982.

Bravo Barbican!

The 77th Geneva Motor Show closed its doors to visitors on Sunday, and, always classed as one of the more prestigious of the calendar, it certainly had its share of four-wheeled stars. While the new big hitters from Audi, BMW, Ford and Maserati jostled for showgoers’ affections (and wallets), with seemingly perfect timing, the first in a new range of environmentally-friendly cars was rolled out to a quiet fanfare.

Setting the eco-friendly pace, Volkswagen chose to promote its new BlueMotion initiative at the Swiss event, which will eventually become an environmental sub-brand for the German giant. Deriving its name from the blue VW corporate colour (and if marketing speak is to be believed, the natural world water and air elements to be protected from man’s constant degeneration), and the motion aspect of ‘future, forward-looking mobility’, the name will be applied to a whole sub-range of Volkswagen models, each with a slant on low-emission, clean-burning fuel technology.

The first product of BlueMotion thinking, the Polo BlueMotion has grabbed headlines due to its ultra-low 102g/km CO2 emissions figure (the comparable standard Polo 1.4 TDI emits 126g/km). This is precisely why exactly 102 of the fuel-sipping VWs were used as shuttles for journalists and business visitors during the press days at the beginning of the show, Volkswagen clearly pushing the new concept for all it’s worth.

The Polo BlueMotion was launched in continental markets last summer, and is the most economical car in its class, and Volkswagen claim, the most economical five-seater in the world. Powered by a 79bhp 1.4-litre TDI diesel engine fitted with electronically-controlled, high-pressure direct injection and a variable geometry turbocharger, greater performance is permitted, while simultaneously using less fuel. Based on an already fuel-efficient unit used in other Polo models, and coupled to longer gearing, the German company are quoting a potential 72.4mpg (or 3.9 litres per kilometre), and with a 45-litre fuel tank, over 700 miles on one fill-up can be expected. That’s London to the south coast of France on one tank of diesel.

Further fuel-saving measures include a wind tunnel-designed aerodynamic body kit, wheels with lower rolling resistance tyres, and a lower kerb weight than a standard Polo. These weight-saving and drag-reducing measures don’t come at the expense of comfort and safety though. The Polo BlueMotion enjoys many of the comforts and equipment shared with its range siblings, but gets its own unique interior trim.

And, despite the shift in focus to economy and efficiency, performance doesn’t suffer. The little VW will accelerate to 62mph from rest in 12.8 seconds, and tops out at 109mph. But, perhaps the really magical number is that 102g/km of CO2 of emissions. That’s 2g/km less than the ‘green’ Toyota Prius, which although a hybrid, has reportedly used large amounts of energy to manufacture its large and expensive bank of electric batteries.

And that could be the hybrid car’s downfall. Although only a low-emission diesel, demand for the Polo BlueMotion has been such that Volkswagen has been forced to triple its initial production volumes. It’s obviously hoping that the positive reaction to the miserly Polo is not a flash in the plan either; the second model in the BlueMotion offensive was launched at Geneva. The much larger Passat BlueMotion achieves 55.3 mpg from its 104bhp1.9-litre TDI engine, and boasts a CO2 figure of 136g/km.

The Polo BlueMotion comes to the UK first though, and will be priced around £12,000 when it arrives in the summer. It won’t be exempt from the London congestion charge of course, as it’s not classed as an ‘alternative fuel’ vehicle, but if the emissions of some non-alternative fuel vehicles are lower than that of the benchmark Prius (which is exempt), is there a case for the congestion charge guidelines to be rewritten?

The anti-diesel particulate argument is a case against this, especially for our choked city centres. But, Volkswagen, along with other manufacturers, does offer the fitment of a diesel particulate filter at an extra cost, although there are no quoted rates for customer take-up. The time may have come to finally make them a standard-fit item.

For now at least though, with it being a little cleaner and cheaper than a hybrid, could the Polo BlueMotion (or cars like it) be the start of mainstream affordable, ‘greener’ transport?

Update, 21 March 2007: The Polo BlueMotion has been nominated in the shortlist for the World Green Car of the Year, alongside the BMW Hydrogen 7, and Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec. The winner will be announced at the New York Motor Show on 5 April.

Update, 22 March 2007: The Polo BlueMotion will appear at The Sexy Green Car Show, which runs from 30 March to 15 April at the Eden Project, Cornwall. Believed by its organisers to be the first event of its kind, and featuring a selection of the most advanced and efficient vehicles in the world, the show marks the first public appearance of the Polo BlueMotion in the UK.