I remember  clearly that, years ago,it took four-and-a-half minutes to produce an average-sized soft boiled egg that was perfect for eating with solders. Since then I have noticd that the production of a boiled egg in this desirable condition has taken progressively longer, and nowadays I find that five -and-a-half minutes are necessary.

Eggs still look and taste as they used to do, water still boils at the same temperature, and there are still 60 seconds in a minute. The only remaining possible explanation appears to be that seconds have gradually become shorter.

Such a shortening would explain why it is that, over the period concerned, years have steadily appeared to pass more quickly. Perhaps other readers have noticed this effect. [ from a letter to The Times by John Rudkin].

Yup, I can second this finding – time is definitely shortening – in particular working days.

What a beautiful start to the New Year. While it may have caused havoc on the nation’s streets, there is no denying the sheer beauty and a calming effect on just about everyone I encountered on the day it snowed. Denied the privilege/curse of using their cars and wandering the white streets – sounds muffled by the blanket of snow apart from the crunch underfoot – a certain serenity seldom encountered otherwise prevailed. Plus the joy of kids not having to attend a school and the astonishing release of creativity in the form of alternative snowmen all around, an event surely to be remembered for some time to come. Picture taken on 7 January 2010, courtesy of NASA.

On Architecture, the first comprehensive treatise on the subject penned by the roman architect and engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio around 40 BC, is being republished by Penguin in a new translation by Richard Schofield. The book provides a fascinating insight into roman planning, engineering, architecture and building practices and highlights Vetruvius’ inspiring vision of the architect as a polymath whose work combines technical knowledge with aesthetic and cultural understanding, someone who can be a creative force for the improvement of society (Guardian book review 24.10.09). This is surely a definition of any serious practitioner of any applied art including my own, Graphic Design.

The wonders of bureaucracy! I will definitely not supply one of those as oxymorons are too heavy for the post. Next thing they will request is an exact estimate or to calculate a constant variable. I guess, it must be all part of today’s virtual reality.

[ Oxymoron : Two words with contrary or apparently contradictory meanings occurring next to each other which, nonetheless, evoke some measure of truth; the figure may evoke a new way of seeing or understanding or imply meaning ]

As yet again it’s time to occupy one’s mind with the trivial necessities of accounts, I grab, as habit prescribes, the relevant accountancy folders. Yet, despite having purposefully flicked past the pending and current to the following section on numerous occasions, I note for the very first time the double meaning implied in the word so carefully penned by a long gone book keeper’s hand on a, by now, dog eared tab: outstanding. Ruminating about the fact I have observed over many years in business that the larger the organisation invoiced, the longer the wait for payment, I can but imagine the unease in the mind some conscientious account administrator who would like to pay bills according to terms but is most likely overstretched and unable to process these in time as a direct consequence of the insidious company policy to delay payment as long as possible. Surely, any company with an ounce of social awareness must realize the fairness of timely payment and that there is nothing outstanding, at least in the positive sense of the word, about bills not being paid in good time.

The 2008 National Survey of Firms reveals that, far from cutting cost, an increasing number of companies are using design as an essential tool to help them counteract the toughest economic conditions in decades. The survey also shows that the number of firms who regard design as integral to their operations had doubled in the past three years, rising from 15 to 30 per cent. A timely sign that design is finding its true place as strategic business tool rather than be seen as just adding pretty pictures.

There’s nothing quite like pushing a few seeds into a window box and know there will be tender salad leaves in a few weeks for lunch breaks. It’s even easier than updating the blog, so I don’t know why we don’t do it more often.

It is now difficult to know what artist Wyndham Lewis really meant when he spoke about his group of friends in 1937 saying “we are the first men of a future that has not materialized”. He may have thought this about his own time only, but it strikes me that this statement rings equally true again today and I can but take hope from this thought as, though constantly reminded of difficult, even apocalyptic decades ahead, there also remains potential for a positive future, indeed a future which ultimately remains entirely unpredictable apart from the one certainty that it surely will be different than we ever can anticipate.

It may well not be an earth shattering event for the rest of the world, but snow in Falmouth, especially a few inches of it at one go, definitely is for around here. In fact, it’s been so long that an entire generation has grown up since the last time, and a fantasy came true, when even the schools were closed. Needless to say we also shut shop to enjoy the rare event.