Tuesday 17 June 2008

One's Home and One's Garden

Have you noticed how much change there has been in the popular magazine world in the last 15 years? I suspect the people who write them are recruited pan-galactically, as they don’t seem to be in touch with life on planet earth.

I subscribe to a magazine dealing with interiors and gardens. By coincidence, this weekend, I was given the second ever copy of the magazine, which was published in 1994.

It was fascinating to put them side by side and page through them. Not only had the content changed, everything had - from the fonts to the quality of photography and the layout. The 1994 edition was much more “homey”, with real people, living interesting lives, cooking creatively, but without pretention.

The 2008 edition is heavily styled and full of sophistication, with the exotic recipes and interiors of an aspirational lifestyle. Much as I drool over the well manicured gardens and the glamorous interiors, it is as far removed from my current life as it is possible to be.

Tonight I ate my “oh so ordinary” lamb shank dinner (they were on “special” this week), facing my pile of ironing stacked in the living room. The furniture in the house doesn’t match and our house style would be politely called eclectic. I realise that I live much closer to the 1994 edition than the 2008 one.

I’m wondering if I can ask for retrospective subscriptions.

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