Barcelona: Greetings from Catalonia, where the sun is shining and all the neighbours want (above) is a quiet neighbourhood. I’m here putting my feet up, watching bands, reflecting on a busy few months and escaping the jubilee. Apologies if you’ve sent me an email in the past week or so; I’ll be back in touch once it’s safe to return.
Actually, London’s got a little bit more in common with Barcelona this summer. We’ve got an Olympic Stadium too, as well as a cable car. And we’ve a hell of a lot of bunting. Greenwich, Woolwich and Eltham town centres have been decked out with “royal Greenwich” banners since the winter, while if you’re sharp-eyed, you might have spotted lamp posts across London have been set up to carry Olympic banners. Take a look at Charlton Village, or Blackheath Village to see what I mean.
All this vinyl costs a fair whack. We know the “royal Greenwich” banners cost £41,400. Each of the 32 London boroughs is getting £50,000 each for those Olympic banners.
But is there a way to make some of the money back? They love these banners in Barcelona too, and they also get some of their outlay back from visitors like me. A couple of firms get old banners from the adjuntament and others, and make them into wallets, bags, cases and key-rings. Take a look at Vaho and Demano, the two biggest sellers of these bags. The photos above were taken in Vaho on Friday.
They’re not cheap, either – but they’re hugely popular. After all, there’ll only ever be a limited supply of these bags, depending on how many banners were made. Other shops commission artists to paint or spray on the bags, guaranteeing a true one-off. You can even buy chairs made out of the banners. If they’d make a proper travel bag to replace my falling-to-bits one, I’d cough up for one tomorrow.
So, with a thriving cultural community in SE London, how about we take a leaf out of Barcelona’s books? It’d be great to see Greenwich steal a march on City Hall and show the way – it’s something that promotes both good design, and helps cut the costs of making the streets look better.
And for tourists, it provides a classy souvenir to take home – much better than the t-shirts depicting a stick man farting that pack all the tat shops.
Although, for jubilee weekend, this caught my eye… see you when it’s over.
Those bags are great, you should buy one anyway.
Just keep away from the absinthe
Do those little figures fart? I’ve a Maggie Thatcher that farts when its squeezed.
[…] Delivery’s a steep £15, but it’s a once in a lifetime chance… (even if nobody’s made bags out of them.) […]