If there were five words to sum up the post-burning feeling in the Boorman household, they would be: numb, exhausted, quiet, bare and calm. No phones going off, no TV drone in the background, no piles of stuff clogging up the corners of rooms. There is perspective and clarity! Unfortunately, there is also minimal communication, even less entertainment and absolutely no SunPat crunchy peanut butter. My drain blocked this morning, and I'm wondering what to use instead of Mr Muscle.

In these early stages, the things I miss the most are Extra chewing gum, Evian water (or any bottled water when your caught thirsty in the street), The Simpsons, Marlboro Menthol cigarettes, and my Orange Treo phone. Stuff like chewing gum and water cost so little, that they don't appear to have much value, but when they are gone, you realise how much comfort they bring. Still, life goes on.

I'll be keeping this blog going until the book is out next year, but mostly as a resource page for non branded alternatives plus news and views surrounding advertising etc. If I write too much of my diary here, Google/ Blogger will claim ownership when I publish and screw me for the little cash I'll be making.



A quote from last week's Guardian article on the withering value of the FCUK brand…. basically, when the brand is weakened and the ads aren't so persuasive, people start to notice that the product is, well, a bit shit.

Rita Clifton, chairman of brand consultancy Interbrand: 'As the [FCUK] joke wore thin, it no longer had that type of emotional hold over consumers and when the emotional hold becomes weaker of course things like product inadequacy or lack of perceived value, all these things come into play'.
Guardian 13.09.06