Sunday 5 September 2010

The blog goes international!

Thanks to Rory over at the Wellington Boots blog, I am now able to share with you the wonder that is a New Zealand bus seat-cover!

This one is lovely, far superior to anything I've seen over here, and I have to admit to not a little jealousy. Note the lovely shading and use of colour (not least because Green is My Favourite Colour and The Best Colour In The World Bar NONE)

It also displays a rather lovely touch of pride in the fern which is something most of us will recognise in the Silver version as worn by New Zealand sports teams and most of their army units.



Now go back and compare that with some of the designs on German busses. How much more relaxing to sit among the cool, green ferns than surrounded by what can only be described as the result of a deranged mind (thinking specifically of the kindergarten-stylee scribbles featuring parachutes).

7 comments:

Tina said...

I can easily share that bit of jealousy, such covers would make me being awake in the mornings, and not like closing my eyes right away...

Rory In Wellington said...

Umm...I think it's upside-down!

Ralph Ferrett said...

Most annoyingly blogger ate my comment....

Anyhow it is most different from plymouth where it appears there is a local by law requiring all buses to have had the foam from the seats roughly extracted by school children before they can set off!

Sho said...

Rory, it's upside down because it's in New Zealand...

I've always been quite impressed at the lack of vandalism on the German buses to be honest. I think they may have CCTV on them in some cases.

KB said...

Irish buses tend towards the German aesthetic, I'm embarrassed to say.

Yelbakk said...

I have been looking at that picture for almost fifteen minutes now, trying to think of something I could say about it. Yes, it's fern. Yes, it's green. Yes, it beats the other seat covers. But... for all that, it is still an ugly seat cover.

Here is my suggestion for brighter, better seat covers:
1) Vomit imagery. Because you never know if it is just cloth or if it's real.
2) Fictitious newspaper headlines. Wouldn't it be fun to seat yourself on "Dog's Genitals Bitten Off by Owner"?
3) *Real* newspaper headlines. Especially if seat cover was made of some hyper-modern material that would actually display today's news (and when you sit on the right spot, you sort of click the link and the newspage opens up and lets you read the article).
4) Along the lines of number three, but with added body scanner technology and some memory capacity so that the seat would display the underwear of whoever sat on your seat at same time the day before. You would never take the same seat again.

There, commuting would be so much fun...

Sho said...

I suspect that in some parts of the world there is a lot of vomit decorating in public transport.

I like the ferns because I find the nice green colours restful, and the shading and use of different greens is easy on the eye.

However for me I'd prefer something along the lines of faux-leather (except maybe in high summer) in one single muted colour.

I'm not sure that busy patterns are necessary and I wonder why the bus designers find at all desirable.