Nothing is quite ‘of an era’ like a hot water bottle. But even in these days of central heating, you can’t beat one on a cold night. And we rather like these retro-styled Chocolate Hotties.
Inside is your average rubber hot water bottle, but the outside is the real eye-catcher, with a retro-styled knitted cover and animal detailing. Just like something your gran might have made in fact.
But rather than bother her, you can go and buy one – £14.99 each.
Remember Magnum P.I.? Trashy 80s nonsense, with an ex-military man in a moustache and Bermuda shirt solving crimes around Hawaii. Fancy re-living it? You can on your mobile phone.
Developed by Ojom, it’s an old-style platform game for your phone where you control Thomas Magnum through over 20 levels of challenges, scouring Hawaii for known criminals, picking up stolen loot and finding evidence to lock the bad guys away and becoming the best P.I. on the island.
Which all sounds like jolly fun for the daily commute. Available for most handsets, check for prices and retailers with the company.
Find out more at the Ojom website
It might look very modern, but this Arne Jacobsen 3300 easy chair is 50 years old this year – and it’s still in production, courtesy of Fritz Hansen.
The chair was designed by Jacobsen with a specific purpose – for the guests of the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen to kick back in and relax. You can still do this in your own home in a chair designed around a chromed steel chair, with cold-cured foam sat on a wooden frame for the actual seat.
Prices vary, starting at £2,022, moving up if you want a leather finish or a sofa version.
The story of the Irbit Ural range of motorcycles is a long and quite interesting one – but suffice to say that these bikes date back to World War II, with a design that was based on the BMW bikes of the time. And after the war, production continued for the consumer market, with the company falling into private hands after the fall of communism.
And now the bikes are being exported in association with the US-arm of the company. There’s a range of retro-styled motorbikes and sidecars to choose from, all solidly built for the Russian road system and climates, with our favourite being this appropriately-named Retro model (above).
As well as the 1960s styling, the 749cc bike features electric and kick-start, an air-cooled, four-stroke engine and 18-inch chrome spoke wheels amongst other things. Oh yes – and that matching sidecar. Yes, you might look like something of out of a 70s sitcom (George and Mildred or Olive and Arthur off On The Buses), but it’s certainly a head-turner for around $10,000 (£5,000).
Regular readers will know of our love of tea – and right now, we like the idea of making it in one of these extremely cool Tealicious retro-styled mini teapots.
Mini equates to around 5 x 5 inches (not including handle and spout) and 17 ounces. Which is enough to make tea for one (or maybe two if your cups aren’t too big). It has a removable stainless steel lid and an infuser basket for your favourite tea. Pour on hot water, brew and enjoy.
The teapots are dishwasher safe and come in a range of cool colours (including the ones pictured above), all retailing online for £16 – which sounds like Christmas gift territory for the tea lover in your life.
Find out more at the Tealicious website
It’s that time of year when everyone goes out to buy a new calendar. But it doesn’t have to be that way – you could buy this Vespa scooter perpetual calendar.
Perpetual means it works year-on-year, with rotating wheels on either side to alter day, date and month. It looks pretty cool too, with the vintage Vespa image printed on what’s described as ‘high quality’ cardboard. The one downside is that the date is in Italian, but at least you’ll be learning a new language throughout the year!
Sized at 27 x 37cm, it retails at 28 Euros.
