Form vs function

I receive catalogues from many different sources, for products that I have absolutely no interest in.  Furniture vendors in particular.  I guess I clicked on something one day and BAM, I was on their radar as a sucker potential customer.  Now I do like (soft) contemporary architecture and furniture, but much of it just looks downright uncomfortable.  Obviously (to me) whoever designed it placed form over function.

Exotic automobiles are often conflicted by this "form vs function" conundrum, too.  Lamborghini's are decidedly gorgeous, sleek cars....

....but have you ever tried to get into or out of one?  *groan*

The Amish, by contrast, don't even recognize the concept of "form".

Some people are impeccably stylish.  You rarely see England's Prince Charles in anything other than his trademark double breasted suit, and then he's either wearing his polo attire or one of his dress military uniforms.  Do you think he ever just puts on some shorts and a t-shirt and gets in a quick game of croquet out back with the guys?

Donald and Melania Trump's New York apartment is I'm sure considered by many to be Architectural Digest perfect, but if he invites Sean and his pals over to watch the game, where would they sit?  You think he has a man cave no one ever sees where he goes to let his hair down?  (pun intended)

Most of us fall somewhere in between.  We like form, but we like function, and comfort, more.  I can't imagine buying a sofa or a chair from a catalogue.  I insist on sitting on it first.  If it isn't comfortable, I don't care how good it looks, I'm not buying it.  I have an old, decidedly worn looking oversized leather chair in my den.   As I recall it had a pleasant "form" when I purchased it 20+ years ago, but since then it has decidedly conformed nicely to butt, making it's original form almost unrecognizable today.  It will probably join Archie Bunker's chair in the Smithsonian some day.  *snort*

As I look around our apartment I'd have to say I lean 90% +/- toward function.  I own very little that anyone would consider "stylish".  Not our furniture, not our "art", and certainly NOT my wardrobe.  My car, a Mazda, is currently parked in our garage between a Mercedes and a Maserati (no joke).  I wonder if either of those people ever say to themselves, "Doh....I coulda had a Mazda!"  (They probably do, actually, when they're looking out the window of their respective dealer's service departments and see me puttering by.)

How about you?  I'm not saying there's anything at all wrong with being stylish.  To some it's worth the effort.  How would you rate yourself....be honest now....on the "form vs function" scale?

S 

"Mind the Gap, Chuck"*

Isn't it funny how people will travel hundreds / thousands of miles to see something you see every day and think nothing of?  In my case people still come to Dallas from all over the country, the world even, to see Southfork Ranch.  

As I didn't watch the TV show Dallas I was clueless when people asked me for directions to Southfork.  When it finally dawned on me they wanted to see the home in the opening scene of that famous (?) show I gave them directions to the very unremarkable house sitting in the middle of a field in Parker, TX and they excitedly hurried off.  *yawn*

The London Tube was like that for me. I saw on the news yesterday that the Tube was celebrating it's 150th anniversary and is the oldest underground transit system in the world.  Even Prince Charles and his honey Camilla gave it a try.  (Is that Charles' "excited" expression?  He probably whispered to her, "....and I own this, too.")

That news item reminded me of my trip to London and southern England in 2006.  One of my aviation museum buddies and I had arranged for VIP passes to the Farnborough Air Show, and we thought while we were there we'd see the RAF Museum(s), Duxford, the Churchill Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Queens crib, as well as a bunch of old churches and other touristy stuff.  We were there two weeks in all and had a great time. (This was all planned pre-K.)

While my friend Neil was from New York and knew all about subways, they were something I'd only read about or heard Archie Bunker or Seinfeld mention on TV.  I learned from scratch, but in no time I was a genuine Tube expert.

My first encounter was somewhat less auspicious, though.  We approached my first-ever subway turnstile and Neil swiped his Oyster card (a small magnetized pre-paid card) and went right through.  My turn came, but I stepped aside for a little old lady to go first.  Then another little old lady.  Then a man walking with a cane.  Then a lady carrying a baby.  Then....

Neil by then was far ahead of me and was waving his arms and frantically yelling, "....push....you're bigger than they are....squeeze 'em out of the way....you can do this.  LET'S GO!"  He later had to explain to me that while courtesy might have a place in Dallas / Texas / the South, it had no place in a subway.  It was dog-eat-dog, use those elbows, take no prisoners.

To this day I fondly remember how proud I was of myself for mastering the London Tube system.  Within a day I learned how to zip all across the city, jumping from the yellow line to the blue line to the red line, to the railroads that ran to Birmingham, Oxford, and Farnborough, with only a few gaps that required walking more than a couple of blocks. I had conquered one of the world's great cities.  I was now a seasoned international traveler!

By looking at my fellow Tube commuters, however, I could tell they were about as enthused by it all as I was about Southfork Ranch.  :)

S

* "Mind the Gap" is the announcement made at every stop on the Tube warning people to not step into the gap between the train car and the concrete walkway.