Nope, I'm not going to waffle on about small English cars, but about the proliferation of TV ads for a varied assortment of mini items, aimed at 'collectors'. I've put the word 'collectors' in quotation marks to highlight the fact that I don't really believe that the people who collect these things are real collectors, but I suppose they could be classified as such.
OK, enough introduction, here are some examples of mini madness. At the moment you can initiate your collection of mini bicycles, and thus take yourself out for a few mini bike rides, and upon arriving home you can start a mini battle with your collection of mini soldiers, with air support for your mini battle being provided by your collection of mini aircraft of the world. Of course, messy things like wars tend to cause one or two fires, however, the wise collector need have no fear because he (or she (do any women collect these things?!)) can set about dealing with all these blazes with a team of mini firefighters of the world. The fun you can have with these mini collections is obviously endless.
What I'd dearly love to know is who the heck in the living museum actually goes out and buys these things? I guess the fact that they are marketed around summer shows that they are aimed at parents who are now suffering with bored kids (/husbands!) who are running out of things to do during the long school hols. This could be an explanation, I suppose, but it is not one which really convinces me. Am I missing some deep and interesting historical fact which led to the creation of a race of (mini) collectors in Italy?
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
Hang on a moment. These things are not mini, they are minute. Maybe there will be a collection of mini magnifying glasses to allow all the mini collectors to see their minute collections, or once you get bored with your mini collectables you could go and waste your money on the 'not-quite-so-mini' remote controlled car or motorbike components which only requires the moderate outlay of 700 euros for you to complete the finished article.
I did not notice ads for these mini things on TV in the UK, but then August is not really a holiday period in the UK. Or maybe I just did not come across this form of mini globalization. Despite the weather, I did not watch that much TV – I couldn't, the TV was dominated by Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs. Come to think of it, my life is being dominated by Thomas the Tank Engine. One way of letting off steam, I suppose. Groan.
UPDATE: You can now get all the bits for a mini robot. Wow. Not.
