Wednesday 30 May 2012

"Flatability".


"Flatability" appears to be the adopted term that describes the degree to which a filofax will successfully lay flat without assistance when opened and, although this word has yet to appear in the Oxford English Dictionary, it is a term dear to the heart of many a filofax user.  Indeed, flatability (or the lack of it) can make or break the relationship one has with one's binder.

So my story goes like this.

I bought a Filofax pocket sized Finsbury in a January sale (it's the one in the video below, even though I erroneously call it a "Kensington"), for less than the price of a round of drinks and, although I have many filofaxes, this is my first 21st century purchase.

And I was happy with it.

Why?  Because it probably cost me (in real terms) less than a tenth of the price of binders made in England all those years ago and I thought that the distinct lack of "flatabilty" wouldn't be a problem, because I just intended to use it for storage.

But, as filofax affectionados will appreciate, it's fun to change things round occasionally and I'm actually using this binder in anger from time to time.  And that is what lead to this particular Filofax Finsbury undergoing the "Nivea treatment" for a couple of days, amongst other things, to see if there was anything I could do to make my new aquisition lay flat.

And the result?

I've ended up with a reasonably well behaved binder, my daughter now has some extra inserts for her pocket fax (because I prefer to use 140mm x 90mm paper myself), and Filofax end up with another sale. Oh, and Beiersdorf, if they knew what their skin product was being used for, would probably be happy too.




2 comments:

  1. As I look over to the bookcase, I see the box containing the Cuban Zip, Personal that I bought about six months ago. I opened it, placed it on my desk, tried to use it, gave up. I put it back in the wrapper, back in the box and there it has remained. I believe it has many palsies but "flatability" is not one of them. It was to replace my Scanda, but it never did. I don't know, though, perhaps some day I will go back and have another go at liking it, but not yet.

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  2. If you're not using your Cuban Zip, then my advice is to either sit on it until its rarity will pay you a dividend via eBay, or regularly leave the binder folded back overnight.

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