"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.