Day 1.019: Cool Britannia?

Not long after we arrived we noticed that the background music playing in supermarkets and other large stores seems to be disproportionately British. We're not talking about The Beatles or David Bowie here either - most often noted are The Sundays but other ear-friendly 80's and 90's rock/pop also features strongly.

Two explanations have been offered so far. First, that the performance rights for this music is cheap over here (both because of its age and foreign nature) or second, that it sounds like the sort of music people like without it being instantly recognisable - this gives a generally comfortable feeling to people without the risk of them either listening with too much attention (and stopping shopping) or hearing something they are fed-up of or otherwise hate.

Incidentally, when Christmas shopping we heard Tori Amos (well, she lives in Cornwall so she almost counts) doing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - and we both said "That sounds like Tori!" but had no idea she'd ever recorded it.

Anyway, the picture is my excuse for all this reminiscing. It is a page from the Pottery Barn catalogue that Exile #2 did a double-take over today. Not because she saw the perfect picture frame - but because of what was in it. As far as I know the artwork pictured is not available at Pottery Barn or anywhere else, but who could resist this work:
if it could be purchased? It's a fairly random list of places in Oxford (where we used to live), including, in pride of place, all but the troublesome 'S' at the end of Blackbird Leys - the area of the city where (when I lived nearby at least) you were most likely to have your car stolen by joyriders. I can't see it selling well on Oxford High Street, but maybe over here cool things are exotic enough to be British (rearrange at will - but I like this version).