FinePix X100 (23mm, f/2, 1/200 sec, ISO200)

I love to travel. In my early years I bought lot’s of stuff when on vacation. Sometimes it was very useful but most of the time it wasn’t. I have no use for the handmade knife from Norway. I rarely wear my pure wool pullovers from Ireland and Scotland because they are far too warm and I’m not brave enough anymore to wear my “original” wool hat from Madeira because it simply looks stupid.

But of course if you travel you want to buy something to remember the place. Today we buy either some kind of local art or better some things we will use on a daily base like that wonderful green tissue box cover we got in China town / San Francisco. But you have to be lucky to find something really special that is small and light enough to fit into your luggage and also robust enough to survive the special treatment at the airport. An expensive fragile vase is not likely to make it home in one piece.

But there is one thing that can be found everywhere. It is small and light, it’s robust and it is very cheap as well. In one word it is perfect: The Fridge Magnet.

Today we have more than 50 fridge magnets from almost all over Europe ( including Eastern Europe because of my business trips ), Canada and the USA. When I was in Prague last time I realized that I haven’t got a fridge magnet from the Czech Republic at all. Thank God I was close to the famous Carls bridge where there are only 2 types of shops: the ones selling T-Shirts and the other ones selling fridge magnets. Don’t get me wrong: Prague is a beautiful city and I love to have some choice when it comes to fridge magnets but this is mad. These shops simply destroy the atmosphere of the inner city around the bridge. It looks cheap and it is. I hope that it will change in a couple of years.

Why all this talk about choice? Have a look at the image above. This is just one wall out of three full of fridge magnets. Now imagine another 10 shops specialized in selling fridge magnets. What is that supposed to be good for? Should I spend half a day in these shops just to find the right magnet? Nobody needs that. I walked in, bought a magnet and walked out as fast as possible.

Now replace fridge magnets with cars, breakfast cereals, washing powder or digital cameras if you like. It is a great thing to have choice but I think today there is too much choice.