The older I've become, the more resigned I am to the uncomfortable truth that I - apparently - have terrible taste in some things. I'm not allowed to pick sofa covers. My daughter insists on going with me when I buy jeans. My favourite old bits of furniture are now with the Salvos. Don't misunderstand - I know how to turn on the style when I need to. I have a good line in suits and no one questions my taste in silk ties and well-cut shirts. But there are certain things that, although I can't see what the problem is, cause others to screw up their faces and start pitying me.
I've never claimed to be a designer, but this site you are currently enjoying was built by my own two hands. Building a house is one thing - choosing the drapes is another. And so it was that I was politely told this week that the marble background just had to go. Some of you may only now be prompted to realise the background to my website has changed, in a repeat of those awkward moments when the wife mentions she's just had her hair cut. Yes, I have those moments too.
I'm not sure whether they were screwing up their faces, but the chaps over at RPBrown - a Sydney-based online design and advertising agency - took pity on me anyway and took it upon themselves to create a new background for me. I like it. It's sort of tweedy in a comfortable-writer's-jacket sort of way, while adding to the warm colours already on the site. (Why do so many websites seem to be built using only cold, clinical colours? Blues and whites and pastels? Or is that just me not understanding tasteful design again?)
So a huge thanks to Mr_RPBrown (follow him on Twitter) for stepping in where others were probably too embarrassed to say anything. Hopefully, this isn't going to incite everyone else to suddenly start picking fault and pointing out the bits of my site they hate.
