Flour Arranging

I've been really busy, I'm not in the right time-zone, my laptop died, and i'm not back in the swing of things yet..... you know it's Christmas and all.

I'm sorry, I'll get on with posting the images that have been sent in.

Now this is something I was send just after Halloween, but somehow everything else has got in my way to post them... I am sorry.

Anyway, on all hallows eve. My mum popped into ASDA and saw the flour shelves were empty. Instead there was a sign that said.

"This shop will not sell eggs and flour to people under the age of 16 years on either 30 or 31 October".

I could spend some time talking about the sign, so i will.

WHAT? Maybe it is my logical brain, but this sign is poor. It has outlined conditions to which "people" can't buy flour, but they emptied ALL the shelves. hmmm... From this we can establish a number of things about ASDA's (Lowestoft) customer base.

• People who buy flour will also buy eggs.
• People who buy flour (and eggs) will be under 16.

The majority of their baking customers must fit this criteria for them to justify empting all stock.

Well, it is good to know that Lowestoft is the capital of young bakers and (I'd hope) flour fans - who specialise in flour arrangements ;)

But i didn't know (and I still assume) that baking related sales to minors must be a insult to the Pagans, and ASDA must have Pagan owners for them to take it seriously. Interesting.... and possibly not true.

Anyway, by the time my mum recovered from the "shelf shock", she walkie talkied my dad to bring a camera, but by the time he got there, they started filling the shelves again.

As you can see one of the shelves is still empty, and the other items are not full, but "faced up".

But being a good flour arranging supporter, my dad got some snaps anyway.

You can see how these flour arrangers start the arrangement. A little bit everywhere, but trying to keep it smart. You'll also notice, that the range of flour is pretty good, they obviously have a good deal with Allison flour.

I dunno if i can rate this flour. it wasn't really an arrangement it was more about the shocking situation.

5/10 ?

Now, for a while I have been hoping for someone to send me a picture of the flour in a store that shows it's true value. Not just on a shelf in the home baking section, but being having a song and dance made about it.

How can you top this doooozy!??!?

BAMM! In the middle of the store, two pallets!  Nobody will have trouble finding the flour now.

It would be easy to moan because it's on pallets, but as the pro arrangers out there will know, pallets can make it look bad.... but it isn't too bad here.

If it looked too unsafe I would be shouting "THIS ISN"T THE STOCKROOM PEOPLE!!!!" because it could be a - if in the UK - a Health and Safety issue.

I am not sure how to judge it in terms of an "arrangement", so I'll judge it on how pleased i was to see it.

FLOUR SHOULD BE PROMOTED AND HAVE THIS KIND OF IMPORTANCE!

8/10

It's been a busy day with such lots of excitement that i thought I would give a quick update.

I am in Paris! due some some work commitments, I've to jumped on the euro-star and made that short... and badly delayed .. journey.

The tomorrow will be dictated by work that needs to be done, but I am hoping to get myself about and get some flour snaps :)

I also has a conversation with Mr G Rain, and the idea of trying to arrange a visit to Wrights Flour in north london. So, who is up for it? If we can arrange an outing (and assuming that "deb the bread" doesn't mind giving us a guided tour) to Wrights? either email me or comment and we'll try and arrange something.

The final excitement which urged me to write this entry is an email i got from Sam (who is based out in the Czech republic).  it's a doooozy. I'll look to upload it tomorrow.

I don't know if you remember, but way back in September I popped into a One Stop, and commented how poor it was. If anything I was nice by giving it two out of ten.

Well, I have had a picture sent in from Stephen that has a flour arrangement just two doors away at the co-op, Oulton broad, Lowestoft. Thanks Stephen!

So what does the co-op local have that the one stop doesn't. A selection of flour! that's right, not just some mcdougals. but some homepride, allison and home brands.

You got to give them credit that it is very tidy, and the little one at the bottom is just showing some life, but the flour is spread out across a three of shelves. Surely the sultanas could be switched a bit.

It's better than one-stop that's for sure, but i am not a fan of the way they are not together as a unit.

It is tidy thought.

4/10

I am all twittered up and ready to go. If you would like to follow me on twitter, my user name is "flourarranging".

Just imagine if I befriended a celeb and get some shots of a famous person's home flour arrangement. How cool would that be? Someone must be friends with a celeb?

There are a bundle of photos i have been sent, but i've not had time to resize them for the site I'll hopefully do that later today.

stay tuned...

... continuing on from the previous episode of "Flower Market, Columbia Road - Part I".

Julian stepped up and wasn't content with one flour arrangement, he wanted MORE! Well, he said that he wanted a couple of pictures to be able to give a fair picture of what the floral road had too offer. Good work Julian.

On to Londis, Columbia Road, where it was better, not much better, but better than Maks.

Now, you can see that Julian was drawn in to the side stacking. It caught his eye and to some it's good to see, to others they frown upon it. I don't mind. In this case, it makes there arrangement more interesting than others of a simalar size. Small point would be to have it faceing the right way round for the customer looking down upon it.

The problem with this picture is that it's not giving the full experiance. Yes, there is more McDougalls to the left, just out of shot. Never fear, our flour aficionado doesn't leave it there.

BAMM! The bigger picture! "Tidy" I hear you say. But WHAT THE FORK is that slap bang in the middle. MORE FLOUR. It's a good job the Hovis Wholemeal is bright yellow, otherwise you might have thought the bottom shelf was all they had to offer.

I don't believe in segregation like this. The wholemeal belongs with his buddies. Points lost!

Otherwise, tidy, different (plus point for being a side stacker), full. Minimal range, but we are learning that's what you get in a small store.

3/10 - segregation doesn't have a place in this site.

Thanks Julian for the Flower Flour tour.

Yes, I said it Flower Market. I don't hate the flowers, i just don't like it when people get the ones with petals mixed up with the good stuff.

Today we have some pictures from Julian. He's a good flour man, so good he has taken pictures of more than one place, which means i'll post more from him in the future. Thanks Julian.

He thought it would be funny to go to London's Columbia Road Flower Market, to check out the flour. Genius. I doubt those market traders selling there lillys knew what hit them as Julian strolled straight passed them and into Maks News.

Which is a little disappointing, but as with all good local shops, it seems like they have the shelves full to the brim and have a little of everything.

Pretty standard (for a small shop), not fully filled, but faced. What more can be said.

3/10 - Bonus point for store location.

Columbia Road to be continued.....

Check theses out! Thanks Nina!

If this collection were Monkeys (not flour) it would be a BIG troop. I tried to put the two photos together, but they don't join. This means that there is more flour between these pictures. This is good stuff.

This arrangement is from Sainsbury's in Dulwich and it's pretty good.

That is one hell of a flourtastic range. Basics, common offenders and then a good range of strenght colour and size... including Naan mixes. lovely.

Nina said "Not the best quality.." I assume she is talking about the photos not the range, but the photos aren't bad, we know the pressure of capturing the moment and not looking like a train spotter - losers, yes there is more than one in that photo.

Anyway, back to the flour, or should i say the thin and crispy cheese and tomatoe pizzas?? OR what looks like a lemon curd maybe a chutney?!?!?

If this was tidy and full, it would be top of the shops.... but it isn't.

8/10

I don't know much about the Selfridges (London) "food court", I imagine it to be an area of the store with posh takeaways... you know more like wimpy and noddle king than king burger and southern fried chicken. But it seems like it is a proper store.

Ok, I say proper, but it can't be much more than a tescos express with the amount of flour they have on sale.

Oh, I was so excited I forgot to say thanks to Peter for sending the picture in. He must be living the dream shopping in Selfridges for his weekly big shop.

Lets get down to business. Not a big range, but it smells of quality and it is fully stocked.

I'd like to see them standing tall and less leaning, and the headstands by the little fellas to the right.... just lazy arranging. There is a time and place for creative arranging, but they obviously ain't aware of either.

If they had a few shelves that looked like this, then it would be a contender, unfortunately it isn't.

6/10