Did you know that on average, two new Starbucks have opened every day since 1987? With Starbucks attacking on all fronts, it’s refreshing to see something as uniquely glorious as London Tea shop Teasmith fighting back against the growing coffee mono-culture.

Owner John Kennedy, a self-confessed ‘tea geek’, runs the contemporary teahouse offering customers the world’s best teas amidst a beautifully designed interior created by Jonathan Clark Architects. Accompanied by Miss Random Fashion Coolness, I visited the teahouse this weekend, and instantly fell in love with the place. As if the beautiful hanging bare bulbs of the interior design weren’t enough to turn me on, the teas, biscuits and chocolates (by master Chocolatie William Curley, no less) certainly finished the job. Although, the absolute jewel in the crown is reserved for the owner, John Kennedy. Never have I experienced such warmth and enthusiasm from the owner of any establishment. Even though we were just another couple of customers off the street for all he knew, he took the time to educate us in the culture of tea and the skills involved in making the perfect cuppa. Christ knows how he gets anything done if he’s as attentive to every customer as he was to us this weekend.

I’ve completely forgotten what teas we tried, as I was so engrossed in Kennedy’s tales of the tea world, but guided recommendation using his wealth of knowledge, resulted in experiencing some of the finest tea I’d ever tasted. However, I can definitely recommend accompanying your tea with the chocolate dipped fruit, and salty Miso flavoured biscuits (I know, right? Salty biscuits? Sounds so wrong, but incredibly it works so right!)

If you live in the capital, or you’re just passing through, make sure you take a pit-stop at Teasmith. Saturday is a great day to go, when the nearby Spitalfields market is closed, and it’s quiet. I can’t recommend it enough. Go and experience the best the world has to offer in tea, guided by one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

Teasmith is located at 6 Lamb Street, London.

eBay - the international flea market. Sometimes, you’ve gotta love eBay. Whilst it’s often full of scams and cut-price junk, if you’re lucky (and by ‘lucky’, I mean ‘obsessive’) you can occasionally find vintage gems. I’ve been an eBay convert ever since I bought an amazing vintage chesterfield sofa for 50p, but now my love for eBay is strengthened by another recent purchase. I managed to nab a vintage 60’s Semi light pendant.

These arc-shaped enamelled metal lights were designed by architects Claus Bonderup and Torsten Thorup in 1967 and produced by the innovative Danish lighting company Fog & Morup. The Semi was produced in a number of sizes, with each one being individually manufactured by hand by a skilled metalworker. The process involved spinning a 1.5mm thick aluminium plate onto a steel form and moulding it into shape with a thick leather-covered baton. I’ve seen several smaller versions of the Semi pop up on ebay, but never one of the huge large versions - so when I found someone in Denmark offering one, I had to have it! So eBay comes through for me again.

Find your unique vintage treasure on eBay (just don’t outbid me on all the cool stuff I want!)

Don’t call it a comeback. Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know it’s been a while since I last updated Things of Random Coolness, but I’ve been getting kind of side-tracked recently. I crippled myself due to a recurring back injury. I’d like to say that it was triggered by something manly like a motorbike accident, or a bar brawl, but it was more likely caused from being drunk and over-enthusiastic on a Nintendo Wii. Also, I then flew over to Spain to see in the New Year (fresh seafood and villas on the beach wins out over anti-climatic british pub celebrations everytime.) Then on my return I bandwagon-jumped on the new Norovirus craze sweeping the nation (suffering from winter vomiting disease is the new going out!)

Ultimately, these are all excuses for being lazy. However, It’s a new year, and although it’s a little stale to be making resolutions this far into it, I’m going to try and post more regularly this year. Starting tomorrow. Hopefully.

Gods get mail too! The wonderfully named design company Greece Is For Lovers, have made the mundane act of opening your daily mail into an event that’ll make you feel like a greek god. With your Zeus lightening bolt letter opener, you’ll be able to “rip through hatemail with the stealth and fury of Zeus! ”

See more work by Greece Is For Lovers.

The one year anniversary almost slipped by unnoticed! It looks like Things of Random Coolness has reached it’s first milestone - It’s now reached it’s first birthday! I’d just like to thank everyone who reads the blog, and an extra thanks to anyone who’s spread the word in some way through website links, email, etc. It’s very, very much appreciated!!!

I’ve got some special things planned for ‘Year Two’ of Things of Random Coolness, so hopefully it’ll keep going from strength to strength.

Thanks again to everyone for helping to make ‘Year One’ such a success!

Eroticism and sophistication for lovers. Barcelona based company, Bijoux Indiscrets have created a range of products designed to enhance the level of erotica in your love life. Deluxe product sets like ‘Poême’ include jasmine-scented aphrodisiac liquid chocolate, an Ostrich pen and satin mask and encourage you to “write the sweetest declaration of love over your lover’s skin.”

Find out more at Bijoux Indiscrets.

“Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!” I love Planet Of The Apes. I mean, really love it. Which is why I’ve spent most of the weekend holed up on the sofa. You see, I found an entire animated cartoon series of Escape From Planet Of The Apes hosted on Open FLV (you can download it if you want too!)

This 70’s cartoon version of the Planet Of The Apes franchise was made before I was even born, but it’s one of the most stylish cartoons I’ve ever seen. The retro style graphics are great, with a series of random trippy static drawings dumped in between the animated action to express the character’s emotions. Except it doesn’t; it just makes them look like they’re experiencing some horrific LSD flashbacks.

If you like Planet Of The Apes, or you’re just into retro style graphics, check out Escape From Planet Of The Apes on Open FLV.

Damn it, it’s not a bed! When I first saw the Plywood Chateau by James Westwater I thought it was a life-size bedroom concept. Unfortunately, it’s art or something. pffft!!!

I demand someone designs a bed cube thingymabob that has interchangable vinyl walls that make you feel like you’re sleeping in a variety of exotic, expensive and glamorous locations, when in reality you’re sleeping in a plywood box!

My travels have reached the end of the road. I’m gutted, my summer travels have ended early thanks to an unfortunate ability to spend money too quickly, and some boring things that required our attention back home. So I never made it to France afterall. I ended up in North Africa instead (which contributed to the lack increased lack on money).

Anyway, you’ll be glad to know I’ll be back to regular posting duties now. Some of you may have noticed that the website was down for a day or two, which was due to a server move that should make the site more stable from now on. Also, apologies to anyone waiting for a response to any emails - I’m terrible at responding quickly at the best of times - but at the moment I have a stack of emails to get through, so delays are to be expected!

Hola España! Bonjour France! With all the endless rain we’ve been getting so far this summer in the UK, Miss Random Fashion Coolness and I have decided to hit the south of Spain/France for the summer. So normal Things of Random Coolness transmissions will be momentarily interrupted until we reach the Mediterranean and set up base camp.

If any of the Spanish/French readers have any good recommendations on things to see/do/eat/etc, please let me know.