http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=44330 The NewsBiscuit Community en-US Tue, 21 May 2013 03:47:12 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/search.php http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=44330#post-126825 Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:55:04 +0000 Iggy Pop-Barker 126825@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Colin Grey, managing director of Bradford paint manufacturer Grey Shades, has found the firm’s latest catalogue to be surprisingly popular. “Naturally we’re very proud of our range of paints, which I’m confident represents the most extensive spectrum of greys of any on the market. So when last year we reached our half-century of pigments - “Confederate Uniform Grey” - we made a bit of a fuss about it and published a particularly lavish catalogue detailing our entire palette.”</p> <p>However it was not long before Mr Grey realised that orders for the new catalogue were unusually high, as well as generating considerable interest from abroad. “We were mailing out so many that we were literally tying ourselves in knots trying to keep up.” He also noticed that, rather than established retailers, many of the orders appeared to be from women operating as one-person businesses. “I’ve no problem with lasses breaking into what is largely a very male environment, the paint retailing market. More power to their elbows, I say.” </p> <p>Furthermore, the requests did not stop at the catalogue. “Yes, there have been some highly unusual enquiries, for peculiar items like fur-trimmed handcuffs. I ask you, where are you going to source something like that? To my mind, metal and fur are completely incompatible materials; end of. We also keep getting asked for samples of rope. Why anyone in their right mind would think we had much rope to spare in a paint factory, apart from for lashing together palettes full of paint tins, is beyond me.”</p> <p>When it was put to Mr Grey that the confusion may have arisen because of the similarity in name of the Grey Shades catalogue and a currently fashionable series of novels, he affirmed that he had no time for reading fiction. “Any reading I do, it’s paint catalogues and chemical specs for future colours. That does me.” </p>