I've had my eye on this planner for a couple of years and finally took the plunge!
I admit my hesitation was due to worrying about the stiffness of the leather cover. You might remember awhile back I used a similar
leather-covered day per page diary that was an utter Fail because the cover was so stiff it could hardly open. But after years of hemming and hawing I decided to just go for it, and I'm so glad I did!
This diary is from Undercover UK (
www.undercoveruk.com). This is
their day per page diary, in Majorelle Blue. This color is named after the
Majorelle Garden in Marrakech for the supersaturated blue color on the walls. To be completely honest I wanted the Cyclamen color but by the time I finally got around to ordering (in April) the only colors they had left were this one and Lime green. I like the cool blue color so I went for it.
This diary measures 12 by 17 cm (approx. 5 by 6 3/4 inches) which is my favorite size for a day per page diary. In my experience, a Pocket size is not big enough for everything I want to write each day, and A5 is too big and heavy to carry everywhere. This size has plenty of writing space but is still light and small enough to go everywhere with me.
This little card came with the book and explains that their recycled leather comes from offcuts from the Italian shoe industry, very interesting!
The leather is not super-smooth and buttery like the Cavallini diary I used before, but that's okay. It has a nice leather feel and the cover is flexible without being floppy.
There is a color-matched elastic closure that is attached to the back of the cover with a bit of suede that's imprinted with the Undercover UK logo, very nice touch:
The website only showed the book open to the daily pages and didn't describe any other contents so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that this diary is packed with loads of great features!
The first page is a Personal Data page, and next is a two-page spread with this year's calendar on the left in a very nice format, and on the right are planning calendars for last year and next year.
Next there are MONTH CALENDARS!! With holidays printed in the day spaces!! Hooray!!
These month calendars have a vertical format, meaning the days of the week go down the side of the page rather than across the top, to allow it to fit on the page better. It will take me some practice to get the hang of using a monthly calendar this way but hey I'll take it! Month grid calendars! Three cheers!
And THEN imagine my delight when I found several pages of international information! There's an excellent list of dialing codes for dialing into AND out of the country, and instructions on how to place a call:
Next there's weights and measures, with a handy F/C temperature scale (which I refer to often!):
International sizes (which I also find useful) and average temperatures:
Then there is a page listing international holidays. These countries have their holidays printed on the day pages in the book. There are holidays for the UK and US as well as Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Denmark and several others:
Like I said the days have the holidays printed, and there are lines, but that's it. There's no times, there's no formatting, it's completely open to use any way you want. This is great if you want to use it as a journal. Or you could use it differently depending on the day: write in your times on appointment-heavy days, fill it with lists, write little notes, draw a sketch, anything at all.
The paper is a beautiful ivory color, clear and not at all muddy, not too dark, just a very nice color and very pleasant to look at. The paper is smooth and very nice.
The lines are ruled at 6.5 mm (my measurement) which is not too big, not too small, just right! Below, you can see holidays printed on the days.
At the back of the book there are pages for contacts and a couple of pages for notes:
I didn't take a picture of it but there is a real ribbon placemarker.
This is a really wonderful diary at a great price! There's a huge variety of cover colors to choose from, and excellent paper. I really like the open daily format with holidays printed on the day spaces, the international info and the monthly calendars! This diary is packed with excellent features and I'm so glad I got it!
