Those who have been to Berlin will surely have noticed the large pink, purple and blue tubes that run along the streets of downtown. Few, however, know the reason for this original installation. The German capital rests on marshy ground and, in many cases, the water is just a couple of meters underground: for this reason, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, several pipes have been installed to drain it and keep its level under control, avoiding that sudden elevations risked the collapse of houses and buildings. The path of coloured pipes pours what is collected into the river Spree and the many canals scattered around the city.

The pipes are developed following very slouching lines, a necessity – more than an aesthetic choice – linked to the particular climate of Berlin: the continuous temperature changes risk deforming the long cylinders causing their curvature. Finally, the particular colours of the pipes were chosen by a team of psychologists more than twenty years ago, with the aim of giving a touch of lightness to such intrusive installations in the urban landscape. Today, thanks to the atmosphere of Berlin, able to mix old architectures and avant-garde artists, the dinocculated and coloured pipes that wander around the city have become a real tourist attraction.

The hairdressers are closed and you don’t know how to make waves in your hair by yourself? Ozzie Rizzo, one of the most sought-after hairdressers in London, on socials showed a homemade trick to boast a wonderful wavy hair.

What did he use? A dozen cardboard tubes of toilet paper rolls and some clips. After shampooing, he combed dry the hair with a hair dryer, also giving a fairly superficial brush stroke and applying a few drops of oil, so as to eliminate the electrified effect. At this point, he took the tubes of the toilet paper and, starting from the ends, he wrapped the hair around them, fixing them on the head with hairpins. The curl must always be rolled backwards from the face, so as to create a natural and flowing result. The final touch is the application of hairspray, which should be left to dry for at least 10 seconds, perhaps using a hair dryer to better fix the whole thing. When the tubes are removed, the effect is a perfect torchon that, once opened with a wide-tooth comb, will turn into a wonderful wave.

There is also a tube, obviously of the bicycle, among the most significant memories of Gino Bartali, whose twentieth anniversary of his death occurred on May 5, 2020. More than a cyclist a myth: he won three Giro d’Italia (1936, 1937, 1946) and two Tour de France (1938, 1948), in addition to many other races between the 1930s and 1950s, he was the protagonist of the historic rivalry with Fausto Coppi that marked the Italian post-war imagination.

In 2013 he was declared “just among nations” for his work against the Nazi-Fascists and in favour of the Jews during the Second World War. He brought from Florence to a nunnery in Assisi, hidden in the tubes of his bicycle, false documents intended for the Jews, with whom they changed identities and saved themselves from the raids of the Nazi-Fascists. “I received those documents from Cardinal Elia Della Costa of Florence and had to take them to Assisi. I was dressed as a runner. I looked like I was in training. Several times along the way I was stopped. But then the fascists recognized me and I left without being checked”, he would tell years later.

A high density polyethylene tube, the same plastic used for milk containers, combined in different grades and thicknesses in order to be compressible, is the “secret” of the first vegan toothpaste in the world, produced by Colgate: until now, toothpaste tubes were considered among the most difficult materials to recycle because they were made from a combination of plastic and aluminum. In addition, the pasta contains glycerin based on synthetic products or vegetables (and not, as usual, produced with animal fat), a quality that has allowed certification by the Vegan Society. “Smile for good” is the slogan and name used by Colgate to launch the first vegan and recyclable toothpaste in the world. Two different products will soon be on sale in supermarkets across Europe, in Italy the price will be € 3.29 per tube, more expensive than the average but not too much.