For me, walking time is also thinking time. It’s a time when my mind wanders and with a mind like mine that often means all sorts of weird and wonderful things pop into my head. In mid January 2013 my life seemed to be filled with gadgets, fancy phones, GPS watches, computers and the like and my thoughts turned to all the technology around us as I made my way through the dawn towards work.
17 January 2013
The temperature seemed to have risen slightly this morning but it was still a very cold walk to work with another very pink sky. Before I left the house I’d checked out the local weather online to see if the snow they were talking about on morning TV was likely to cause me problems. It seemed it might and I left the house thinking about Tinternet and what a wonderful invention it is.
Obviously I’m old enough to remember days before computers in every home. At college I studied ‘Computer Science’ which mainly involved writing programmes in a language called Basic to get the computer (which was actually in another college, can you believe i?) to print out reams of paper doing exciting things like calculating Pi. My first job was as a data entry clerk but we never saw a proper computer, just a paper tape machine and, when I got promoted, a giant modem the size of an American fridge which sent the paper tape to another office where the computer lived. It wasn’t until I went back to work after having my children that I got to work on a VDU, as they were called in those days, and learned the joys of Microsoft. Even then it was years before we had one in our home!
The average house today is bursting with them in one form or another. Obviously there’s the home computer, lap top or ipad (like I’m typing on now). Most houses have at least one. Then there are smart phones which are basically tiny computers you put in your pocket, lose somewhere, or have stolen from your bag at the airport (I’ll tell you about it one day) and I’m pretty sure the sky box couts as a computer. My Garmin and Commando’s super dooper Garmin are computers of a sort. Most cars have all sorts of technical ones (although I doubt Mattie Matiz does, he’s far too old) and new ones have sat nav’s (that’s a computer right?). Most central heating systems have more memory in than our first desk top computer did as do washing machines, TV’s, alarm clocks, cookers, microwaves and probably fridges too. For fun there’s the Wii, XBox, Kindle…. I’ve probably forgotten some but you get the picture. We can hardly move for them.
What would we do without them all and what did we do before we had them? Apart from making it possible for people like me to witter on about whatever is going through their minds to entertain you and keep them from eating chocolate there’s the wonderful beast that is Google. Any question that wanders across your mind and you can find the answer in seconds (well maybe after trawling through a ton of irrelevant stuff first), we should all be geniuses or is that genii (never mind I’ll Google it later). If I want to know how many kilogrammes in a stone or where the nearest Burger King is, how to translate something into French, just the right word to describe something or a million other things there’s either an ap or a website for it somewhere.
For me though, the most wonderous use of this amazing technology has been the way it’s broadened my horizons. All the brilliant bloggers out there in cyber land sharing stories, walks, information and glimpses into their lives give me a new slant on the world. Then it’s back to Google, giving me answers to all the questions I come upon as I walk this path. For an old technophobe, I have to say I’m in love with computers. Who’d have thought it?
Of course there is a down side and we’ve seen an unusual amount of it this week. Online shopping means the real shops, on the high street, are struggling. Over the years some of the biggest names, like Woolworths, have bitten the dust, and in the last seven days or so three more have gone, Jessops, HMV and Blockbuster. Lots more people out of jobs in an economy where new ones are tough to come by. For a nation of shopkeepers, that’s a worrying thought. There’s also all that sitting in front of a screen rather than getting up and moving which could explain our rising obesity levels.
I decided to walk over the Big Bridge today, it’s nice to have a choice and to be able to vary my morning walks a little. As I turned the corner to go out of The Crescent a plane was coming in to land and the pink from the sky, reflecting back off the low clouds turned it pink too. I smiled to myself as I wondered if all the passengers were aware they were flying in a pink plane. A second later some seagulls flew over and I swear they were pink as well. Between the houses I could see the city in the distance and that too had a pink glow to it. By the time I got to the river and an unimpeded view, the sky had changed and the pink was fading fast, although the buildings on the waterside still had a bit of a pinkish, orange tinge to them.
When I got to the Horrible Junction at the other side of the bridge, I caught the traffic lights just right for a change so I took the back of the stadium route and walked through the housing estate. It’s been a while since I went that way but it was good to be able to check on the little garden where the brave sunflower used to grow. To be honest there wasn’t much change, maybe the cordylines have got a bit bigger, but at least it’s still there and no one has vandalised it. I still miss the sunflower though but I guess it would have been dead by now anyway.
It’s a funny little estate really, mostly flats or rows of box like terraces right in the centre of town. You’d think it would be quite depressing and run down but actually the residents seem to have quite a lot of pride in the place they live and there are lots of little communal gardens like this one. The tall flats in the centre have a tunnel running through them and it has some really wonderful artwork. I’m not sure who did it, or if the council approve of it, but it really brightens the place up. I especially like the footballer wearing his saints strip. There’s a lot of this kind of thing in Southampton and I keep meaning to stop and take pictures. Even the abandoned shops on the other side of the bridge have metal grilles all painted with virtual shops. That will have to be one for another day though.
Arabella called this morning to say she’s flying home because her father has been taken ill again. This time it doesn’t sound like he’s going to recover and, understandably, she’s dropping everything to be with him. Obviously, for me it means a lot of extra work but I’m glad to be able to get on with it and give her one less thing to worry about. It also meant a hectic afternoon and a lot of things to sort out that I know very little about. Oh well, I knew it was going to be a steep learning curve.
There was a little bit of snow early this afternoon. Everyone was watching it out of the office window and I did go for a swift, chilly trot around the block to see how bad it was. Turned out to be just a few tiny flakes but a few years ago we nearly all got snowed in at The Mad House and that snow storm began as a few little flakes so I kept an eye on it. That time it took over two hours to get home from work in Rae’s car, that’s less than one mile an hour! She took nine hours to get to her own house in Gosport for a journey of about twenty miles. I did try to persuade her to stay at my house but she wouldn’t.
I took the post down this afternoon and caught the postie just as he was about to go out the door.
“No collections or deliveries tomorrow,” he said cheerfully.
“If it snows?”
“Even if it doesn’t. Health and safety, we’re not allowed to take the risk of slipping or crashing our vans. It could start once we’ve gone out you see.”
What is this country coming to? It’s bad enough that everything grinds to a halt when we get half an inch of snow but, when just the threat of snow is enough to stop people working, we don’t stand a chance!
Admittedly the weatherman says this is the start of two snowy days but I’ll believe it when I see it. If it happens (and I’m not totally convinced) it’s not good news for the long walk tomorrow so I’m going to have to be creative with my route. Yes I have the Yak Trax but I’m still going to try to avoid too many hills and I think the river is out. Snow is really pretty to look at and, with the Yak Trax, probably not too bad to walk on, but it’s all the people on the road I worry about. I don’t really fancy being mown down by an out of control, skidding car so I’m going to have to avoid as many roads as I can too. I think this may be a tough task so I’d better stop messing about and get on with my planning.
I remember when I didn’t even know how to turn a computer on and now I’m surrounded by them.
Someday I’d like to live where a snowflake or two was cause for alarm!
Computers have become an intrinsic part of life. So much so, my son can hardly believe I was born in a time when no one had any. Snow is a real rarity here and we are not at all geared up for it. We have no chains for cars and I doubt you could buy a snow shoe in the whole of England. When I see how much snow you have its hard to comprehend.
I remember being terrified by computers, but now I love them so much and think that a lot of new technology – when it’s not busy taking over our lives – is just wonderful!
I wouldn’t be without mine either