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One of my photos

Never had it so good

November 21st, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life/Technology · 1 Comment · Life, Technology

Notwithstanding the crass insensitivity of Lord Young’s remarks, there are many ways in which life is better these days .  Even though these are not going to be much consolation to anybody who finds themselves suddenly turfed out of a job and then systematically hounded by the government… but this is not political: just a few observations about small things that make me feel old when I have to explain to the kids how we used to do things.

This all comes about because when I was bowling the other night I remembered being taken bowling on holiday when I was very young.  If I remember rightly, there was no computer keeping track of your score and telling you whose turn it is next – you had to do all that yourself on a paper scorecard.  Fortunately that side of things was taken care of, probably by granddad or Uncle Peter.  On Thursday night we realised that we would have been stuffed if we had to work out the scoring ourselves.

That got me to thinking about other little things that have changed over the years and how quickly they have become routine.  Like ATMs. I can remember when the only way to get cash was to go to your bank and write out a cheque – and that was when banks were not open on Saturdays. It seems almost unthinkable now.

It was the same with stamps of course, with only the Post Office being able to sell them.

And how about television. Not only did we only have three channels, but we had to walk across the room to change from one to the other (by turning a dial).  And to find out what was on the TV more than a day in advance you had to buy two different magazines.  The TV stations owned the copyright on TV listings and guarded them jealously.

Even something as simple as getting a ticket to a concert was a rigmarole compared to now.   If I want a ticket now can usually go to the venue’s website, pay for it online and print out the ticket.  The first concert I went to, if you couldn’t physically get to the venue or a ticket agency, you had to write off.  As I was in the middle of the Essex countryside I had to write, enclosing a postal order or cheque, if I could get a parent to write one for me and then wait to see if my letter arrived before it sold out.

Just about the only thing that was easier was going to first division football, as it was called then.  You could just turn up and go in, which is virtually impossible now.

Any other little ways in which life has moved on?

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One Comment so far ↓

  • jams o donnell

    Digital photography. In the past I might bracket an image to get the best exposure now I can experiment in the knowledge that duds can be deleted instantly

    It’s still fun to take the od 35mm photo. I managed to purchase a Nikon f4 for a song last year,