Comms

In my youth, communication was about talking to people, mostly face to face. I was never very good at it and kept my self to myself as much as i could. Being inside one's own little world can be a great comfort.

If you wanted to talk to someone who lived more than a bike ride away, you wrote letters, and that was something else that I loathed. I remember being forced to write letters to relatives, that were by no means close, and struggling to find anything to say. We didn't have a telephone, and any phone calls were made from a public call box halfway down the village. To make a call, you had to put in 4 old pennies, wait to be connected and if successful, press button A. If unsuccessful you pressed button B, and if you were lucky, you got your money back. Long distance calls had to be booked in advance, and were extraordinarily expensive, and therefore reserved for emergencies.

Bad news always came by means of a telegram, which meant that the woman at the post office got to hear it before you did, and that probably meant that the whole village found out pretty quickly.

We did have a radio, but TV came later, and living in the village, newspapers were like hens teeth. Things were pretty basic, and i don't recall it being a problem.

The other day, i was involved in a very near miss, while driving. A woman, shot out in front of me from a junction, and how I missed her I just don't know. She was of course on her cell phone, and oblivious to anyone else on the road. I am afraid that I gave chase and pulled her off the road to tell her what i thought about her driving, and she seemed to think that she hadn't done anything wrong. A strange perception.

Mobile phones are so ubiquitous now that we all have them and seem to become more dependent on them as time goes by.
Mine tends to sit in my desk drawer most of the time, though if I am going to be away, I do take it with me and sometimes will switch it on. Of course, it never, or rarely rings, and so because of that i often forget where it is. I don't make calls and so I don't get them either, it is a bit catch 22 i guess.

On the other hand, i am a big user of electronic mail and enjoy email contact with the world in general. I love to receive email, and have no objection to spam, though having said that I seem to be spam free at the moment. Email is direct and simple and most people are pretty good at responding. It is also less intrusive than a telephone, though I have known individuals to stop a conversation in order to read a mail. I used to be a devotee of Napster and MSN, and found meeting strangers fascinating. Second life is my current interest and a link to a strange world occupied by some very nice and some not very nice people.

Information overload is a growing problem, and the bombardment can only increase in volume and intensity. It would seem that we have no excuses any more for not keeping in touch with our friends.

I still loathe writing letters by hand and recently realised that handwriting is hard work.

This is my first entry for a while and I am aware that I have little new to say. I hope that I can find the will to write more effectively next time.