Lesley in Hong Kong

The Future - what happened to it?

Space 1999

In the lead up to the year 2000, I was extremely disappointed that the shiny future I felt I'd been promised would not be ready.   There would be no flying cars or silver catsuits.  There would still be food, as opposed to nutrition-packed pills.   My formative years were filled with images on TV showing me the fabulous futuristic future.  The Jetsons and Space 1999 have a lot to answer for!

 

The year 2000 came and went - still no flying cars or silver catsuits.  I still had to peel carrots and wash-up. 

What will 2020 be like?

2020 will soon be here - I know, I'm shocked too -  That futuristic dream of how science and technology would be so advanced it would be mundane, even domestic, is in tatters.    I dreamt that by the time I reached 2020 (fingers crossed)we would all be living in a peacefully perfect world where all conflicts had been forgotten.  I truly thought that the concept of working from home would be embraced by most people while the amount of leisure time would have been increased.  All folk would have terrifically stimulating hobbies that meant they bonded with others in a warm and comradery way.  No one would need to make the tea because a robot would deal with that, oh and everyone would fly around in their flying car or, even better, use The Transporter from Star Trek. 

In my imagined future, everyone would be warm enough or cool enough and technology would be able to supply all energy for free as that is just a human right.  If we want to keep the world populated then heat and light is a given.  Surely no one needs to profit from that? 

We have spoilt it

But it seems that we have spoilt the future for ourselves in an attempt to make convenience king.  The convenience of buying fresh food has become a multimillion-dollar industry involving factory farming and air transportation for lettuce.  The fast-food industry has fueled our craving for instant gratification so we can now walk around eating and drinking, then dump the plastic containers on the street.  There is now more plastic in the ocean than fish and more landfills than forest.  

Inconvenience should be king

Right now there is a riot going on in my neighbourhood and the conflict seems to have no resolution.  That is tragic enough.  But the most important issue is the unsustainability of our lifestyle.  The future I used to think was possible, those flying cars and silver catsuits, is as far away as the concept of peace in our time because the reality of the future, the air we breathe and the water we drink is filled with pollution created by the craving for convenience we thought we wanted.  

Our future is not one where science and technology make everything convenient.  If we do have a planet to live on, we will have to get used living a much simpler life where inconvenience is king because it is the only sustainable way to keep the population going.  Instead of that flying car, I imagine if I can't get anywhere by walking then I won't be going.  I still fancy that silver cat-suit though... 

 

Hong Kong has a monumental waste problem. (BBC Future)

Ear phones - are they the curse of the young?

It is with great trepidation that I want to start this blog with "When I was young" because the sub-text reads "I am old now". Perhaps it's not about age, perhaps its about technological advances, which have been vast over the last 48 years?  Such changes make the way things were and the way things are now result in making me feel wise and experienced. See how I steered that away from using the 'old' word there? I am talking specifically about the way I listened to music and was introduced to new music because it is so very different to the way that happens now.

Music Centre

When I was growing up in my house we had a television and a record player in the living room, a radio in the kitchen and when I got to be about 14 I had a portable record player in my bedroom which sat on the floor. The living room was where the records, 45s and LPs, were kept in a special stacking unit under the teak display cabinet next to the telly which had 3 channels. The only progress I remember was when we got a colour telly which meant we could watch Play Days on BBC2 in colour. We also got a music centre which meant we could play the radio, cassette tapes and records on the same piece of equipment. All of these music playing machines were kept in the same corner of the living room.

 

Parent's Music Taste

The way music was played back then meant that everyone in the family got to hear your choice of music. My mother liked John Denver and my dad liked Irish folk music. When they put their records on I listened to the tracks. I learned the words of many songs just because they were being played in the background while I went about my business. When I played my records they listened to my choice. When I was deeply involved with Donny Osmond's Puppy Love and played it loud enough so I could hear it in the garden (with the arm across so it repeated) there was a few tuts but I continued to listen and so did they. When my brother was all consumed with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel and what became a life long love of punk I also became knowledgeable about punk music even though I only owned The Osmonds and David Essex LPs.

 

Top of the Pops - BBC Radio 1

Then there was Top of the Pops and Radio 1.  That was the way I heard new music and decided if I liked it enough to buy it.   The new number one was announced on a Sunday and I would listen for hours to ensure that I knew who it was so I would be all knowledgeable on a Monday morning at school.  And then on Thursdays that number one song would be the last to be played on TOTP. 

There was a time when me and my brother would attempt to use our small cassette player to record music from the telly.  This meant standing by until the disc jockey had announced the band (sometims that would be Jimmy Saville) and then pressing record and play simultaniously and then, most importantly, remain totally silent until it had finished thereupon jumping up to press 'stop' so as not to get Jimmy or Tony or Dave or Noel's voice on the recording. 

I remember this proving really difficult during Sugar Baby Love by the Rubetts because the lead voice was so incredibly high it made us convulse into fits of laughter and have to go in the kitchen until that bit was over. 

Purchasing Music

Based upon my exposure to music via Top of the Pops or Radio 1 I would decide whether I liked a song enough to buy the single and then if I really liked the artist whether to go the full distance and buy their LP, which would have tracks on both sides, that I'd never ever heard and was taking a huge risk shelling out my hard earned Saturday girl money for.

When I got home and put the record on everyone else got to hear it.  I took it rounds my friend's house sometimes so they could hear it too. 

New Way

These days the way I listen to music and find out about new music is completely different.  It is hardly ever from the television and when I listen to the radio I do it through a podcast of various BBC shows and for copyright reasons I can only listen to the voice of the DJ, the music is not available.  The people around me do not pollute my space with their music.  That would be rude.

They play their own personal music through earphones into their brain.  So my question is how do we know about other people's music and new music?  I feel my music education happened because I had to listen to the music of others and be exposed to various different tastes.  I had to listen to music I didn't particularly like so as to get to the stuff I did like.

Now it is possible to only buy selected tracks from albums which I think is a real shame because when you have a whole album you start off liking some tracks and then you might warm to the others over time.  But if you never gave yourself the chance in the first place and only bought a few tracks then you could be missing out?

Earphone benefits?

Earphone wearing has its benefits - I understand that.  But as we all go about our business listening to our own personal music through earphones we may fail to be exposed to music of different eras and genres because although the range of music available to illegally download via You Tube is vast, I suspect only a small amount is explored because it seems that the same narrow range music is being listened to all over the globe in the same way as T-shirts and jeans are the most common choice of dress all over the world. 

There are homes all over the world where 3 or 4 people may inhabit the same living space but no one plays their music out loud into the room,  they all listen to their own private music pumped into their ears via earphones and thus depriving the rest of the household from saying 'turn that bloody noise down' or even better 'is that a girl or a bloke singing that?"

Children can be sucked into their own You Tube Itunes world and never know the musical taste of their parents, never have to suffer their parents Radio 2 choice of music, never know all the words to American Pie and never have the opportunity to get to know where the original track came from.

 

 

Learn to type young man, learn to type! Smart phone usage update.

I know it's quite a radical way of thinking but I want to put it out to you all that every one should learn to type on a keyboard using all of their fingers and thumbs.  This also involves sitting up straight at a desk with feet flat on the floor.  This skill is not taught formally yet millions of people use a keyboard every day. 

To become a skillful touch typist it takes around six weeks to master the home keys of

ASDF (SPACE) JKL;

and after that each finger is taught to remember where the other letters are. It is not that difficult, just repetitive.

Six weeks is not a lot of time.  I can type as fast as I can think. 

Now I have a smart phone I can use one finger nail to type a message or alternatively two thumbs.  This is proving quite difficult, inaccurate and frankly it's a right palaver.   I am a ham fisted, special needs lummox at smart phone typing.

I did say I would keep you posted regarding the evolution of my smart phone usage - well I've been rating it at the status of 'hate' but in the last day it's gone up, slightly,  to 'I'm not really getting on with it'

And frankly why do I need notification beeps when someone emails because when I decide to look at my laptop I can see that information - when I decide to look...is the need for immediate response that great?  I am not a world leader or whiz invester who needs to buy - no - sell...

 

 

Smart...phone....

As of tomorrow I will be live.  I will have all the  online time I could possibly need 24 hours a day.

It's true.  Tomorrow my new and shiny smart phone will buzz and click and connect to the world.  A  drum roll is appropriate.

 

But it is not without trepidation that I am entering into this world of interconnectedness - I am ambivalent about this fancy technology. 

Is it right? 

Is this the way to go? 

Do I want to read my phone in between mouthfuls of food?  I get the message that I am really second in line to the order of importance during a conversation if some one has their phone in their hand and is distracted by the contact to the outside world.  Surely its me who is the most important person, the person who is there, face to face? Having a mobile phone right there on the table is saying "I've got better options than to talk to you".

I can understand that sometimes a conversation may lag a little.  Pregnant pauses and hesitations are fairly normal and I can see that the competition between me and the rest of the world is vicious.  I could easily come in a close second to the rest of the world.

Gone are the days when you wrote a letter, went to the post office for a stamp, posted it and then rushed down to the letter box each morning to snatch the reply out of the postman's hand - or the other one - when you stand their feeling dejected because there is no letter from anyone.  There is no clack of the letter box and the whistling postie carries on past your house to next door.

I feel a song coming on "Stop! Wait a minute Mr Postman" needs an equivelant, in this twenty first century someone really needs to write a song based on the feeling of after a text is sent when the recipient fails to respond in the 'average' smart phone time zone world thus rendering feelings of incredible frustration and down-right anger until the relief of a response beeps through the ether. 

The second verse of this yet to be written song will involve describing the disappointment when the response is a solitary smiley face and no words or worse, merely LOL.  The only way to alleviate these feelings is to enter into a continuous text message fest where messages and replies received can be measured in nanoseconds and then happiness and a resolution is achieved.   It will never end.  It could be the longest song in the world?

I intend to report back my usage of my smart phone in one week and describe my life changing experience.  Watch this space.

 

 

Birthdays

It’s my birthday today.

Thanks for all the cards and presents that came flooding through my door this morning.  It is truly overwhelming to know there is so much love out there for me; all those presents mean SO much.  Thank you once again.

Of course that entire previous paragraph is a total fabrication of the true facts because I didn’t receive any cards or presents, other than from my immediate family.  You see when you get older you just don’t want to celebrate THAT day.  Perhaps it’s something about being an Aquarian.  I don’t broadcast my birthday.  I just want to hide under a stone and definitely don’t enjoy the attention of a party.

You see if you have a party and its crap then it’s your fault.  It was your birthday, the party was crap and it’s all down to you.  It’s a responsibility I can do without.

Apart from one time on a trip to Newcastle Beer Keller on my 18^th birthday when I was offered a job as a go-go dancer after my on stage performance during the Fancy Knicker Competition, which, incidentally, I won.  I turned down the job due to my heavy and important commitment to the local secretarial college. I felt that taking a job as a go-go dancer would jeopardize my course and future career… Doh, if only I had grasped that opportunity when it came my way? 

Just in case anyone is still wondering they were leopard print bikini style ones.

But truly, I don’t like the attention of being the birthday girl. I just don’t like birthdays.  As a general rule I feel mine should be ignored as much as possible.  I do enjoy other people’s birthdays and love going out to celebrate their special day.  I have not showed my knickers in public since my 18^th birthday so I am quite a civilized person to ask out these days.  But when my turn comes round I slip into a state of denial and aggressively state that I am 39.

I don’t want to get old.  Every birthday is a reminder of my own mortality.  So in a Patsy Stone sort of way I remain 39.  39 is a good age, I like it and I’m sticking to it!