2004 ANNUAL ROUND ROBIN FROM ALAN
Hi,
I am still at the same address, same work, driving the same car, still single. Not a lot has changed. However, change is gradual and creeps up on us all before we know it.
I have a drawer full of tape cassettes; maybe I will open it someday, and select one to play in the car; maybe I won’t. The bottom of my wardrobe is full of LPs, and I even have a collection of 45’s. I did have a retro moment and bought a record player last year, but the records have been in my wardrobe all year.; maybe I will play them one day, maybe I won’t.
I have a collection of CDs but rarely play them. I have shelves full of books - textbooks from University, and fiction books bought up to 25 years ago; maybe one day I will read them, maybe I won’t.
I have a drawer full of cables and parts for PCs that were once needed, and maybe in the future will be needed again, or maybe they won’t be.
I have a cupboard full of assorted fabrics of indiscernible quality, textures, and in different colours that have probably never been used, might be used, or maybe never will be used.
I have a kitchen cupboard full of new baking utensils that I have never used; maybe one day I will use them, maybe I won’t.
I have a collection of recorded VHS cassettes in attractive book-look covers that once worked on an earlier VHS player, but on the present system, the picture jumps constantly so I don’t get them out. Maybe I will have another VHS system in the future that plays them properly, maybe I won’t.
I have a collection of floppy discs that have not been used all year – probably not for the last 3 years; I might use them in the future, or then again, might not. In practice, I listen to the radio when I am in the car, not to cassettes.
Music? I am very happy with Radio 2. It’s got all the music I like on it. I used to say that about Radio One. Hang on, that was 15 years ago. Now there’s a change. I even listen to it at home, selecting programmes from the past week from the BBC website.
Books? I do read, I have been reading my daughter’s Harry Potter books this year. And I read a heck of a lot on the Internet.
Cables? I have a cable-less mouse on one of my PC’s. Is it trying to tell me something?
Fabrics? The old excuse is that they’re for decorating. That’s the same excuse I use for keeping old jeans that are now 3 sizes too small for my waist.
VHS? DVD players and recorders are pretty cheap nowadays. Dixons have announced they won’t be selling VHS players soon.
Floppy discs? I have been using pen drives and flashcards all year.
Yes! There have been changes, gradual ones. Changes that tell us the world is moving on. Time to move with it.
Alan
