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Wednesday 15 January 2014

The simple life

About fifty years ago I bought myself a radio.  I wanted one I could carry round with me to listen to in the garden or in my bedroom and so I went to the shop in Sherborne and bought one.  I can see it now two shades of grey plastic and quite small and light.  I don't remember there being any complications to the purchase I just asked for what I wanted and paid for it and that was that!  I had that radio for years and when I met and eventually married Mr M he too had a radio of about the same vintage or maybe a little older so then we had two (neither is with us now though - mine got broken when some piece of furniture we were trying to move fell on it and we can't remember what happened to Mr M's) We can't remember ever having bought any other radios (though maybe we did but have forgotten) until Mr M bought me this one, which is also a CD and tape player, probably in the 1990s .....

...which sits on the lower shelf in the kitchen and is fine unless I want to change the programme when I need to kneel on the floor to be able to see the numbers when moving the dial.  Then when I want to return to Classic Fm - my usual programme of choice - I can't find it again.  I thought a smaller radio which could sit on a higher shelf and preferably one with pre set programmes would be a good idea and I could also take it with me when I go into my workroom to do some sewing without too much effort. Easy you might think - I want something small and light weight that can be preset to several programmes.


Yesterday being another blue sky day we went to Exeter for an outing - this is the car park at the station as we left.  As we were in Exeter I went into John Lewis to have a look at what they had.  Well there were all shapes, sizes and colours.  There were DAB digital and FM radios, some with clocks and alarms, clear OLED displays and an inputs for your iPod/MP3 player (not that that mattered to me not having either of them).  Some had built in Bluetooth and some had a listen later facility.  How was I to know which I wanted and what all this lot actually means?  I managed to find a salesman to help me but I really do think that people who do understand all this technology find it really, really difficult to conceive how it is that some of us really don't know our DAB from our OLED!  I hate this feeling of being a total nincompoop but I did eventually choose a radio and wanted to buy it and what do you know they didn't have one in stock!!  I think I will continue with the one I have and not bother with a new one after all!

The other thing I was interested in was a laptop - I use the desktop computer which I share with Mr M and  I thought it would be good to have something of my own and, as I like to write, something I could use whenever and wherever I wanted to - in the garden in the summer or at the kitchen table whilst waiting for something to cook and so on.  Once again I came unstuck as there was so much choice and all I knew I wanted was a keyboard that I could touchtype on easily and comfortably, but it seems they can do all kinds of things I might never want as well as some I might, they have different sized memories (so what?  Although I now gather they work faster the larger the memory) , they can be Blue tooth enabled (what exactly is Bluetooth anyway) some had 8GB of RAM (good bad or indifferent?) built in webcam (I do know what that is as I do use Skype!) and innumerable other specifications.  They don't come with any of the packages I would want such as Word and you can't buy said packages singly but only in a pack along with Excel and various others which I would never use but not with Publisher which I might like.  My mind was boggling with all this information and I decided to call it a day and maybe buy a new fountain pen instead!!

Then there is banking - not so long ago I received in the mail a new Debit card with instructions to cut up the old one and guess which one I cut up by mistake?!  No problem, I thought, I'll just telephone the bank and get them to post me another one.  Haa! - no such luck of course, and it took me over half an hour and left me in tears telling Mr M I must surely have the first stages of Altzhiemer's  as I really couldn't remember any of the stuff I was being asked for.  When I did eventually get myself set up with a new password I was told not to write it down - not write it down are they mad!!!  And then have to go through that experience all over again next time I wanted to speak to anyone about my account?  No chance - it IS written down if only I can remember where!

Life was so much simpler years ago- we had bank accounts and even cheque books or maybe just cash in our purses, the scale of choice was so much smaller and technology hadn't raised its head to the same extent.  Sometimes I can quite see the attraction of being a hermit living alone somewhere off-grid and having nothing to do with it all.  Oh for the simple life!!

17 comments:

  1. Oh yes!! It's all got way too technical for me now. I yearn for the old days and old ways sometimes.

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  2. Oh I quite agree with you! What happened to those wonderfully small portable transistor radios I wonder? I often feel like living somewhere 'off grid' still I will have a month of it soon!

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  3. I adore my tech but only when it makes life better, simpler and more functional. I do despair of the eejits who persist in using poor functioning systems like banks who ask krypton factor questions and sales staff who barely understand the tech and definitely don't understand customer need.

    Stick your radio/cd on a higher shelf and nick MrM's for your craft room and deny all knowledge of how it got there went when he asks!

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  4. Many problems in life are created by too much choice, and that applies to everything from the most basic to the most technically advanced. I recently heard someone on a phone in the supermarket, consulting a friend about the best colour of J cloths.

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  5. I empathise totally! I'm actually quite good with technology (it's a vital part of my job) but I still get confused over things like that. I have to admit I only ever listen to the radio via my iPhone or computer now as, for me, it's the easiest option!

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  6. Haha brilliant post Jane, life is very complicated nowadays!
    V x

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  7. Love your post! I always find myself complaining about the amount of choices we have now, it makes life too difficult and takes away a lot of precious time.

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  8. Laughing along with you here - it's just a couple of months since I had a similar problem at JLP but trying to buy my first ever tumble dryer - after an age of having every feature explained and pinpointing what I wanted, they said it was out-of-stock, then proceeded to tell me why an alternative - and totally not what I wanted - model was what I should go for - you guessed it - they had one in stock... I told them I'd think about it, but I'm not sure they understood the nature of what I was thinking...

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  9. I am so glad I have three grown sons whom I can call on when I get confuzzled, lol.

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  10. I do use and love some technology. Have mastered the basics on computers and even an iPad, but I still hate the fact that no one seems to be able to answer a simple question with a simple answer. Oh and btw those lovely little radios! They've been reintroduced as must have retros and now cost an arm and a leg!,

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  11. Every sympathy Jane, nothing seems simple anymore. My sister has just got a new computerised timer for her central heating, it's come with a nice instruction booklet. It has so many options she says she hasn't fathomed it out yet. Waiting for a son to return from uni for help!

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  12. My pass word is written down, my husband knows what it is! My husband had to ring the bank the other day, the first thing they said to him was is your wife there, yes he said reply can you ask her to leave the room - needless to say I got up and slammed the door, but......I was still sitting in the room! They're on the other end of the phone, how do they know I left the room or not!
    Julie xxxxxxxxx

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  13. Enjoyed your musings, especially after our Medieval Christmas! I can totally recommend the small 'Pure' radio I bought recntly (in John Lewis, my shop of choice for everything). I'll e-mail you the details.. Love Carol x

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  14. My 10 year old son is fast overtaking me when it comes to techie know how!

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  15. You could buy online where you can browse in peace and make sure it's in stock. (John Lewis, Amazon, PC World are all quite good, you can also read reviews) Buy a laptop with a 'good' (Samsung, Sony, Advent) name and as much RAM as you can afford, you're unlikely to fill the hard disk. You won't need an entertainment one unless you want to watch loads of films or play games. You should be able to buy a one PC user version of Microsoft Office but you can no longer just buy Word. Make sure you get some virus protection - the computer will come with trial versions and you can sign up for the one you prefer.
    John Lewis have some lovely Dab radios, buy one with presets then you can change channels with the press of a button.
    Luckily, I do remember pass words and numbers, but I have been known to disguise pin numbers as phone numbers in my phone - especially husband's who can't even remember our phone number (though he can recite great chunks of Anglo-Saxon, Shakespeare, and various other literary genres!)

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  16. Jane, I'm with you here! Although I understand some of the latest stuff, it doesn't mean that I want to have any of it for myself. I use a DAB radio in the shed and it's great because I can just press R4 or Classic FM and toggle between them really easily. Down here in the house I still use my Dad's old battery radio and it works great. The way you write about these trials and tribulations is so witty. I love reading it all but I can sense your exasperation from here!

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  17. Heartily agree sometimes Jane. Sometimes technology is just too much trouble and a real pain if it doesn't work.
    I have my own CD player just like yours. So much easier to use than the complicated thingamy in the family room.

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