Miscellaneous Forum

"what is it that you have now that you cant imagine being without?" First thing that came to my mind is :"internet". I remember when my best budy went abroad during the high-school year. I recorded the football games in a tape, then I mailed the tapes to him, and he locked himself in his room to listen to the games....14 days after the game. He told me it was one of his best moments during the year. lol. Now, my colleagues abroad listen every day our local radio before going to work. Amazing.

"alternatively what do we have now that you DO manage without and stick to the old way that you prefer?": Mobile phone, no doubt!

I'd be agreement with all the above. The fact that i'm writing this on the internet on the far side of the world and have the capability to keep in touch with home is a great boon. If I never had a mobile 'phone again it would not bother me. However, the way the world is, undoubtedly engineered by the mobile phone companies, I find that I have to have one as it is the way I get work when back in UK. Thankfuly, I have never had the need for some of the things you mention (whatever under the sky they might be). Please tell me what an electronic nappy bin is. The one thing I do without that is widely available is the microwave oven. I won't have one at home. As a single man, I'll end up getting lazy and living off a diet of appalling microwave meals when a little thought and a half stocked larder will provide me a decent meal in not a lot longer. See Suet's recent post for a discussion on this. OK, it would be convenient occasionally for defrosting things but I think the potential disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

Improvemnets in motor cars! I am now used-to having air-con, a CD player, demisting windows etc and cannot imagine ever going back to being without. Lately though my absolute MUST HAVE - is a digital (DAB) radio so that I can listen to MY type of music and not the rubbish that is often played by the larger commercial stations.

Sorry, I forgot to add the digital camera. All those days of closing the hotel room curtains to change fils, worrying about how many shots to take because you didn't have a darkroom and it was gong to cost to develop, trying to keep the films safe in Xray machines in airports etc. etc. I really like digital cams, especially when I can load the SD card straigt into my laptop on the road. That is a great advance.

let's use PROPER MAPS and not inaccurate un-updated SatNavs

I do prefer "traditional" maps rather than GPS os similar

I'd agree with the problem of satnav. When technology drives people, literally and in their car, an elderly man and his wife into a river (don't laugh, it happened via GPS in the UK) there is something wrong. I think the problem is not with technology per se, it is with people's blind reliance on technology as in the case I have mentioned but I think the greater problem is our blind reliance on it. I suspect that in 20 years time, if not before, no person under 20 years old outside the military will be able to read a map and even that is doubtful. OK, your map may get soaked and a bit unusable but there is a far greater chance of your battery running out when you are halfway up a mountain in a blizzard. By all means utilise modern technology but do not necessarily throw out the old.

internet and cell phone! Anything else I could do without I think.

Can definitely do without electronic books. Change does not always equate to progress. Being in a house occupied solely by 2 men (my 18 y-o son & me) I'm tempted to say we can't do without the microwave. But being honest, it is only used occasionally. I have done without TV for well over a year now, but do watch things on iPlayer occasionally. Life without my MacBook would be dull, but not impossible. I suppose I couldn't be without a computer of some kind.

Interesting question. Everything you listed, Kirsty, would cause great hilarity in Kenya. You just need boobs that function as nature intended and a couple of washable cloths as nappies. Forget a push chair, you strap the kid to your back using a larger cloth. I had a bit of trouble reversing in hubby's car as he doesn't have a reversing sensor in his. Mine does. Similary, I forgot to put the handbrake on his and the car rolled away. Mine has an automatic brake. Quite possible to retrain the brain to go back to manual, but I love my gadgets. I love my colour TV, large, clear and sharp. I tried looking at a bog standard small roundy one on a recent overnight ferry and it just didn't cut the mustard with me. Your daughter is going to need a large estate car for the buggy, the changing stuff, the spare clothes, the travelling cot, toys, books, bikes, safety helmets, wet weather gear, on board entertainment system, on board fridge for baby food and drinks blah di blah. Alternatively, teach her to be minimalist and just use a bottom drawer until the baby is bigger and don't go out anywhere for the first two years.

The blonde will probably never have a car Sue!!!...especialy now she thinks even more stuff is necessary all from no money

Ah the old No Money ploy. You certainly learn to economise with that. I think my mum always breast fed, but you can sterilise a bottle in a pan with boiling water or use one of those plastic bowls and some Milton's fluid which smells like bleach. How is she at knitting? or making clothes? now is a good time to learn as kid's clothes are so expensive unless she buys them second hand.

The blonde simply ....expects...no money is not a ploy...she literally has none there will be no knitting..no sewing...no effort on her part at all...she will straighten and curl her pretty hair and paint her pretty face and wear carefully concealing but revealing clothes ...if she becomes in her words "bigger than J-Lo's butt" she has claimed she will never leave the house again...Im dreading when she actually starts to show.... Second hand clothes she might accept but only if they still have a label in...and have been carefully washed and maintained...however she is not averse to Ikea things so thats a start

K, with the greatest respect, time she grew up.

Oh yes !...indeed...same for all of them really...I did my best (as I thought)to protect the girls especially from the drudgery of 'real life' as I thought they have enough years of that ahead of them later...but due to her choices her 'real life' will have to begin very soon....we must thank the higherpowers that she has a safety net ....