Do all columnists think alike? Or does one columnist, his work read by another, generate long dormant ideas or memories that find themselves in print a week or a month hence? I presume the latter question contains the answer. Recent columns by both Arthur Black and Harvey Dorval sparked some thoughts that I bring to the page this week.
Black’s conjectures on the possible demise of e-mail do indeed bring a shudder to one who is only recently coming to terms with the demise of snail mail.
The idea of cluttering up my already sloppy and bursting computer storage with Facebook and Twitter and whatever else has come down the pike since yesterday simply boggles my hard drive. And I just now notice that even my relatively young ‘Alvin’ has the word Facebook underlined as a spelling error!
Last week Dorval bemoaned the end of Encyclopedia Britannica in standard book form. Ah … that hit a nerve. I recently received a new cell phone to replace my old non-responsive one … this from an entity which purports to support seniors. Cell phone use was not part of my formal education, and the word ‘phone’ still means call/answer and talk. However, even that requires a bit of programming … and the phone came without a manual. So I called my supplier to request a manual. She should have told me to sit down before telling me that manuals for cell phones have died. If you are button and icon illiterate, as I confess to be, I can always go online and see the manual there, I’m told. When I go out and tuck my new “sleek configuration” cell in the smallest pocket of my purse, I suppose I can always pack one of my tote bags with “the manual.” Never know when I might forget a critical ‘press’.
Back in 03/04, I truly thought Telus had their customers in mind when they issued their new directory — along with numbers and street addresses, they included postal codes! What a boon; how helpful; what a sensible addition! Therein lay the problem — it was too sensible, and the codes were deleted the following year.
Another bereavement in past months has come with the demise of “The Kodak Moment” — from here on it’s the digital second. I can’t be too upset about this advancement however, I’ve been trying to reduce the number of storage boxes holding 40 years of photos.
Thinking back to the encyclopedia salesman, I have to wonder about the sales acumen of the man who sold my father the Books of Knowledge. Or more likely my dad had to follow his penchant for owning the newest and best of everything. Our living room was graced by the B of K set, and an equal-volume-number of some science tomes, plus the black and beautifully gold-lettered “Journeys Through Bookland.” The B of K was regularly consulted, yet all three sets were left behind when we moved from that house in the ‘50s.
About 20 years ago while browsing antiques shops in Gastown, I saw a perfectly preserved set of Journeys. Sublime nostalgia. The following week we went back to the city and Jack stood by shaking his head while I bought the whole set.
It looks great in the bookcase. I’ve looked at a book or three … oh, maybe once or twice … but when I have nothing else to do …
