A Relic of the 20th Century

My Dear Fellows and Dear Princess,

I saw this on the street today and wondered if it had fallen off the back of a De Lorean. I mean, who still has these things?

It is the passing of technology that seems to me to highlight the passage of time, far more than the relative youth of police officers, doctors and Spider-Men. Alarming though that may be.

I'm sure we all remember using these floppy disks back in the day (interesting fact - they are known as "stiffies" in South Africa). I even remember the 8 inch cardboard ones that preceded them. I also remember Betamax tapes, push-buttons that went CLUNK on the telly, Laserdiscs, Commodore Vic-20's and the days when you had to get the vertical tracking on your VCR just so, in order to stop the image from scrolling up.

Of course, technology has moved on a lot since then. Today I discovered a new thing. Lemon was telling me about her garden and gardening and how much she hates it.

"F**kin' flowers," was an actual phrase she actually used.

I told her she didn't have to put up with that sort of thing if she didn't feel like it and added that large bags of pebbles are pretty cheap.

"Ooooooh," she replied. "Glow-in-the-dark pebbles."

I didn't know that this is a thing, but apparently it is a thing. 

"Careful though," she told me, clearly thinking that I would pick up some glow-in-the-dark pebbles on my way home from work. "A friend of mine told me they are a right pain in the arse."

I wondered why.

"Well, she says they do make it easy to follow the pathway from the gate to her house," said Lemon, "but she also says they attract an army of  mosquitoes."

Lemon went on, "She reckons she nearly lost a leg going to her front door the other night." 

So there you have it. Modern technology isn't all good, you see. And also we need to cherish our past. Why, I expect you could probably take your stiffy and show it to an appreciative crowd on "Antiques Roadshow" in just a few years. "I wonder if anyone can tell me what this was used for?" an expert will ask the bewildered onlookers.

And they will be even more astounded when you produce your floppy 8-incher.

S.