From No-Tech to Hi-Tech -ish

 Growing up in England we didn't have a telephone, and the first television set we had was a 9inch black and white. My Dad's favorite program was Amos and Andy, other than that we didn't have much to watch. I loved tennis and I think we got some sports programs.
My first job in Canada in 1956 was with a division of Addressograph Multigraph. We typed names and addresses on to a metal plate, they were then put into a metal frame and into a press to address envelopes. It was time consuming to say the least. Credit cards were just coming into use, and I remember we had to wear white cotton gloves to handle the white plastic cards to avoid finger prints. It doesn't make much sense looking back, all I know is, it was really hard trying to pick them up.

 My next job was with an international company and I was a clerk but also relief switchboard operator. Remember on Laugh In when Lily Tomlin used to say. "one ringy dingy." That always reminded me of the old timey switchboards. My eldest daughter Cher still remembers party lines. Imagine today's kids if they had to wait while someone finished their call. I remember the wall phones with the very long cords, so when the kids were teenagers they could hide in the closet to chat in private.

The first job I had using a computer was in 1971 in Pennsylvania, the computer was so big, it had a room of it's own. Data input was on punch cards. We used to feed a stack of cards into the printer and it would print on paper that was about 20 inches wide and went on for what seemed like miles. I remember my boss, who was Cuban and quite volatile, told me that if I messed up, I would be spending time there in my pajamas until it was fixed. So of course I was a nervous wreck until I learned, if the report was going wrong, just put a punch card in that was out of sequence and it would abort. I also knew where the shredder was.

When we moved to Jamestown, NC in 1977 I worked at an office equipment and supply store. I couldn't understand why such an establishment was still expecting me to use a manual typewriter? My fingers would get stuck between the keys, after much complaining they finally provided me with an electric typewriter, it was used, but restored. I still didn't have a computer, but I did get an electronic posting machine, that I used  for printing statements. (I was the book keeper.) It was forever breaking down, and one day the phone system went out. The service man came from North State to check the lines. After he was done he came into my office, and asked me if my posting machine broke down much? I had to admit that it did. He told me I had too much static electricity and it was me that messed up the phone lines. My boss put down a plastic mat that covered the area around my desk, and it was plugged into an outlet so that I was grounded. I tried telling them I was too old to be grounded?  I wonder if my static is the cause of my car remote problems, my phone problems, and the reason I have to reboot all my electronics so often?

Manual typewriter

the Electric (Yea)

It wasn't until the 80s that I got my first PC, and I discovered the internet. My connection was dial up, as we called it. I would sit for long periods of time waiting to get connected, while all I got was the busy signal. I think I got addicted to the internet from then on. Social media in those days was basically chat rooms. Some of them were really not safe to venture into. We did have private rooms we had one called Seniors Only. Mostly people in their 40s and 50s, once in a while a kid would come thinking it was High School seniors. We could tell by their "chat" if the were teenagers, and they would be told to leave. Not always politely. I met a lot of good people, some of them I am still in touch with. We used to have get togethers, I remember I was going to travel to Wisconsin to meet some friends, Kim was beside herself, "Mummy you better get their phone number and call me when you get there, they could be axe murderers". We also had a group called the Britpack we mostly did group emails. We met up in several different states and had some really great times.

Gee I just thought I still have floppy discs, I wonder what's on them? and of course I should throw them out.


Now I have a tower with a flat screen monitor. I can scan photographs, on my printer. I have a cell phone, a Kindle Fire. However I still use VHS and have an analog TV. That's the ish part.