My car registration renewal arrived this week but I don’t have to go through that painful experience of peeling off the old sticker and replacing it with the new one. This got me to thinking about the things we no longer have or use that we thought were indispensable or irreplaceable. For instance, when was the last time you actually grabbed that Melway from the back seat and looked up an address?
Like many, I am thinking of ditching my home phone as virtually no one calls it any more … only my mother-in-law and a very small number of friends. It’s also frequented by telemarketers who I’m sick of dealing with and I think its days are numbered. And last week a loud thump announced the arrival of the latest edition of the White Pages. It was promptly despatched to the recycling bin as I can’t remember the last time I looked up a phone number in anything involving paper.
Does anyone have an actual bank book these days? I can remember that being one of my most treasured possessions in my younger days. How much did I look forward to seeing how much interest would be added to the account each month? This was done manually by the teller, especially at school banking. Many readers, who use only ATMs, may be asking what a teller is, and fair enough.
What has become of the fax machine, video players and the Sony Walkman? And does anyone, apart from professional photographers, use a camera these days?
I have a paper diary and I think I always will but many of my friends have gone electronic and will never go back. I find I remember things better if I write them down … I just have to remember where I wrote them.
When you’re in a restaurant now the table plan is on a tablet and the waiters and waitresses take your order on phones or iPads, so the pencil and pad may be another endangered species.
Most of our wines no longer have corks, so the cork screw and the bottle opener are in danger. Anything else? Let me know what I have missed.
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■ What do you think? Post a comment below.
■ If you have any news or events, let me know at kevin@howdypartnersmedia. com.au
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