Got thinking
- Thread starter postman
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fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
I think broadband has been a massive boost for smaller businesses - only 10 years ago, we were sorting communications between sites over 56k modems, then got stung for ISDN 128k - big cost. Finally got 'expensive' broadband. It's now so cheap.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I think it has been a big boost for everyone.
Apart from the time saving of a fast connection, it is a big money-saver too - I managed to run a up a £100 dial-up bill in just one month! I now pay £14/month for a 4 MB connection (used to be about 5.5 MB but YouTube says it has slowed down ...) and could get it cheaper.
The company I used to work for pre-broadband had an ISDN link but when you had about 25 people trying to use it simultaneously, it was pretty slow!
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
Jo's posts in the tattoo thread reminded me that I remember dad going to the market and returning with half a pig, split lenthways. I also remember a market shop where we bought duck and goose that was slaughtered there and then and then put through a machine to pull most of the feathers off.
Our local green grocer was in a corner shop with a dirt floor, a parrafin lamp and a set of proper scales with iron weights. Potatos were still covers in mud and poured straight into the shopping basket or trolley before the otehr veg was dumped on top.
We sold round Greek bread in our shop and we had to hand slice the bread for customers.
We also had a tin bath tub and outside toilet.
Dad's first new car was a Riley Elf, like a mini but with a boot.
Our local green grocer was in a corner shop with a dirt floor, a parrafin lamp and a set of proper scales with iron weights. Potatos were still covers in mud and poured straight into the shopping basket or trolley before the otehr veg was dumped on top.
We sold round Greek bread in our shop and we had to hand slice the bread for customers.
We also had a tin bath tub and outside toilet.
Dad's first new car was a Riley Elf, like a mini but with a boot.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
I was still doing that, until July this year, about a month before they turned the analogue off.
Memories, good grief. Our local butcher had sawdust on the floor, I remember the unique smell of it mingled with meat, and crouching down to make patterns in it while Mum bought liver or mince.
I remember sitting down and working out how old I'd be in the year 2000 (The Future) and being very pleased to find I'd probably still be around, and only 31 years old.
When I was about 8, Dad brought a desk calculator home from the office. It had one of those green displays that looked like lit up wire. He wrote out a lot of sums, did them on the calculator, and then got me to do them on paper to check if it got them right. Clever way to get me to do maths. Occupied me all weekend.
Phones with curly wire, and dials.
I don't know if it was ever thus, but it seems that more and more of the technology we have now is beyond most people's understanding (or rather our desire to understand it - we just use it). Was it the same with the wheel, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, the aeroplane? Maybe it was, but anyone with a little mechanical nouse could look at it and see how it worked. What percentage of smart phone users know how it works?
As to where we go from here... Seems impossible to predict. I know one thing, it's 2011 and I still haven't got a hovercar.
Silver Fox
Guru
No PS3, no mobile phones, no internet, no FaceTube, No Health + Safety regs, when I was a lad I played out with my mates, fell out of trees, ran the sack race and played conkers at school, got the cane for being naughty, all when I was lad.
And you know what I survived it all, youngsters these days, wrapped in cotton wool bless 'em.
And you know what I survived it all, youngsters these days, wrapped in cotton wool bless 'em.
goo_mason
Champion barbed-wire hurdler
- Location
- Leith, Edinburgh
I remember getting my first 'digital' watch like that - a Commodore. You pressed the button and the time was shown in red LEDs. Ah, memories!
- Location
- Next door to Mr Benn at No 54
Thursdays is still half day closing for a lot of shops round here, and very few open on Sundays. Some shops are closed all day Mondays as well.
