The times they are a changing….

So this is the story.  A friend of mine was in South Africa on holidays in 2002.  Having had a few too many to drink he found himself alone and drunk in area of town he didn’t want to be in.  With that he pulled out his trusty Irish mobile to get some directions.    The problem was, he couldn’t ring Ireland, because South Africa is on the same latitude as Ireland, so everybody would be in the same time zone. Instead he rang Sydney Australia, where another friend was able to get on the internet, fins out where he was, and then direct him to his hotel.  He called australia from his irish mobile to get directions in a small town in South Africa.  The thing is I used to think this was a great story.  And at the time it was.  It was a clear demonstration of the arrival of the new digital globe.  The story was revolutionary.  But not anymore…    I found myself telling this story tonight, and discovered fairly quickly, that it wasn’t a story anymore.  It was a grandads tale.  I found myself wondering why he hadn’t just accessed google maps mobile. You see even then, five years ago, (dear lord it’s that long), google maps didn’t even exist.  This was ground breaking stuff.  Of  course this is coming from someone who still qualifies stories with,  ”You have to remember that this was before  we had mobiles”. Anyway, I had to get it off my chest.  I still haven’t worked out whether this is  about how much technology has changed us, or how I’ve been generation gapped.  Time will tell….

Gone fishing

I’ve only been on the job three days and already I’m slacking off.   Tomorrow morning I head to gay Paris where I will be supporting the Irish rugby team in their ever more unlikely campaign to get out of the group stages.

While I’ll be spending most of my weekend soaking in the atmosphere and alcohol, I will be taking some time out to check out the Velib, Paris’ public service bike rental scheme, so expect a full review on Monday.  And of course I’ll be keeping an eye out for anything kooky and French that could be worthy of TomatoStick’s attention.

Bon weekend, et Viva La Difference!

BigRed