Is there anyone out there who does not possess a mobile phone? I succumbed just over a year ago when one of my three daughters gave me one of her throw-away-ones. She has since "up-graded" me with two others. They have owned about 15 between them since they got their first one as a Christmas present six years ago.
My eldest daughter ( who is not so hot with money) was caught in a plan and spent as much as I do on my present car. She still thinks she has a really good deal. My youngest daughter ( now 18) whose english vocabulary is questionable, is well able to communicate with the language that teenagers use with this gadget. I once learnt COBOL, PASCAL, GW BASIC besides French and Spanish and recently html but none of these are much use when it comes down to MINI SPEAK. My middle daughter sells mobile phones of course.
My father died exactly fifty years ago. He was one of the first in Ireland to own a car AND a television set which he purchased around 1952 to watch the Olympic Games in Helsinki and the coronation the following year. I remember they also mentioned that Hilary had climbed Everest successfully around the same time. Strangely enough, he did not think it was necessary to own a house. "Just another little box is not really of any great use", he would say. However he did own an electric saw and a lathe and although he was a Primary School teacher, he was able to design a balcony for the local cinema. He took me once to see "Jack and the Beanstalk" ( I was terrified of the giant for weeks afterwards) and we were treated like KINGS.
He might find it a bit more difficult to own something "way-out" in this age. I wonder what he might think if shown the list his sons owns fifty- five years later.
4 cars, 3 televisions, 6 mobile phones ( around the house) 90% of a house, a swimming pool, a large lawn mower, a piano, an electronic keyboard, a P.A. system including 5 microphones, a $3500 guitar, 2 recording studios, 1 video camera, 3 digital cameras, ( I sold the SLR's) 2 P.C.'s One Lap Top, one dog, 3 sets of golf clubs, 5 tennis racquets, 4 squash racquets, (rugby, soccer and basketball were the sports I played). One volume of encyclopedias and access to information on just about any subject you can think of (Internet).
My father travelled to Scotland and the Republic of Ireland for the occasional holiday. I have lived in 8 different countries and travelled around the world at least 8 times. I got to listen to the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Abba and Queen. I have seen the pyramids in both Egypt and Mexico, the diversity of cultures in Europe and North Africa, the buildings and analysts of N. America, the superb beaches and desolation of some parts of Australia and the picturesque landscape of New Zealand.
I wonder what my kids will write about their DAD in fifty five years time!
