Ah, the fragility of modern life
Posted on Tuesday 10th November 2009
Taking a cue from Ed’s comment yesterday, I did indeed go out to buy ice-cream. The fact that we needed essentials like milk and bread was a mere co-incidence.
Anyway, while I was at the supermarket choosing from amongst the various high-fat high carb alternatives, the power went. From bright aisles, humming cold cabinets and beeping tills to silent darkness. The shadowy calmness broke shortly afterwards as the generator kicked in. But on reduced power the tills remained lifeless. Now, this might not have been too much of a problem but the cashier had just finished scanning all my frozen goodness.
Our dependence on electricity had never seemed so important as at that moment, with my shopping rapidly defrosting and the anticipated tasting session postponed. I was highly amused then that the store still had one of those old-fashioned card swipers. You know, the one that rubs an impression of your card into a triplicate carbonated paper slip. I’m sure I haven’t seen one for practically as long as I’ve had a credit card but here it was.
Just shows that for all the magnificence of modern technology with high-def TV, bullet trains and robot surgeons, it all hinges on the constant, steady supply of precious electricity. It’s absence showed how fragile our hold over this technology really is.
So don’t throw away the old. Paper-and-pen-1.0 hasn’t crashed or suffered from a power failure yet.
