Obviously everyone is aware that the Olympics have been going on, if not, you must be disconnected from just about every form of human communications available today. Whilst all this was going on in China, thousands of miles away on the other side of the planet, I could still get live feeds via the web of the events, and could watch events on demand via digital TV (thanks BBC – great service!)
It must take a long time to make a Universe. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, you might think it takes a long time to powerwash the front drive, but that’s just *peanuts* to making a Universe. Douglas managed it with his Hitchhiker Universe, and its now difficult to imagine there was a time when we did not know that Vogon poetry was among the worst in the Universe, that the way to travel vast interstellar distances is by using an infinite improbability drive, and that the answer to the untimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42.
I’ve always been a big fan of end of the world fiction. I think it goes back to me reading ‘War of the Worlds’ when I was a kid, and seeing an early BBC adaptation of ‘Day of the Triffids’. It was repeated on a cable channel a few months ago, and although the walking plants looked exactly like large wood and rubber models, some of the images of deserted London still struck home. It seems every disaster movie now has to have that iconic image of an empty city, abandoned transport and a fluttering newspaper with the revealing headline.
During a recent car journey my wife posed me the following question
- ‘If you were to go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?’
It’s a great question - (especially after passing on future lottery numbers and racing tips had been out ruled), what personal decisions would you change, and more interestingly, what would then be the ripple effect on the rest of your life?
Where I come from we use the word ‘tight’ to describe someone who is thrifty - the word is often used to poke gentle fun at friends or colleagues. Nowdays being careful with money has become sexy, with the weekend papers full of ways to beat the credit crunch, and 101 ways to survive a financial crisis. Suddenly managing the pennies is the new cool - well, maybe not cool, but certainly being aware of, and managing all the costs associated with your household or business is now a priority.
