My mother is a woman ahead of her time.
When we were children, she had strong views on smacking. We were never smacked, and she hated the thought of any child being smacked. She used to say “I think it should be made illegal”. I don’t imagine many people in the 1960s would have imagined that to be a serious possibility.
I have a very clear memory of a conversation which I can’t place exactly in time, but I know it must have been before 1979. She said “I’m sure that in the future you’ll be able to do your shopping on the television.” We all laughed uproariously, but she stuck to her guns. “No, I’m serious. You’ll see. You’ll be able to point to things on the screen, and push a button, and they’ll be delivered to your house. I don’t know how it’ll work, but somehow everyone’s screens will be connected up to the shops.” I remember she also thought it would be a bad thing, isolating people in their homes, denying them the opportunity for daily local chats.
They should get her onto global warming.
she's brilliant! when the internet was first becoming popular there were all these heady uses that people were predicting for it.... but of course mostly it's just one big shopping mall.
ReplyDeleteand so we all blog to make up for missing the chats over the counter at the corner shop.
Home shopping, global warming, hard to say which has been more damaging to human civilisation as we know it. Your mum is, clearly, as you say, a woman gifted with Cassandra-like insights. If only the Met Office would listen more to people like her.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have a very cool mom!
ReplyDeleteOh, the internet. I know people who do their food shopping online, even though they live within walkig distance of a grocery store.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I agree with you Laurie. You can shop, yes, but there's blogging, Facebook, You Tube, Myspace, Bebo etc etc. It's a giant social mixing machine.
ReplyDeleteWhat a prescient woman. Did she ever mention any lottery numbers?!
Btw, just saw your favourite book list. Atonement and The Tiger who Came to Tea are two of my favourite books too...
SAHD - "Tiger" is a fabulous book, isn't it? The Dad has a rather gormless expression on his face, but he does save the day with his clever suggestion of going to a cafe, so I think he passes muster. Do you think the ginger cat they pass on their way to the cafe is, somehow, the tiger?
ReplyDeleteWow, The Tiger Who Came to Tea brings back memories. I loved that book when I was little.
ReplyDeleteI must check out Amazon or ebay for a copy. My eldest, 6 year old Miss E loves tigers.