People in the United Kingdom are obssesed with their mobile phones. I mean OBSSESED. They can't put them down. They can't go more than 2 minutes without getting them out and caressing them - it is total madness. I'm pretty sure there are five year olds with mobiles, texting each other during milk breaks at primary school.
This obssesion doesn't seem to have been developed with any rules of etiquette. It's seen as perfectly good manners to whip out the old mobile and text somebody whilst in the middle of a conversation with somebody else. People will text each other whilst sitting beside each other, or send text messages not 2 minutes before meeting the person they are texting.
You'll notice that none of what I have typed here relates to actual conversation. They are off course used for that as well but it's definitely the 2nd or possibly 4th or 5th function of the thing.
Another genius development in mobile technology is the insertion of a speaker into the phone so that people can play whatever pish music takes there fancy, in wonderful tinny sound so that everyone in reasonable proximity can hear. What this mainly means is groups of kids (and much more on the youth of Britain to come)playing crappy pop music on the back of double decker buses. So not only do they work as an invaluable communication tool but they provide a soundtrack for the teenagers as they make their way through underage drinking and teenage pregenancy on their merry way to the unemployment line.
Now it might be said I am a little biased. I hate the things at the best of times and so I'm possibly a bit more sensative to the way they are used when I'm out and about. It's really not the phones themselves that bother me though. I can see the point of having them in case your car breaks down, or if you're trying to meet up with someone and don't know exactly where they are.....but for something that seems like such a social device, they sure seem to be used in some really anti-social ways a lot of the time.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Scotland
So we just got back from a really, really great 2 and half weeks in Scotland. We went to a wedding, visited some family, saw a few shows and travelled up to Aberdeen and down to the lake district in England.
I thought I'd do a few posts of my relections on being back, some of them good and some of them not so good.
So first off, I'd really forgotten just how much I missed the place. Obviously the main thing you miss when you leave somewhere is your family and friends and it's true that I've really missed them. Sure, I e-mail and msn all the time but it's just not the same as having a pint, is it now. The thing is that I've been in Canada 7 years now and in that time I have off course started my own family and made some really, really good friends. If I went back to Scotland now, there are people I would really miss from here. It's either a win-win or a no-win situation depending on which way you look at it.
Anyway back to the place itself and it really is the most beautiful country. Even Glasgow looked pretty in the summer sunshine as we drove East from the airport. The grass a luscious green colour that you just don't see in Canada in the summer months. The sky constantly changing between blazing sunshine (ok - blazing may be a slight over statement) and dark clouds with the threat of rain. The temperature going up and down by the minute, where as here in Toronto it hasn't really changed since about May. Scottish people will moan about the ever changing weather but 3 months of 30 degree heat can make you long for it.
Anyway even if Glasgow was looking pretty it will always pale in comparison to the wonder of Edinburgh, without question one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It really, really is an amazing place. During the festival it is full of people (which can be a bit annoying when you live there), and every single street in the centre of town is vibrant. The pubs are full, there are people performing on street corners, every other building has been converted into a fringe venue, the gardens are full of people picnicing. If you have never been to Edinburgh then go in August (and book early!).
There are other things to I have forgotten about. The taste of bread (it's not overly sweet like in North America), the taste of milk (it goes bad after 3 days open like it's supposed to), real bacon (it's 90% meat and 10% fat and not the other way around), the glory of deep fried food. Ahhhhh - deep fried food. People look at you funny when you suggest battering up a couple of hamburgers, deep frying them and serving them with chips but mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm so good.
I had to pause for a moment as I thought about how long it might be until my next hamburger supper.
Ok, I've composed myself again. So take my advice, go to Edinburgh in August, get yourself a delicous deep fried something with chips (but don't get sauce - it's bloody disgusting) and sit back in Princes street gardens in the shadow of the castle and enjoy - there really is nothing better.
I thought I'd do a few posts of my relections on being back, some of them good and some of them not so good.
So first off, I'd really forgotten just how much I missed the place. Obviously the main thing you miss when you leave somewhere is your family and friends and it's true that I've really missed them. Sure, I e-mail and msn all the time but it's just not the same as having a pint, is it now. The thing is that I've been in Canada 7 years now and in that time I have off course started my own family and made some really, really good friends. If I went back to Scotland now, there are people I would really miss from here. It's either a win-win or a no-win situation depending on which way you look at it.
Anyway back to the place itself and it really is the most beautiful country. Even Glasgow looked pretty in the summer sunshine as we drove East from the airport. The grass a luscious green colour that you just don't see in Canada in the summer months. The sky constantly changing between blazing sunshine (ok - blazing may be a slight over statement) and dark clouds with the threat of rain. The temperature going up and down by the minute, where as here in Toronto it hasn't really changed since about May. Scottish people will moan about the ever changing weather but 3 months of 30 degree heat can make you long for it.
Anyway even if Glasgow was looking pretty it will always pale in comparison to the wonder of Edinburgh, without question one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It really, really is an amazing place. During the festival it is full of people (which can be a bit annoying when you live there), and every single street in the centre of town is vibrant. The pubs are full, there are people performing on street corners, every other building has been converted into a fringe venue, the gardens are full of people picnicing. If you have never been to Edinburgh then go in August (and book early!).
There are other things to I have forgotten about. The taste of bread (it's not overly sweet like in North America), the taste of milk (it goes bad after 3 days open like it's supposed to), real bacon (it's 90% meat and 10% fat and not the other way around), the glory of deep fried food. Ahhhhh - deep fried food. People look at you funny when you suggest battering up a couple of hamburgers, deep frying them and serving them with chips but mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm so good.
I had to pause for a moment as I thought about how long it might be until my next hamburger supper.
Ok, I've composed myself again. So take my advice, go to Edinburgh in August, get yourself a delicous deep fried something with chips (but don't get sauce - it's bloody disgusting) and sit back in Princes street gardens in the shadow of the castle and enjoy - there really is nothing better.
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