Cultured Views

Gadgets that get you lost

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Have you noticed how many people now have those little navigation aids in their cars these days?. No, Im not talking about the wife, but those satellite things that are supposed to get you to where you want without any hassles.  But do the instructions on them also tell you that the route they show is not the quickest route?.

Many of our guests use them to get to our place and they all invariably arrive here late. Apparently it is because these SatNav things display the little back roads as the route - not the expressways or main roads. Our most recent guests were mean’t to be here at seven in the evening but actually called at nine from their car claiming to be on some little isolated back road and were really quite lost. They were half an hour away!.

We told them where to find the main road and with our directions they managed to find us before too long. I suppose if you wish to go on a long drive and see parts of the countryside that you normally wouldn’t see, then definately get yourself a SatNav - failing that, you could always hand your wife the map.

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Morning tv viewing

My little one’s like to watch their usual shows first thing every morning; while I am not an advocate of plonking kids down in front of the telly as an alternative form of babysitting, the tv does serve a purpose when you are trying to get things done.

They like to watch Noddy, Thomas the Tank Engine, Peppa Pig - all safe and rather benign shows, and if you ignore the raft of advertising of toys and games etc which are blatantly aimed at the kids there’s nothing to really damage them for life. So I agree with a bit of ‘auntie tv’.

It was the same when I was a kid, I had my shows that I watched before school; Channel Nine’s Super Flying Fun Show with Miss Marilyn and Marty ( my Dad knew him ) and I just loved Sesame Street even right into my teens.

To be quite honest I don’t really remember all the advertising that punctuated all the shows I watched, even though the advertising was as then as it is now.  So for this reason I assume my kids also tune out when the ads come one. Actually the ads serve a purpose for them as they use those 3 minutes to nag Mum and make up for lost time!.

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13 days and counting

Yep, 13 days until William heads off on a plane back to Australia and he is counting the days off the calender. I’m not, but then again, I am his Mum and once he leaves it may be quite a while before a see him again.  I have to admit though that I am glad he has taken the initiative and is heading off to start the rest of his life. France was never going to be a runner for him, but Belfast was a good experience as he made lots of friends and enjoyed it.

But Australia is calling him. His mates are going to meet him at the airport when he arrives but he is on strict orders to go straight home and sleep his jetlag off for 48 hours. Then he can party for a while. He has education to continue with and employment to organise to finance it and his Dad has to organise his tax file number and medicare card.

He has a 23 hour flight back to Sydney and no doubt I will not get a moments sleep until I know he has landed safely on Sydney’s terra firma. You never stop worrying about them.

23 hours…as he gets further and further away from Mum.

Pass the bloody kleenex please.

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