Another Birthday (Nearly) and 1980’s Magazines

It’s been a while since my last blog, we managed to squeeze in a few days away to the south coast just before the kids started back at school and my taxi service resumed for the teen and pre-teen. Our break feels like a distant memory, but we had a wonderful 4 days, exactly what we needed to reset. We were extremely lucky with the weather which meant that we could enjoy bike riding, walking, trips to the beach, and my kids’ favourite – surfing. My pre-teen wants to take this up as a hobby, she really looked the part, but I reminded her that it might be difficult without a beach in site. We stayed in a quaint cottage in the middle of fields and the mobile phone service was sketchy in parts and often, when driving, there was no service at all. It was great! It allowed us time to appreciate the scenery around us. I took a huge number of photos, more than my usual 2-week holiday, it was just so beautiful.

With work, the kids going back to school and their activities starting again, life has become more hectic again. It is easy to slip back into the pre-pandemic lifestyle, although we are making time to chat over dinner every day. It’s my daughter’s birthday next week and we were discussing birthday present requests with her over dinner last night. She suggested a hoverboard, we said “no”. My husband suggested a magazine subscription, the pre-teen laughed so loud, hard and long AT him…..”MAGAZINES – I’m not from the 1980’s” was the final response, followed by more laughter. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her find something so hilarious! We started talking about when we were 12 and the magazines we loved to buy; Smash Hits, Just Seventeen, Fast Forward, Tops of the Pops. We told her the internet didn’t exist when we were her age, it’s a crazy thought that now blows my mind. We had books, TV and the radio (wow, that makes me old even if I don’t feel it!). I realised the reason that the pre-teen doesn’t know what to get for her birthday is because of her phone. It has everything she could possibly need on it and the ability to get what she needs at the click of a button. Don’t get me wrong, my kids aren’t greedy and they don’t get everything they want. As a child, I remember spending hours looking through the Argos catalogue, or the “Agro” catalogue as my mum called it but it caused her so much aggravation, turning down the corners of pages and circling all the items I wanted before getting to the shop to find out what I had chosen was out of stock. So, we finally settled on nothing, my daughter still doesn’t know what to ask for. Either way, she’ll have a wonderful birthday full of lots of surprises and, yes, we did some online ordering for some of her gifts but also a good old-fashioned trip to the shops for the rest.

Of course, there’s no going back but I’m also huge advocate of technology. 2020 has been partially saved by the advances of technology, allowing us to work from home, creating e-signatures and document verification, virtual meetings, and even the ability to have doctors’ appointments online. But I wish, just for one day, the big World Wide Web, as we used to call it, and all the apps could be switched off…..just for one day. Then maybe the teen and pre-teen would appreciate a magazine subscription!