Lionel Strong

I was born into a time of silence where the only noise came from sitting around a radio at night

I have witnessed the birth of television, my first addiction

The demise of the all mechanical machines like the, make an error and you start again, typewriter.

The dawn of home computers with screens of brilliant black and green,

The explosion of tennis, if you can call two white dashes and a dot tennis, on the wonderful new Atari,

The arguments about why Apple would never catch on as a brand.

The creation of new languages like COBOL and FORTRAN, which I took to like a eagle to water.

The rise of Microsoft, which I sadly never considered buying shares in, flash in the pan that it was.

The birth of the internet, which would never take off.

The demise of the communication device that came wired to your wall and the rise of the mobile that looked more like a brick than a phone.

Social media that made us all antisocial and the demise of face to face communication.

Which finally leads me here to today.

Which means I am old!

Something that seems to worry others far more than me.

I am also, as I have been informed, grumpy, though I would rather define it as intolerant of those unwilling to take the time to have a considered discussion.

I learned long ago two things,

Firstly, that the world is a wonderful place and people are generally nice to be around and,

Secondly, that all the good stuff, the truly wonderful places, the great adventures, the thrilling and the chilling sit quietly within ones mind waiting a chance to be heard.

Which is why I write.

And when I am not I simply sit upon my mountain top with my wife, children, dog, cats and army of native wildlife and give thanks for still existing and still being able to put cursor to screen.

My how the world has changed!