Sunday 14 February 2016

How Things Have Changed!


                              Afficher l'image d'origine

My first post-school job was as a Blue Button (trainee stockbroker with attitude) on the London Stock Exchange. Other than my general trading duties, I also had a lot of 'adding-up' to do. It amazes me to think that in those days the above primitive machine was as good as it got.

I often sat at my desk with a telephone in each ear, punching numbers into my wretched machine; praying that I didn't make any silly mistakes; or that some other idiot Blue Button didn't set light to my tie. For an 18 year old it was a bloody nightmare.

Nowadays all that has changed. Dealers sit in front of computer screens, and make complicated deals with the click of a button, and all the resulting accounting is centralised. It's still a nightmare, but more cosy.

I mentioned once before how I regret that my mother never experienced the miracles of our modern digital age. She would have loved Email, Skype, instant photos, and everything else that we now take for granted.

Sometimes (like at this very moment) I look at my laptop and small digital camera, and frankly I'm amazed by all the magic. We take so much for granted these days, when some of us can still remember pre-TV days, rationing, polio, listening with mother, buying salt in large blocks, and Charlie Drake.

In my pocket I have a very small torch key ring, which operates thanks to a tiny solar panel and three LED's; unimaginable a few years ago. Amazing

From hand cranked calculating machines to non-battery light; we've come a very long way in 50 years.




49 comments:

  1. It makes you wonder exactly how far things will go in the next fifty years. We shan't be around to see, and I'm not sure whether to be glad or sad !

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    1. Certain things I certainly don't want to see, but it would be interesting to see all the hi-tech stuff that's yet to be invented.

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  2. it would be wonderful to think that all future inventions were solely for the good of mankind, but, alas, I think that's unlikely.

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    1. Some hope, Cg. Most inventions are 'more ingenious ways to kill our fellow man'.

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  3. Things outside us changed very much, but did things inside us did changed so much? i am not sure.( i was just thinking this morning that i dont feel that "old" that i am...)

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    1. It's our politicians/leaders who like change. They are never satisfied with the status quo.

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    2. They have to be seen at the "cutting edge", don't they.

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  4. Hope they hurry up with teleportation - can't wait to eliminate the tedium of travelling. And you're right, it is incredible how we take all this amazing technology for granted.

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    1. I just can't wait to type India and Australia into my home B & Q Teleporter. How long do you think we'll have to wait?

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    2. Cro... if it is a B&Q one...
      it'll have been "Made in China"....
      will malfunction at the earliest opportunity....
      and send your top half to India...
      where you will be hailed as a deity...
      and be pulled around on a cart...
      and your lower half to Australia...
      where people won't blink an eyelid...
      and will call out "Hi Bruce! Howzyadiddlin?"

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    3. As long as there's a 'reverse' button, I should be OK.

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  5. Hello my Darlings...I remember him, and just like CG I wonder what the future holds for inventions. My husband is convinced that teleportation will happen in the next 50 years.
    I would rather have world peace.

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    1. Charlie Drake was part of my childhood; I thought he was hilarious. I don't suppose I'd think the same today. I must have look on YouTube.

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  6. Add to that list pre-washing up liquid and dishwasher tablet days. Do you remember how we had to put soda crystals in the washing up water to soften it a bit.

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    1. My knowledge of early washing is limited (ahem).

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  7. I used to use one of those in a London branch of Barclay's!!
    Tap,tap,tap...pull! Tap,tap,tap,tap...pull!!
    Then go and hand file all the cheques into the correct files by identifying the signature on the cheque...
    no personalization in those days....
    there was a compensation....
    I handled cheques signed by members of the Beatles....
    but all cheques were sent back to the account holder...
    no opportunity for souvenirs!!

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    Replies
    1. I hated my machine, it was like an ever present ogre.

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  8. I used a machine like that when I joined Midland Bank in 1963 !

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  9. I've shed my handbag torch for the app on my phone. I still marvel at how far technology has come on a daily basis and how it's changed my life. My 70s upbringing was one that my son wouldn't recognise. I only got my first electronic calculator at the age of 15 and probably was one of the last cohort to learn how to use log tables.

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    Replies
    1. I thought my first Amstrad computer was wonderful; little did I know!

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  10. In my school days, when a home phone was luxury, I would never have thought that one day, from the comfort of my home, I would read blogs from a little "box" and be able to participate with comments! We've gone a long way since Morse code. Greeting Maria x

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    1. I still consider my land line to be a luxury.... I don't have any other.

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  11. I'm still trying to get to grips with how the radio works! Can you imagine how fantastic it must have been when somebody in ancient times came up with the wheel? They'd be totally blown away with what we have nowadays.

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  12. How much change we have seen in our lifetimes - pretty amazing really - but I still have a hankering for the old days and old ways.

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    1. We've lived through a rather amazing period in history.

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  13. I had to use one of those machines when I worked at the Collector of Taxes in the college hols. What a hateful job in a hateful pace... the money was good tho'.
    There is a programme on the TV at the moment when a family has their house and lives changed to enable them to live in the 50s,60s,70s etc. Last week was the 60s and the 16yr old was introduced to life with no home phone and the telephone box at the end of the street. I had forgotten "Dial a Disc"!

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    1. I saw part of that programme last night, when they had a Mini, etc. Their 60's home was nothing like I remember!

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  14. I hear you. Still, that Victor Champion adding machine (?) is a beauty. I love that gray metal they used to use for such contraptions back in the day.

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    1. The writing is nice too, but using the wretched thing was a curse.

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  15. In the days of the LED calculator, I can remember my maths teacher being able to use one of those machines, and an abacus, faster than any of us could use the calculator. Watch with Mother and Charlie Drake.....happy days, although Mr Drake appears a bit pervie to an older me now.

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    1. I seem to remember there was some scandal about him, but I'm not sure. He certainly put-on a good act of being 'pervie'.

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  16. Oh Cro, I am still amazed that I can print things, wirelessly, from my computer !!!!! ....... and, my dentist has a 3-D printer to make instant inlays ..... unthinkable only a few years ago. It really makes you wonder what is coming .... I guess every generation says the same thing. Although there are some drawbacks, I am embracing modern technology !!!! XXXX

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    1. 3D printing is still in its infancy, I expect it will be a major part of our lives within a few years. Quite amazing.

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  17. I think things changed more quickly in the past 15 years than in the previous 30. The Internet and fast paced, ever changing technology has changed the world for the better and the worst.

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    Replies
    1. Everything moves so fast these day.... except me!

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  18. Oh, to be able to see the changes to come in the next fifty years Cro. Wouldn't that be grand?

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    1. It would be grand, and probably a little frightening.

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  19. when the batteries didnt come in on the stationery order I used one of those.. As it wasnt having to move the receipt paper twice it was actually quicker. Not all tech is better.

    Spreadsheets are all well and good but if the person who made the spreadsheet did a small thing wrong then it is all wrong. Sometimes you have to check these things manually. I would love one of these for my self.

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    1. I've done that too. A whole broking company's annual spreadsheet, with tiny faults all over the place. It took me months to get it right.

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    2. they still use them in "Wealth Management". that and even though they can read FT online they still all have the pink paper on thier desks. Trust me, old school is best. Also I get a tonne of paper to light my stove as they let me fish it all out of the recycling dust bins. waste not want not.

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  20. I worked for a very large and well known tobacco firm as a shipping clerk. Our calculations (and there were many of them per shipment) were made on a similar machine - division was done by turning the handle the other way and listening for a tinkle of a tiny bell! Our section of 4 girls were the first to get an electric calculator, and we had to do a demonstration in front of managers of other departments. Scary for an 18 year old!

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    1. I don't remember a division capability on the machine I used, but I suppose it wasn't needed. Simple folk brokers!

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  21. How true! It's amazing how much technology has advanced in the past fifty years. The first computer I ever worked with filled an entire room, floor to ceiling, and I had to input the data on a huge stack of IBM cards, and then wait forever to get the results. (All the while praying I hadn't screwed up on the cards.)

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    1. I still recall my days of 'Dial-Up' with horror. I'd turn on my computer, go and make breakfast, and it still wouldn't have booted up until mid-day; or that's what it felt like.

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  22. I started off in accountancy and we we're not allowed to use a machine because it "prevented one from using one's brain". Hmmm.

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