Thursday 17 January 2013

Old fashioned ink and parchment

I used to keep a diary as a child (and teen, and twenty something for that matter). From 1995 to 2009 I would write out my days doings and thoughts and feelings for the day. Bearing in mind I was 11 in 1995, it was more like a list of what I had done and then whether or not it was a good or bad day. This did improve and get slightly more interesting as the years went on. Thinking about it now I feel this is quite an impressive feat. I have never been one to routinely do something, I tend to get bored easily.
Each year I would enthusiastically go to the stationary shop and look forward to purchasing my new diary. I had some quite nice ones in this time, my favourite being a deep purple leather bound. Unfortunately, about a year ago, all but two of my diaries were ruined. My cat Charlie, god rest his soul, decided to mark the box that they were stored in. And when I say 'mark', I mean wee all over it. A lot. And making them smell like a extremely well used litter tray. So they all got thrown away. Bar 2008 and 2009. Whether or not this is relevant, or Charlie was actually trying to tell me something, I shall never know. Just so you know he was put to sleep last year due to illness, NOT because of the scent marking... I loved that cat more than anything.
This brings me to my thought of the day. Its such a shame that we don't use a pen and paper so much anymore. Laptops, Smartphones and Tablets have now taken over as a means of documentation and appointment keeping. I too have now converted to using my Samsung Galaxy Tablet and Iphone as my work appointment diaries this year. I no longer keep an actual diary like I used to. This is actually one of the reasons I decided to write a blog. That, and the potential of making thousands of pounds!  ;)
So is it better to write things out on paper? Or keep them on a computer? I find it interesting the way the world is changing so fast and everything is now being done digitally. Texting now replaces phone calls or letters. I wonder if the younger generation at school is now losing their ability to actually hand write? In one sense, after the cat wee experience, it IS much better to be able to keep things safe on computers. Although I had a problem with my Tablet the other day, for some reason it deleted a load of my clients from my diary without telling me. Of course this was highly confusing and annoying. I swore at it and wished for my pen and paper back. That doesn't disappear so easily!

2 comments:

  1. It's true that we've lost that sense of 'waiting with anticipation' for a letter. Life is fast and furious, and if we don't get a text within seconds, we feel let down, rejected or wonder what the hell is going on at the other end!
    Hand-writing is so personal too. It is filled with the unique essence of that person, it is a direct link to their soul. Hand-writing is becoming an art again, and I've collected some old and-written manuscripts from the eighteenth and nineteenth century. I'll take some photos for you of them.

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