The years have flown

Having a creative outlet, be it painting, writing, or some other hobby, when disabled and home-bound most of the time, becomes extremely important. I have always loved writing, but with today’s technology, putting ones thoughts down on paper is so much easier with the aid of computers. Although my dexterity is not good due to Parkinson’s thankfully the spell checker and auto-correct facility are a huge help, otherwise you would be finding my blog entries extremely difficult to read. I first learnt to ‘touch type’ at school; a sheet of paper was taped over the keys, placing ones hands underneath the paper learning to type copying the written text from the blackboard at the front of the classroom. Long gone are those days, but I was reminded of this when I came across “The Typewriter” by Leroy Anderson where a full orchestra is accompanied by an old fashioned manual typewriter, not dissimilar to the one I learnt on many years ago. How times have changed, when an office had telex machines that spewed out long tapes containing little punched holes; Gestetner machines that used special inks and stencil paper, the arrival of the electric typewriter with interchangeable golf balls giving one the choice of two different fonts! There were no mobile phones, and yet today if I leave the house without my mobile phone, I feel practically naked. The mobile phone has to be one of the most useful inventions, and often I wear it on a cord around my neck, should I happen to fall or suddenly need help – my phone is with me at all times. Also when hospitalised, taking a phone with can be problematic, so again I wear it on a cord around my neck.