We Are Modernising

But is it good for us?

Studies have revealed that it takes on average 2.3 times as long to get a ticket from a machine as it does over the counter from one of those old-fashioned human being things. That factor rises to 3.7 if someone is waiting behind, and rises further in direct relation to the number of people in the queue, as well as inversely in relation to the amount of time left before the train is due to leave.

The placement of the defibrillator may be a nod to that fact. 

***************************************

It was a total delight to spend the morning with Ally and her fourteen-year-old daughter Heidi. Ally used to babysit the boys when she wasn't much older than Heidi is now. It scarcely seems possible to me that her eldest son is now at university and middle son is catching the eye as a very promising athlete and cyclist. I had planned to take a ride out on the bike with her husband, but work got in the way of him making the trip, just as work has always got in the way of me making trips down south to see them over the years. We hadn't caught up in a very long while.

She lives in Cheltenham, where she met her man, settled down, and brought up her talented family. I used to live in Cheltenham too. Those two facts are intimately connected. It made me ponder the strange quirks of fate that give rise to individual human lives. Ally explained my role in meeting her husband, pointing out to Heidi that she wouldn't be in this world if it wasn't for me. She thanked me! "You're very welcome," I told her. She's an awesome girl - just like I remember her mother being at the same kind of age. And still is for that matter!

It didn't occur to me to get the camera out until they were at the door. The time flew.