The Times They Are A Changin’

When I first came to London in 1997 I was relatively new to emailing. I had a Hotmail account and, when I wanted to send an email, had to go about 10 minutes down the road from where I was staying to an internet café. I paid my money and was able to be online for multiples of 30 minute

I had a bonus every so often when working at schools when I was able to hook into their internet systems or the local library allowed me 30 minutes a day of free internet time.

If I wanted to call home I could go to a phoning ‘café’ where I would sit and hope that the person beside me wouldn’t have a bad connection and end up shouting loud enough for the person at the other end to hear them with or without the phone!

Now, in 2014, I am sitting at our laptop surround by internet accessible devices. We have eight devices that can access the internet. Two we have as phones and the others can hook up through free wireless and/or through using one of the phones as a wireless hotspot. 

On previous visits to London I would occasionally pop up at tube stations along my route in order to find a particular periodical that were given away free at various stations. Now, everything is online.

I can ring through to a New Zealand landline for 1p a minute or Skype for free.

Over the last few days I have downloaded phone apps that can tell me so many things. They tell me the underground systems and which stations have toilets – essential when carting four children around town; another that tells me where other toilets are throughout the city. I must, in the interest of fairness, put in a plug here – McDonald’s; whereas many other places charge for using the toilets or insist you purchase something from them, McDonald’s is free. I saw a public toilet yesterday that cost a pound to use (approximately NZ$2)! Pubs are generally free. And the clincher that will often get you past a “sorry, our toilets are not available to the public” is a kid under your arm with a pained expression on their face!

Other apps give information about current and upcoming events, items and exhibits inside the many museums, and another was made by someone who has walked between all of the tube stations in the underground system – above ground! Hundreds of kilometres – with photos and descriptions about many of the famous and not so famous sites along the way.

My favourite at the moment, because it is so helpful, is one that assists with using public transport. If I was standing in the middle of town, not knowing where I was (remember the, now outdated - unless your phone battery goes flat – London A-Z map book?) I can tell this app where I want to go e.g. a street address. It can then work out where I am, give me various ways to get to where I want to go which may be one or a combination of train, bus, walk. It will tell me of the various routes and modes of transport and directs me with maps and, if desired, navigation, how to get to the bus stop or train station to begin the journey. It will tell me how long it will take and how much it will cost. It’s brilliant.

Technology. All we need now is batteries that can handle a day’s worth of usage without needing a recharge!