Daffodils in Nottingham
Number Two Son has just been promoted, he is now a senior analyst in something I don’t understand. He doesn’t understand it either, so I don’t feel too bad. He’s hoping to pick it up once he starts . . .
Number One Son has been doing jobs I don’t understand for years.
This, I suppose, is the way of things in modern life. We didn’t have computers in my day. We barely had calculators. I used to keep track of millions of vaccinations and the necessary monitoring using a ledger and sheets of squared paper which we used to tape together to give us the required length. Today I suppose I would use a spread sheet and be done with it, though I suspect the accuracy might not be as good. Pressing a button has inbuilt hazards, making a mark on paper is a more thoughtful process.
Daffodils
On the poetry front, I have just been informed that my long-listed poems at Butcher’s Dog have failed to progress to the next stage. Unusually, the editor has written a note to explain the selection process. The main stumbling block is, it seems, that poems don’t always fit together to produce a harmonious whole with other poems within an issue. Seems fair enough, and it’s nice to have another excuse for failure. Not that I need another one, because I already have enough and, as previously mentioned, it tends not to worry me too much.
However, it was nice of them to do it, and it’s in distinct contrast to a couple of others that I deal with, who seem to go out of their way to be gruff, or even unpleasant. That of course, is wasted on me. I’m old enough, and gruff enough to take it in my stride. I think this is because I have a balanced outlook on life. Julia thinks it’s because I am ruder than most people who are rude to me.
Daffodils
Beautiful daffodils! Being a math dummy, I am grateful for any help I can get. Congratulations to your son. It’s a great pleasure when children thrive in their given profession.
My Dd grew up without calculators. In the Navy he used to stand at a lectern with a ledger on it, just like a Victorian clerk. In later years I once found him calculating ten times nine on a machine. Calculators are not our friends. They make us less intelligent. Like watching reality TV . . . 🙂
I remember when calculators became available. They are both a blessing and a curse.
We had one at work. About as big as a sandwich box and cost the equivalent of two weeks of my wages at the time. Within years they were available in the local Woolworths. 🙂
I remember mechanical calculators – I could usually add up in my head quicker. I usually retaliate to rudeness – I just can’t help myself
Yes, large, noisy things with handles, as I recall. There must be a museum of calculation somewhere.
It’s hard not to respond to rudeness. I must confess that I am the same.
In the early days of home computers, a chap who sold logs came to ask me if I could help him to write a programme that would keep his records. I persuaded him that a large piece of paper was a better bet. He took the point.
A good point well made.
You may be ruder than some people and you may have a more balanced attitude to progress in jobs but the daffodils are beautiful
Yes, they are a very under-rated flower. This my favourite time of year as daffs start, then magnolias and lilacs. After that it’s all downhill . . . 🙂