There was a story going around about an airline pilot who got the sack. On landing into Auckland (I know that is New Zealand, but bear with me) he made the usual announcement, about the weather, and then when it came to the usual time check. That is what got him into hot water, as he said "For those of you who want to set your watches to the correct time, you'll need to wind them back 15 years!" It was all supposed to be a joke, but didn't go down very well.
Here in Perth it isn't that bad, but you couldn't be blamed for winding your watch back between 5 and 10 years. People said that a few times to me before I came out, and I couldn't think that it was that bad. But it is.
A few things that are a little behind – it might not mean much to most people, but to someone like me, who likes his gadgets and gizmos it means a lot. Mobile phones (not 5 years but maybe 2 to 3 years). I got "the latest" phone from Vodafone, because of the camera on it – I know that I haven't added many pictures recently, but I have been taking lots of photos. It was "the latest" phone in England about 2 years ago.
Broadband – is so far behind that most people are still using dialup internet. At the house in Telscombe, we had superfast broadband for the last few years. The government is pushing to make fast broadband available to everyone in the metropolitan areas of Australia. They have made mobile broadband affordable to everyone, which is how I'm connecting to the internet. It's not cutting edge technology though.
I came across something else today that staggered me. My ambulance crew mate had bought a car hi-fi, and mentioned that he was going to have to take it to a car stereo installer, as he didn't know how. I've fitted a couple before, and I mentioned that it shouldn't be too hard as there I thought that anywhere should sell the little connections that attach it to the car.
Over I bowled to his house and after getting ready to fit the stereo, we started to ring around to some of the car stereo fitting places (they're easy to find in the UK), and were told that the part we were looking for either didn't exist (I know they do, and should cost about $15-$20, based on the price of them in the UK), or that they are very expensive and it would be cheaper for the shops to fit the stereo at between $80-$100. After almost giving up hope, we went to a local equivalent of Halfords, and after scouring the shop's car stereo section. Low and behold there was the part we needed right on the middle shelf, for $20.
Matt was so amazed it was so simple. He's asked me to do a couple more for him and his friend. Now there is another business opportunity.
If everything is 5 years behind, then have I just turned 30. I hope so!
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