21st Century Man

It’s been a bit of a bonkers weekend again. The usual mayhem of excess (of course, what else?) but some good bits too. Whilst still managing to fit in a spot of late-night (and ill-advised) drinking; a lengthy and indulgent dinner out with friends; and even a token session of sex & debauchery, I also made a worthwhile foray into sorting out my life. I decided to begin by throwing away everything I own but don't need, so I went over to my other house to make a start. We began in the office on the second floor (we had a loft conversion done some years ago) and so, amidst clouds of paper dust and dead beetles, we filled endless sacks with worthless papers, abandoned bric-a-brac, crumbling books, redundant phone chargers, old computer keyboards, unreadable floppy discs from long-gone computers, hats, shoes (!), dried-up pens, broken pencils and a myriad of other assorted paraphernalia that had gathered itself within our previously over-cluttered lives. The paper-shredder was on overtime. We felt good, and after several hours of this we decided to reward ourselves with a glass of chilled wine. Whilst recognizing that we have only tackled the very tip of the iceberg, we nevertheless felt that we’re on the road to minimalism. Yay!

‘Tip of the iceberg’ is a cliché, of course. But it’s an apt metaphor to use (and any would-be purists who might argue that it’s not even a metaphor, or that it’s a simile instead, are wrong). It’s apt because it accurately describes the state of our efforts in comparison with the magnitude of the task. However, I noticed a cliché being used in a television programme yesterday that I thought was inappropriate and somewhat ill-used. I heard someone say that some new underwater exploration was being undertaken using “space-age technology”. Now, what does that mean? What categorizes the “space-age”? If you remember that exploration into space began in the 1950s, does it therefore mean that the technology being used today is almost fifty years old? In that case, the technology used by these deep-sea divers might be the equivalent of Bakelite telephones, eye-level grills, Tupperware containers, mono-speaker record-players, the Ford Prefect, non-stick frying pans and the invention of the Hula Hoop! Doesn’t sound very “space-age” does it? Yet all this technology was in use at the same time as the space age began. So, television voice-over writers, be careful how you use the language. Why not leave it that the divers of today are using the “latest” technology? Isn’t that enough?

Anyway, before my soap-box collapses underneath me (and before you start, I am being ironic), I’d better get on with some work.

Happy Monday, everyone!