Feeling My Age

Wife gave me an iPod for my birthday a couple of years ago to replace one I’d somehow managed to lose on a train. Click to zoom image and read the loving dedication engraved on the back.

By last night the signs of the times were already visible in the huge shop windows of London’s West End – Top Shop, Benetton, Tezenis, Coast, Monsoon, French Connection, Ted Baker, H&M, Banana Republic, Hobbs, Barker, Boss…

The Boxing Day Sales were set to begin two days early this year – on Christmas Eve – with big banners in every window proclaiming 50%, 60% or even (in one case) 70% off.

Everywhere, that is, except the gigantic and opulent Apple Store on Regent Street – which was still open and bustling at 9:30pm on a Friday night. As far as one could see,  the expensive hi tech gadgets were still flying off their shelves at full price as fast as people could buy them.

I bought my first Macintosh in 1985 with 128k of memory plus an Apple external floppy drive and an Apple Imagewriter printer. All cables required came in the box, and each cable and every port was clearly marked. I had the whole thing set up & ready to go in about ten minutes flat.

On turning on the power, the screen lit up with a little picture of a floppy disk with a blinking question mark.  I rummaged through the packaging and sure enough there was a floppy disk marked ‘Macintosh Guided Tour’. Slipped it in the drive, which started whirring, and the famous “Happy Mac” icon appeared on the screen.

Just now when I got the old machine out from the cupbpoard and booted it up to take some photos, my kids thought that Happy Mac image looked “adorable”. The machine’s plastic casing has yellowed with age, and by today’s standards the keyboard and mouse look big and clunky. Yet in its day it was a masterpiece of engineering, with a tiny desk footprint that meant you could use it almost anywhere in the house. Click below to view the pictures on Flickr…

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