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[Alan Drover]

I've got a full motorcycle licence. My parents wouldn't allow me anything bigger than a 125cc BSA Bantam and after I passed the test on it they paid for driving lessons to get me off demanding a proper motorcycle. I was the only one in a group that had a full licence but had the smallest bike.

[crumbly65]

Regarding PC/computer housekeeping:

It seems a lot of people are too lazy or don't bother or don't know in keeping their email inbox clean and empty.
The only emails I have in my inbox are those that have just come in.
They get answered or deleted.
Answered emails are filed in various  email folders I have.
Deleted emails get deleted as I go along.
My email (and calendar) are synchronised across the cloud.
No matter what PC or phone or watch I'm using I can deal with them as they come in.

I therefore have little chance of "missing" something important.

On junk mail I scroll to the bottom and use the "unsubscribe" option.
Always there in very very small print. Takes a week or so for the spam to stop, but it does work on a lot of spam. I then delete and block them.

The other thing I do is use my smart phone's calendar.
I set up reminders for all manner of things; family birthdays, NHS appointments, when to collect my pills, car servicing, MoTs (although I now find you can subscribe to a little known DVLA service where they will text or email you 1 month before you MoT expires - it's free), etc. etc.
Passport and driving licenses too - you can add the date of expiry years ahead of 2022.
Patched in to the S2C events calendar I get all these reminders on my phone. If I have to travel somewhere I get a reminder before the event advising when to leave home and the route to the venue and any traffic delays etc.

It's just a case of being organised and not letting emails and the like build up in your trash bucket.

I’m always surprised when I find people I know ringing me up to ask for a friend’s or relative’s address, or birthday etc etc.  The modern smart phone is a hand-held computer of considerable computing power, like having a personal assistant to do all the onerous tasks such as reminding you to get your licence or passport renewed.

Alan’s quite right to point this out. People spend a lot of money on buying their phones, but rarely use them to anyway near the phone’s potential.
A bit like buying a V12 Ferrari to just pop down to the local village store for a loaf of bread…..

One doesn’t have to be a geek to learn how to understand and operate an expensive piece of equipment one’s forked out a lot of hard-earned for.

[w3526602]

One doesn't have to be a geek.....

Hi,

Patronising?

My father, foreman-toolmaker at the Ford body factory on Croydon Aerodrome left school at 12, with no qualifications. Both FORD DAGENHAM and FORD AMERICA tried to persuade him to move into their realms, but Mum wasn't having it.

Dad came to an agreement with the drawing office. They would provide him with a drawing of the item the tool was to make. He would make the tool, and the drawing office would then draw that tool.

During an argument with Works Manager (who was claiming that particular job was easy) Dad pointed out that he could demonstrate that playing a piano was easy too, but the Works Manager would still be unable to play a piano. Nobody taught Dad how to play a piano, but if he heard a tune, he could play it.

Does anybody remember seeing a huge stainless steel structure in the middle of the Elephant and Castle roundabout (South London)? Dad made the press-tools, out of Araldite, un-paid overtime, on a Sunday morning. The Works Manager commented "You'll know how to do it quicker, next time!"

Back on topic! I do own a mobile phone. I have never used a mobile phone. I find the keys to small for my non-dextrous fingers, and my hearing is not good on any telephone.

At DVLC, I was given the job of merging two huge programs (I'd tell you what they were intended to achieve, but then I'd have to kill you) ... and was then just left to get on with it. Eventually I produced a workable program, running to about 2000 punch cards. I'd arranged for the COBOL program to crack it's own dumps, and tell me about it in plain English. A couple of years later, I met my Manager in a pub. "A clever bit of programing, that!" was his only comment.

My team of ladies have just arrived to shower me.

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[crumbly65]

One doesn't have to be a geek.....


Patronising?

My apologies John!  I certainly didn't want to patronise anyone - particularly on here.....

I simply want to make the point that the modern phone is a hand-held computer capable of so much more than being a simple phone.
I have dear friends of 25 years or more standing who, when they come to visit, text me to ask for my post code.   

They have the latest powerful mobile phones.  I don't tell them to put our address in their phone, though I think they could - and should. 

Of course I appreciate there those who cannot, for whatever reason, use the latest mobile phone's technology to it's maximum.

I simply believe that those who can, should get to grips with the technology they've paid a considerable sum of money for.  I suspect many, if not all, of us on here would not go on even a green lane trip, let alone a challenging off-road site, without learning how the red & yellow levers work in our Series Land Rovers.

The same principle applies.....

[w3526602]

Hi Crumbly,

So we are still friends? 

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[crumbly65]

Hi Crumbly,

So we are still friends? 

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Most certainly John! 

I love the well-mannered debates among all the members of this forum, and regard all of them, you included, as friends I haven’t met yet…….

[w3526602]

Hi Crumbly,

One problem with written/keyed discussions, is that you can't hear the "tone" of what and how something is being said. Perhaps a bit of background music to .....

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