...it is with surprising delight that I stumbled upon this such structure in Birmingham yesterday.
Not quite sure what it is, but presume it's a parking lot for all the Polo Playas the city is manufacturing at one given time.
Don't you just want to run your fingers over it? You can't. The discs at close range are about two feet across, so it's really just nice to stare at.
That's the only picture I took in Birmingham.
Partly because I was flippen busy, and partly because it's cold up there, so couldn't be bothered. Up
Next week I'll be in Dublin and Belfast. The week after I'll be in San Francisco.
By the time November rolls around I'm going to be ready for a nice, long hibernationus domum.
Of which I'll eat cheese and Horlicks and emerge on the other side with a magnus asinus.
I need to marvel at advancement for a second. At how advanced life is here.
If there's one thing that I have noticed living here, in another market at least, is how fucking fast-paced this place is. From South Africa, an emerging and high-growth market to the UK, a mature and already-rich market, it's hard to keep up.
You can watch TV on your laptop here. Not YouTube videos, but the whole of channel 4, which shows everything from amazing documentaries to series. If my Ozzie flatmate is downstairs on the vino and watching a chick-flick, (like every night. This seems to be a recurrence at the moment. Sigh. Not sure why, but it's fucking out my livingroom time), I can always go upstairs and watch my programme in bed, even if it's showing on the TV at the same time downstairs.
This blows my mind, it's incredible. The clinch? You have to have a British IP address to watch it.
The technology prices differ so much from that of South Africa too. Because it's been around for ages, and supply and demand is so much greater. So you can get a full data package, endless calls, smart phone, the whole deal for £25 a month here.
You can top up your travel card online, you can buy clothes from at least 3 different department stores online.
And now, you can watch YouTube, see a chick wearing a jersey you like, and click through to a place where you can buy that exact jersey.
You can shop from YouTube in the UK. Have you ever?
There are pro's and cons to living in such a fast-paced, technologically infused society. (I speak of London, not necessarily Doynton, Devon). It's tiring, you're constantly having to adapt to a new product or service before you've got used to the old one.
But it's also unbelievable to watch what's going on around me at the same time.*
*Geek-gasm over.
4 comments:
In terms of buying stuff online, it's really challenging to find anything that you can't get online :P
But the kicker for me is sales. During the year, if I find something I like but it's a little pricy I'll go and find the item in the online and bookmark it. Then when sale season starts you buy it online and the price plus delivery is cheaper than the original price. Also, the item is coming straight from a warehouse now so it hasn't been hanging in a store all season.
And the reason that that works is because "Sale" here, really means it! Just you wait for the first week after Christmas sales...
Rachel - oooh! See? I'm learning so much about how people shop here, and how advanced they all are. I've met people who haven't' visited physical stores in ages, because they just do it ALL online.
I still feel like there's something special about going into a store though. So it's going to take me time.
There's also not so much fraud going on here as there is at home, let's be honest. So handing over credit card details online isn't such a thing.
Can't wait for those Christmas sales!!
I think there is huge potential for internet TV. Unfortunately it will be another 5 years at least before SA catch on. They only have unlimited broadband for a few months now.
I lived in the UK for a decade and came back to SA 2 years ago and want to pull my hair out with the broadband prices here.
Not only is South Africa falling behind everyday but the rate of change in the rest of the world is accelerating. Technology is racing away from us. AND even if we get the technology the oligopolies that operate here are sure to invent super complex pricing packages designed to rape your wallet anyway.
We just don't get it in SA.
Free banking is something I also miss. Costs me R20 to draw cash from the ATM. Can you believe that?
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