The sound of progress (the lost one!!)........

I have at last found my lost blog, it was saved after all!!

Please, will someone turn down the volume. I sit here, it's now 9.37am on a lovely sunny day, listening to diggers, dumpers, cement mixers and the colourful cry of the building community outside of my window with a view. They have been there since 8am in May sometime and driving me absolutely crazy!

Now, I can understand why anyone would want to invent machinery that can cut time and manual labour, don't get me wrong, I would absolutely hate to be without my vibrating washing machine. The thought of using a scrubbing board and mangle as my grandmother did holds only romantic notions of experiencing some of life in the past, to travel back in time as it was. Taking a closer look at this progress into a noisy world though, how has it helped us, really?

Well, for starters, we can travel to almost all corners of the world, and relatively cheaply if we choose a budget airline, or drive (aside from the ever increasing price of petrol of course!) So OK, it can be great to experience other cultures and witness how other people live. This can enrich our own lives, if we allow it. It can make us appreciate what we have if we have seen how others can survive in relative poverty. Maybe travel isn't so noisy, as long as we don't live next to the runway, so I wouldn't want to do without that either. What else? The television and radio, when I can hear it over the sounds of diggers and dumpers! Oh dear, it appears I could be shooting myself in the foot now, I like both of these, a lot!

Naturally, as I have been raised in this progressive western world, I have become used, nay, dependant on these labour and time saving devises. But, hang on, how do they really save time? OK, so I don't need to stand over the sink washing my clothes, sheets, towels and smalls, giving me more time to...............watch TV and listen to the radio of course!!

My point here is that we have become so used to using these time and labour saving devises that we know not much else, it has become our way of life. We now go to the gym, jog and try out many of the interesting techniques of keeping fit and flexible. Whereas, prior to the washing machines, lawn mowers, diggers and entertainment devises, we worked out in the kitchen, the garden and in walking to the theatre or, if more inclined, the public houses for our entertainment and leisure. I find it ironic that there are so many time saving ways of communicating nowadays, the computer for e-mail, chat and of course, blogs, the telephones and mobiles and whatever other cyber links there are out there, and yet, a lot of people often complain about feelings of loneliness. In amongst the many means of communication, we may be losing the art of the deep and meaningful conversations that let each of us know that we are not alone.

So, maybe to really progress, the only noise we need to make is the noise of loving and caring conversation, laughter and the slurping of wine and munching of good home cooked food, you know, like they used to do!!