Vintage v Social media

Last week I wrote an email to an old friend of mine called "Caroline", she lives in Los Angeles and we have remained friends for over 20 years corresponding only by letters and email, in all that time we have managed to meet up only twice yet thanks to writing we have remained lifelong friends.

It seems a life time ago since we worked together in Tokyo, Japan back in the day when we were young, crazy and carefree with no ties, mortgages etc... We had the time of our lives.

We were reminiscent of letters we used to write to each other, long lengthy letters full of our latest escapades and sharing photographs of family and friends. Back then we had no Facebook, no mobile phones, no texting, no skype or FaceTime, no computers for emails either!!!!! It was good old fashioned pen and paper or a typewriter "what's a typewriter" my niece asked me the other day....

2 weeks ago I went to an antique fair which got me thinking about the past and the future as there were literally rows of stalls full of forgotten treasures of our past, row upon row of beautiful antique typewriters, abandoned but all the more beautiful sitting there looking forlorn, unloved and no longer wanted. I itched to buy one, it has been years since I even used one but sadly it would have been pointless as you can no longer buy the ribbon rolls, I don't think I would even remember how to change one, they were fiddly to do back then and sadly I can't clutter up my apartment with everything I would love to own. The stalls next door were also full of old unwanted technology which back in its heyday was the latest gadget to have or aspire to buy. Old Walkman's, cassette recorders, VHS video recorders, vinyl records and players, not many of us have a vinyl player these days, luckily for me my husband a musician kept his and it still plays!

Yes, even the music industry became a casualty of technology, long gone are the days where you literally ran to the shops to buy the latest vinyl record of your favourite idol, even CD's today which replaced vinyl and cassettes are now on their way out to be discarded and replaced by Ipod, ITunes and Spotify. I still remember being in Japan when Walkman's first came out, we all bought one, I used to get stopped at customs as they didn't know what it was and people used to think I was deaf using some new fandangled invention!!!!! A friend of ours had one of the first mobile phone inventions in Tokyo, it was a box, yes a massive great box that he carried around, mind you he had no-one to call as none of us had one or took it seriously at the time now today almost every person on the planet has one, unreal to think I saw this invention when it first came out.

Household goods remain remarkably the same just downsized yet the past is still tucked away in there with retro being fashionable, even I have lusted after the good old fashioned Smeg and it's still on my wanted list!

All the stalls were full of yesterday's forgotten treasures, abandoned technology which when they first came out were all hailed as glorious inventions, wonders never before seen and how we marvelled over their brilliance wondering how we could have survived without them but sadly just like ink and quill now discarded, abandoned and long forgotten to be replaced by social media and mobile technology.

The following week a vintage car fair was held, again beautiful treasures of the past sitting there in all their glory, these treasures though weren't abandoned or unloved, they were polished till they glittered like brilliant diamonds in the sunshine. The car I fell in love with and which I thought had the most interesting history was a 1937 Fiat model, a 1500 Cabriolet Pininfarina which was a gift to Benito Mussolini, he registered the car in his son's name Brunno. Amazing to think it has survived till today.

It doesn't seem real now when you think of all the technology we have available at our fingertips, it's quite incredible how fast technology has advanced over the past 20/30 years and yet sadly I reminisce for the days of old fashioned technology. When for example was the last time you received a love letter written with an allconsuming passion, a truly special letter from your mum, dad or a sibling. Nowadays people barely email anymore, my list of email addresses certainly went down over the years since the introduction of Facebook, Instagram and blogs. Yet I still love to write and here in Italy I found 2 tiny shops selling ink, quills and a treasure trove of beautiful stationery one was in Amalfi next door to a shop selling lemoncello and the other in Cortona.

Although I think Facebook is a great way of keeping in touch very quickly sadly it has all become a little fake with everyone trying to make mundane lives look more glamourous than they are, even down to writing about what they had for dinner last night!!! We're all guilty of it, every single one of us on Facebook. Instagram is very similar it's all about putting great photos out there but I have to admit I love Instagram and I follow some really artistic talented people who do actually make what they photograph. I'm guilty of even following a cat! Yes a cat for god's sake!!!! In my defence even though he is not making anything he is absolutely gorgeous, a great big ball of fluffy ball gorgeousness (yes I know not really a word!) his name is "Ollie the Grey" and it makes me smile just thinking about him., his mum occasionally poses him in some crazy outfits!

Personally I prefer blogging and although I am new to it and not that prolific yet it seems a more real way of writing about life and things that interest you and hopefully in time share with like-minded individuals. There are some amazing bloggers out there especially food bloggers I am astounded at some of the talent out there in cyber world.

One of my alltime favourite films is "Bladerunner", I fell in love with the photography, a dark film noir of the future, I love the scene where Harrison Ford calls the heroine on the telephone and she answers on a video screen which I thought was amazing at the time but today it's an everyday thing with facetime. Unfortunately, telephones with video answering sadly never caught and I was bitterly disappointed but probably was for the best as Skype and Facetime are both free so these days I use Facetime to connect with family in England gone are the days of expensive international telephone calls.

Even though I love technology I still have an amazing hankering for the past, a simple life which at the time seemed calmer and tranquil although it probably wasn't, I was just younger without the burdens of being an adult I suppose.

I have on my bookshelf a book called "Love Letters of Great Men" passionate love letters written by Napoleon Bonaparte, Robert Burns, Mozart and Beethoven to name a few. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever see anything like these beautiful letters in the future unless you're a hacker which as much as I would love to be as I would love to hack into MI5 and check out all their secrets I just don't have those technical skills, luckily for me, as I simply wouldn't be able to resist the temptation and I do feel sorry for hackers who are caught as I can sympathise and understand that the temptation to do so must be too great!

Thankfully books seem to have survived technology even though according to some reports Amazon now sells more Ebooks than real books I don't know how accurate this is but I hope libraries which are a great institution survive technology. There is nothing quite like reading a real book, kindle's and the like cannot replace the emotional attachment you have when holding a favourite book. You remember where and when you read it the same as when you bought your first vinyl or CD. I have a very old copy of "Pride and Prejudice" my favourite book by Jane Austin, last year I went to Chawton to see the house where she lived, the house is simple but absolutely tranquil and beautiful, I couldn't resist touching the chair where she sat and wrote. I have a thing about touching the past, wherever I visit I have to touch something, a window or stone I like to somehow feel the DNA of history. Going back to the book it is my one true secret treasure, I say secret as in that I never show it to anyone as I don't really want anyone else to touch it but its there on my bookshelf if anyone else wants to pick it up. I wonder who in the past has held and read this copy before me. It was printed in 1940 and inscribed by George Richard (Stiffin) I think that is the surname as it is written in ink and difficult to read, he dated his inscription as June 1951. I bought it from a UK publisher although he told me it is an American limited edition and the illustrations are by an artist called Helen Moore Sewell born in Mare island CA on June 27, 1896.

Helen Sewel was the daughter of a naval officer and orphaned in 1904, she studied art at the Pratt Institute and by the 1920's she was illustrating children's books. After a long illness she died in New York on February 24, 1957. I have no idea what happened to George Richard Stiffin although he wrote down his full address, he lived in Tampa and for all I know he could still be alive possible still living at that family address or have family out there somewhere and here I am today blogging about the book he used to own, which when you think about google and all the technology available on internet enabling me to track down this information is an amazing fusion of the past and present combined.

Yes, technology is amazing, it has come a long way which makes you wonder what they will invent in the next 30 years let alone 100 years. If I could go in a time capsule it would definitely be to the future to see what amazing things they invent. I think that's why I love history and technology so much, as they say in Buddism "we are all part of the universe" I think our pasts, present and future are all entangled.

"The past, the present and the future."

Antique ink quills bought in Amalfi