I like to think I'm comfortable with new technology, that I'm a woman who embraces new exciting developments in the world around her. I almost grew up online, dad always made sure there was a computer in the house and I thank him for that, because if it wasn't for the BBC there wouldn't have been any Chuckie Egg (imagine a world without Chuckie Egg, not even). I had one of the Motorola bricks at college and finally my own HP Desktop computer at university with shiny shiny windows 2000.
I always want to urge people to try new things, new things can be better, worried that those that are 'happy with what they have' could be missing out on better processes, saving time, seeing more awesome.
But today, today I saw the other side. Today I got a new sewing machine.
I've always sewn, ever since I was taught how to thread it up and push the foot down, I've used a sewing machine. Mum bought one for 'us' nearly 20 years ago, which I 'borrowed' when I went to uni (by this time there were other machines in the house). It wasn't returned, but it never sat in a corner unused. My most joyous moment about my new flat was having a table it could permanently sit on, not having to get it out and put it away all the time. It's a basic mechanical Janome model, you have to specify mechanical these days because the other types are 'computerised'. I discovered this is just a fancy word for digital. I also discovered you can get sewing machines with USB ports for uploading designs, but these come at a hefty 'over a grand and a half' price tag. Anyway, the time was well over due, my 20 year old machine needed to be upgraded. So I bought myself a 'computerised' one.
It came today, I just spent my lunch hour unpacking it and checking over the manual. It's pretty much the same model I had before, just 20 years later. And the last 20 years is a long time.
I'm super excited, I'm trying to get my work finished early so I can hook it all up and have a play. But as I placed it on my desk and uncovered it, I thought I would uncover the other one, just to compare them.
I suddenly had a sense of forlorn - sadness came over me. I was going to have to say goodbye to the only sewing machine I'd ever really known. There's no dials on my new one, only buttons, you don't even need to use the foot. I'm not just giving up the mechanical sewing machine, I'm giving up a way of using it. I'm giving up one of the most familiar tools to me. I've had six phones since my Motorola, built three new desktops and bought two laptops since my HP desktop. I even own a TV, I never owned a TV, only a sewing machine! But now, now I have a new sewing machine... the time has come, my mechanical sewing machine is now going to be computerised.
I'm going to give my mechanical one back to my mum, I don't think she likes the other machines in the house - they're probably 'computerised'.