wallydownundy

Last weekend Leichhardt Council organised a community garage sale day. Households were encouraged to off-load old goods one day in advance of council clean-up day. The goal was to reduce landfill and nearly everything went. What didn’t sell was left kerbside for scavengers to review overnight. By morning little was left. Mission accomplished!

During the sale I was distracted by an old box filled with old correspondence. My friends Iva and Bill were married 24 years ago. Their wedding invitation was there as good as new. One letter made me sad - it was from my grandmother. She and I shared a special relationship. She’s been dead for ten years now. There were first anniversary cards from my partner of 19 years. And letters - lots and lots of letters.

In the interests of second hand commerce I closed the box but refused to sell the container - or ditch the contents. Perhaps I’ll re-open that box another ten years from now and really review the contents. Or perhaps my son will ditch it when I’m dead. Who knows.

What I enjoyed the most was the ability to reflect back on all that had happened. That’s where electronic media lets us down. Will I prop myself up in a retirement village and scan old blog posts on an iPad? Could I shuffle my Flickr photos on an eFrame? And what about all the correspondence that I receive? Just because I helped Ashton Kutchner get to one million doesn’t mean I want his Tweets in my memory book.

The Library of Congress in the USA announced it is cataloguing and saving every Twitter posting since 2006. As there are 300,000 new updates each day the investment in data storage technology is considerable. (Until we all get a 1TB USB free with a petrol fill.) It’s nice to read our micro-blogging conversations will be stored, catalogued and ready for retrieval. 

Perhaps one day I will go back over all my postings (”G’Day old self - and you thought 48 was bad!”). Yesterday we took Ethan to the Powerhouse Museum and revelled over their exhibition, “The 80s Are Back.” There was an old mix tape - just like the ‘best of’ cassettes I loved. Those days you needed absolute quiet and precision timing with your record player to make sure the segues weren’t faulty. Now it’s a case of drag and drop with the click of options to ensure a smooth transition.

Hopefully the quick and efficient review of on-line correspondence and postings will be that simple in years to come. If not? Frankie Says Relax.