Home Truths

OVER MY SHOULDER

I had a magic moment this morning. My son's shirt needed tucking in, and as he always makes a hash of it, I bent down to do it for him. He put his arms around me and the top of his cheek brushed against my eyelid. I was immediately transported back to his babyhood when our cheeks would touch all the time when he was in my arms. I told him, and you could tell he loved hearing about it. Kids love to hear about themselves when they were little. It seems like yesterday to us, but to them it must feel like the deep and distant past.

I remember being his age and looking back on the sixties (the decade I was born in). It really did seem like an ancient era - accentuated by black & white TV and shaky cinefilm. With technology moving on even more quickly in his generation, he must view say, CDs, as dusty relics from a bygone age. He simply couldn't believe it when I told him that email didn't exist when I began my career in 1990. I remember we had a fledgling internal system, and the day the IT Manager announced that we would soon also be able to connect with our clients caused massive excitement.

Mind you, coming back to work after ten years has also brought its own surprises. Everyone now uses email for everything - barely anyone uses the phone at all. When I worked in advertising the office was so loud, I would have to find a room to make an important call. This suits me actually, as I communicate so much better with the written word than the spoken. Yes, I have been told that this is because my brain works slowly....Presentations are now 'decks' and you never see a desk top computer. I actually went to a meeting without my laptop and got a few funny looks.

What other differences? Oh yes - no suits at all, not even for client meetings. Maybe that's my industry but I never see them in shops or magazines anymore. Finally we are freeing ourselves from the need to look like businessmen to be taken seriously. Doesn't explain why we religiously wore them to weddings though - Why?

It doesn't help that I am a good 13 years older than everyone else. I am so surrounded by fresh faces, that I am regularly lulled into a false sense of youthfulness and I get an even bigger shock than usual when looking in the mirror ...