Georgia on my mind (I)…

…well not quite, it was probably on Ray Charles’ mind at some point but not quite on mine. I thought I would take a little break on updating you on Aurora and my health/medical retirement and just throw out what seems to be going on in my brain at this moment in time. I just really liked the title. So don’t worry there’s no Georgia, place or otherwise feeding off that dark grey matter.

One thing I remember as a child was being told by my parents and grandparents and in fact many adults, that “you don’t know how good you have got it!” I always thought I wouldn’t say this out loud, now that I am a parent. In all honesty, it would be wasted on Rory seeing as she is only 22 months old. A few things recently have made me despise that I have muttered these words under my breath but more in a collective “the youth of today, don’t know how easy they have it!”

Now, I’m coming in at a fun angle, I’m not about to knock schooling or exams or anything that I believe is tough, was tough and will always be tough… but I had thought this quite recently, then a bizarre event (in my mind) at McDonald’s solidified my thought process.

Initially, Rory had eaten her lunch and I always allow her a little telly afterwards to chill her out prior to her afternoon nap. So I said as always “what would you like to watch?” Her usual replies are either “Taylor! Thomas! Disney Or Sofia!” To which I turn on the telly box and put in a dvd (no issue there) or some kind of on demand service.

I have no issue, really, with on demand tv as goodness knows I use it. But it is more how the game has changed. If I wanted to watch, as it was Transformers, Teenage Mutant Hero (ninja was perceived too violent for UK audiences) Turtles, He-Man, Thundercats or Trap Door (a lot of T’s) etc I had to wait for the day it was on and then the time slot. Usually there was about 90 minutes to two hours worth of shows after school every day and then a few hours on Saturday morning. Then, I could say our lives changed when we allowed Sky/BSkyB/Cable tv into our lives. Initially there was Sky One and its VJ Cat show, which was perfect as it hosted most of my favourite shows, then cartoon or children’s channels were introduced.

Nickelodeon (Rugrats anyone), Cartoon Network and Disney Channel were the new thing and eventually BBC and ITV cottoned on, introducing their own channels and suddenly after school tv programs were a thing of the 90s. Children’s telly was available at most daylight hours and some after dark hours too, not just when we as children were told we could tune in. Note they were also aired at our prime homework time, before tea/dinner – delete as applicable. And don’t get me started on the whole ‘it’s supper’ debate, but I digress.

Suddenly cartoons were available whenever we were awake. Still, we would have to wait until at least for a specific time slot and in some cases, day as well. So there was still not so much as an on demand service available, yet things had changed. Nothing could prepare us for the rise of Sky’s on demand services along with Netflix and Amazon Prime. Not to mention the terrestrial channels having their own catchup and box set content.

Everything is available, whenever you want it and throw in your mobile devices, pretty much everywhere you want it. I do realise how handy this is and I am guilty of using it too. Although I do think, wow, remember when I had to wait for a week to see if Megatron would defeat Prime, or Shredder would get his own back on the Turtles. It somehow made the cartoons of yesteryear even more special as you couldn’t just get instant gratification.

Before I end my rant on how it was harder when I was a child as I had to wait for a week for my favourite animated shows, I should enlighten you to how I decided to write this off the wall post in the first place… So there I was, around seven o’clock in the evening a few weeks ago waiting for our McDonalds order when I saw a chap walk in with a hiking bag dressed in khaki shorts and what could have been a Mercedes F1 team polo shirt. He walks up to the collection point (anyone else wondered if Argos has taken over this fast food outlet?) and the lady asks what numbers, plural, is he here for? Hungry, no? Then I looked up properly, to realise he was in a Deliveroo outfit and not a Mercedes F1 team shirt.

He then proceeded to stuff about half a dozen orders in his hiking bag. My instant reaction was one of, oooh Deliveroo pick up MaccyDs for you… to the realisation of, oh, Deliveroo pick up your ‘fast food’ for you. Now there are lots of worse things in the world, I’m not about to say that Deliveroo is the work of the devil. But seriously, who is using this service for McDonald’s? Maybe I’m being slightly cynical as I have been known to order a Domino’s or Chinese/Indian take away. But what has life as we know it come to, when you can’t be bothered to walk to your McDonald’s to pick up your own Big Mac?

There, was my inspiration for this rant. Things do seem to be too fast and too easy at times. Sometimes in a good way but sometimes I feel we need to slow down and look up at the stars once in a while (whilst picking up your own fast food order) and appreciate the infinite and beauty that is all around us.

Now has anyone used Deliveroo to have their McDonald’s to them? Also, what were your favourite childhood cartoons?