Apple – The Great
Satan
I think that I am moving into my apostate stage in my
relationship with Apple.
You must understand that this is
being written on a MacBook Air, that there is an iMac upstairs, the iPad is on
my left and my iPhone is in my pocket. If
I had to find an analogy for my situation I would suggest that it is like a
Spaniard living in Spain. This is a
Roman Catholic country in which the church has an unfortunate political and
social influence; where people cross themselves without a second thought – but
where most Spaniards do not go to church and have what I regard as a healthy
loathing of the institution. So, while I
am surrounded by Apple stuff I feel myself more and more distanced from it –
even as I continue to use it.
And, of course, it really has to
do with money. Which at the moment is
trumping aesthetics.
The Great Turning Point for me
was the latest iPhone. A beautiful thing
with some interesting features – but the price!
The price is, I think, disgusting.
It is Apple at their grasping worst, confidently expecting to exploit,
fully, their dedicated customer base.
And the Apple Watch! I have followed the development of this item
with all the avidity that one would expect from a person who was converted to
Mac when the Windows experience was one of continued frustration. My Mac (in those long lost days of customer
consideration) was a friendly machine which usually did things that I expected
it to and when I wanted something to happen I could follow simple logic and it
usually worked. Programs didn’t of
course. How cruel those words “Also
works with Mac” were on most products.
It encouraged you to buy and then to cry and the things refused to work
the way they did on Microsoft. But that
was then and this is now.
To me, the Apple watch looks like
a thing of beauty – a rather big thing of beauty to strap to your wrist
admittedly, but something you might (ha!) want.
Especially if you were an Apple aficionado com yo!
The first, and for me, crucial
flaw in the Apple Watch enterprise was that it was not waterproof. They produce a sports version of the watch
and it isn’t waterproof! Go figure! The second was the absurd battery life. They tried to take credit for it lasting a
whole day! Which means that you have to
charge it each night and so the apps which monitor sleep are impossible with
this watch. The third was the fact that
the watch came to life when you lifted your wrist, not in other words with a
permanent display.
The more information that came
out, no matter how well presented it was (and it was) just added to the
disquiet.
And then there was the
price. Quite apart from the obscenity of
the solid gold version of the watch, the regular price is high. We are being asked to pay for a fashion item
which is going to be out of date and sneered at in a year. Few people look at television via the cathode
ray tube anymore and, with the increased pace of fashion technology
obsolescence wearing a first generation Apple Watch is going to be a faux pas
in months!
I am no Savonarola, I have no
intention of jettisoning the vast amount of money invested in my Mac stuff,
just to make a point. And, my MacBook
Air was, and remains, a thing of beauty and elegance. But my next computer is not going to be a
Mac. I now recognize that I can get a
damn sight more bang for my buck by turning towards the dark side of PC,
Microsoft, Windows and Android than I can ever expect from the profit generator
that is Apple.
I still feel a bit of heel saying
it though!
2001 – A Blog Odyssey
My stats tell me that this is my 2,001st blog entry!
It’s
difficult to know where to go after an opening sentence like that – though
having written a couple of thousand blog entries it really shouldn’t be that
difficult. I do, after all, have
something of a back catalogue to draw on!
It is
daunting though – as much for my readers as for anyone – that the sheer number
of words generated means that I have probably written the equivalent of the
books in the Old Testament! Though I now
realise that the comparison I have made is a little sweeping, almost as if I am
claiming the same profundity – which I am not, by the way!
I have
never pretended that this blog is anything more than an opinionated, prejudice
filled, occasional diary, dedicated to the oddities that I find around my day
to day life – but it is also a time capsule, like any diary, and I can read
certain parts of this ‘journal’ with the same sense of discovery of a stranger!
Sometimes
reading parts of this extended reflection does not necessarily bring back my
specific memories, but it does generate responses and some humour, almost as if
I were another me reading what the former me was thinking and doing.
It is
amazing that these words are read around the world and it is humbling at the
same time. Quite what people make of
them is also part of the pleasure of writing.
And as long as I have a single reader other than myself, I will continue
to add to this quotidian saga!
And to my
readers: a heartfelt thanks!
What next?
Toni, as a steadfast non-reader of my poems, is constantly
appalled at my choice of subject matter.
On being told that one of my latest poems was about a car park (Car Park Country at http://smrnewpoems.blogspot.com.es/)
he asked when I was going to write a poem about underpants!
Which I
think is a fair point and, given the range of subject matter that I find
appropriate for my muse, I feel it is only a matter of time!
Meanwhile I
am hoping to have sight of the first few poems of Autumn Trees translated into Catalan. If my plan comes to fruition they will form
part of the complex centrepiece of my forthcoming book Flesh Can Be Bright which, as I say as a sort of mantra in the hope
that it will be true, will be published on United Nations Day, the 24th
of October, 2015. (DV)
Pillow talk
There are many hardships that I am prepared to undergo with
silence and dignity, but uncomfortable pillows are not one of them.
For me the
pillow is the central feature of the bed and where I lay my head is central to
the experience of rest.
At the
moment the experience is not restful.
Which is not to say that I do not go to sleep. That is one thing that I do with expedition
and profundity – but it is the lead up to oblivion that is taxing me at the moment.
I prefer
feather pillows and always have. I know
that there are authorities (there always are) that tell me that feathers are
nowhere near the healthiest option you can choose, but that has never been an
overriding constraint on my behaviour.
The most
comfortable pillow I have ever discovered was in El Corte Ingles and I was all
for buying it, when I was told the price.
I can no longer remember exactly how much it (it was only one) cost
because of the psychological counselling that I have had, but the sum was
vast! And more! And even I have my limits for self-indulgence!
I have been
searching for a reasonably priced alternative ever since. I thought that I had found a perfect
compromise between composition and commodification (I wanted to say ‘price’
there, but it didn’t start with a ‘C’) in a local supermarket. I thought that I have found the perfect
pillow for price and performance (see, I got the word in!) until I needed to
change the pillow and found that the store did not stock that particular type
any more.
I bought a
feather alternative and it is like sleeping on rock. Every time I put my head down I grumble. Silently, just before unconsciousness. Toni maintains that my entry to the Land of
Nod is synonymous with my head touching the pillow – but that is not true and
the ‘grumble period’ is becoming more irritating and therefore Something Must
Be Done.
I have
geared myself up to sally forth after my swim and take in the shops (never a
hardship for me) in pursuit of the perfect pillow. Again.
The British Library
After a number of years I am going to re-join the British
Library – or at least get a Readers’ Card (one feels that it deserves capital
letters) so that I can use the facilities when I visit London at the end of the
month.
In theory,
I have been told over the phone by a very nice lady form the membership
department, I will be able to get a temporary Readers’ Card and order books
which will be ready for me to read when I am in London. I should also have full access to the digital
catalogue. All of this in theory.
Today I
intend to put the theory to the test and find out if such access is real.
The best
part about it will be to watch Toni’s irritation as I am prepared to bet that
such a thing will be totally impossible with the National Library in
Spain. We shall see. And, as always, I live in hope!
