My wife and I moved one step closer to total non verbal communication this weekend. We, or rather she, installed a wireless router meaning that we can sit in separate rooms, surf the net and send each other emails. Despite this new found virtual freedom we haven't completely ex communicated each other, we've made plans to meet in a chat room during the week.
Having wireless Internet means you really can take the laptop anywhere. Why right at this very moment I am taking a loaf out of the oven and I'm not even in the kitchen. Luckily for you the reader that this laptop doesn't have a web cam aye?
Going wireless is all about convenience isn't it? Well that's what they - those that make money from you buying their wireless router - would very much like you to believe. And in a way it is, but me being able to check the overnight soccer results in bed this morning and not five metres down the hall in the study is not so much convenience as it is just plain laziness.
Isn't it interesting how the definition of the term 'convenience' has changed since our parents day? Back then it was convenient that the corner store stayed open to lunch time on Saturdays, not that anybody ever went to the shop on Saturdays because the weekend was time for spending with families and relaxing after a week of work. Now days we see convenience as the entire family being able to waste their days away on wireless Internet all at the same time.
There is no bigger bastardisation of the idea of convenience than the fast food chain and there is no bigger bastard than McDonald's who, despite a recession, have decided to open more stores across New Zealand, 30 in fact. Now it's not like we don't need more Golden Tits around the place, why even this week a study conducted by Stats NZ showed that consumption of takeaways has increased by $10.5 million. Now that's convenience for you alright. Convenient for the bastards at McDonald's.
Yes buying the family dinner from Maccas is handy, especially on that week night when the kids had soccer practice and you worked late and traffic is shit, but 10.5 million is a lot of those nights. I think people misconstrue just what Maccas and their brethren offer in these difficult economic times. A normal sized meal will cost you $8 - $10 which I would wager is actually more than it would cost to make a homemade equivalent, unless of course your idea of a meal is a 1kg block of cheese. And lets not forget about the nutritional content of the Big Mac vs the seasonal stir-fry...
Don't you just love the way chefs tell you that their creations are 'fantastic dishes'? Well they would - they're not likely to tell you it's shit are they? Never trust anyone with a vested interest I say.
There is a less obvious downside to convenience, especially when the consumption of food and drink is involved; the rubbish it produces. I challenge anyone, even a blind man, to drive down any suburban street in this clean green country of ours and count how many fast food wrappers, empty coffee cups or squashed water bottles they see. A cup of watery coffee from the servo might be convenient on the way to work but the global warming that the empty will add to isn't.
Maccas might very well create 4000 new jobs with their expansion, all of which will be taken up by teenagers who will finally be able to buy the P and booze they've been gagging to experiment with, that's a plus, but they'll just add to the avalanche of crap that already has a stranglehold on our stretched infrastructure and choking ecosystem. And who has to pay to clean this ever increasing pile of convenience up? You and I do, through our taxes and rates. Now how convenient is it that we pay twice for convenience whilst the likes of Macca's not only don't pay nuffink, but actually make money out of our laziness? Dang. That shit is whack.
This blog is fantastic, by the way. And fresh. And not at all detrimental to the environment despite being terribly convenient.
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