Technology

I'm standing on the train - I prefer to stand, sitting feels too permanent to me - and the guy next to me pulls something out of his pocket, flicks it open, holds it to his head and starts talking. It's a phone, obviously - I have something similar in my own pocket - but for some reason it looks completely bizarre to me. He's talking to someone, who could be anywhere in the world, in real time, just through this little pack-of-playing-cards sized thing. It's like a really good walkie-talkie. This thought consumes me for a few moments.

Then I notice a guy with a little iPod around his neck, listening through chordless headphones and I get to thinking that pretty much everyone on this train has got a phone, some dollars and maybe a little expensive gadget type thing. It would be a great opportunity for a highway robber type person but you don't really see them much these days, do you? What happened to good old fashioned highway robbery? I think to myself that I miss the days of a good old fashioned highway robbery but then I realise I've never experienced one and was born a good few decades too late.

I think it was all the champagne I drank last night.