We live in a world where we have a bunch of information at our fingertips – we unlock our phones and Google to our hearts content, but what about all those random questions, why was I looking and what did I find out.
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Partakers
A few weeks ago, Dave from Partakers was looking for a volunteer to record a talky bit for WOWChurch. On Saturday I had another message from Dave to ask if I could help again – well yes I can! So I was having a bit of a closer look at the Partakers website which can be found here.
Julia Child and Avis DeVoto
Following #CNMAC12 on Saturday, I ended up reading a blog post by Rev David Green. It was his reflections on the conference. I also ended up writing an epic comment, starting from this bit:
The first thing I want to say is that I had a blast. I hardly knew anyone. One other person in the conference was a friend from r/l (that’s real life to non-geeks) and I had conversed with a few more on Twitter or via this blog, but most were brand new to me.
The whole “in real life thing” bugs me and that’s where my comment started:
“IN REAL LIFE” – this term bugs me because it almost makes out that relationships and conversations on Twitter don’t take place in the real world. Some of the blogs I read often refer to “in real life” as “in person” or “face to face”. I have two friends who I met via twitter who’d I’d class as best friends. One of them I’ve only met once “in person” and the other I have never met “in person” but are those friendships any less than with someone I’ve known “in person” for the same amount of time. Then again 50 years ago, if we met once then became pen pals would that friendship be any less, take Julia Childs and Avis DeVoto for example they were pen pals for years and years before actually meeting and even then their friendship was born out of serendipity (more info here).
The link at the end is on a blog called The Friendship Blog. Julia and Avis’s friendship actually started with Julia writing a letter to Avis’s husband to talk about knives (specific ones I think!). Julia and Avis wrote 120 letters in total before they met in person. They’d gone from being strangers to being really good friends. In total they wrote something like 400 letters, they were all curated and edited into a book called As Always, Julia.
Stardust
On Sunday, I was all caught up with the TV that I’d recorded so was channel hopping looking for something that was Sidekick-Proof and came across Stardust. I haven’t seen the film in ages although I have it on DVD. I googled it quickly to find out what rating it is, I was pretty sure that it was Sidekick-proof but I’d forgotten about having the DVD and with it being almost 9pm I wanted to check that it wasn’t higher than a 15 – they almost need to show the rating at the beginning of the film like other channels do. (I remember there being a big 15 rating logo at the beginning of my copy of 10 Things I Hate About You. It had been recorded off of Sky Movies or something like that).
Bridges in London
On Saturday I went for lunch with Brains, her base for her course was King’s College so when I told here where I’d be and asked her if she was free for lunch she knew exactly where I’d be and plenty of suggestions for lunch. We ended up at Azzuro which is this lovely Italian restaurant – the service was amazing and so fast (We asked for the bill and the head waitress person we asked must have waved at another waiter over our heads and within seconds the bill was on the table!). Anyway so I searched for Bridges in London as the restaurant is actually within the arches of one of the bridges near Waterloo station. I’m not entirely sure which one it was but having now found the website I know here to find the restaurant if I end up there again. The food was really yummy, and the service was seriously good!
Bedford Licensing
On Sunday, it was mentioned in church that another club in town is trying to get a SEVs licence.(SEVs stands for Sexual Entertainment Venues) Firstly it was The Pad and now it’s Badlands (It’s actually the same company who own both bars). Either way it’s not good and I certainly don’t want it. I’m now foster mum to a 13 year old boy so it really concerns me that this is happening in the town where I live (then again it would bother me even if I wasn’t a foster Mum). When The Pad were attempting for their licence back in about May or June, a friend of mine was hosting a party/reunion for charity – had it been at a different venue I might have considered going but it was at The Pad and at that point I wasn’t willing to go.
Samantha Price was interviewed in the Beds on Sunday this weekend just gone about protesting and calling for a ban on SEVs across the borough (just like Wellingborough Borough Council have done in the last year). This is Samantha’s quote from the newspaper:
“This is a worse location than their previous application because it’s in the heart of the town centre. Bedford Borough Council wants to promote the town as a family- friendly place and this certainly won’t be doing that. It’s inappropriate and the main reason I’m against this is that such places objectify women and I won’t live in a town where my boys grow up to think that’s ok. We want a blanket ban on premises of this type in Bedford Borough. And my understanding is there will public consultation where the council can set the number of SEVs in the area to nil.”
You can find the whole newspaper article here. Bedford people we’ve got to stand up for our town!
Love your comment on the “real life” thing and your comparison with pen pals. My mum had a pen pal in the USA from when she was a teenager until she passed away aged 50, and Liz and her family were part of our lives although we had never met them. She continued to send less regular letters to my dad after my mum had died, and when he passed away too I picked up the mantle, and now communicate with Liz by email and we are Facebook friends. Try telling me that’s not real life…
Hi Ian,
Having said all that about “in real life” another post popped up today called “Twitter friends aren’t ‘real’ friends” – a post #cnmac12 thought, you can read it here. It’s very interesting to share more thoughts about it. Can I be just as close and have just as good a relationship with someone via Twitter as I can that I met at church for example.
That’s so cool about writing letters to Liz and her family. I’d love to still be writing pen pal letters in 10,20,30 years time but I fear that as I get older less mail will be sent and e-mails will take over for everything. 🙁
Not sure whether you can have as close a relationship if it is only ever online (or by letter for that matter) as you don’t have the shared experiences that come from physically doing things together, but it is certainly a valid friendship and can be the basis for a much closer relationship if you get to meet or spend time with the person at some stage. People’s relationships have changed hugely in the past 20 years, especially with technology being the way it now is. In the past, our “network” would have been neighbours, people in a club or organisation, people in our local shops or pubs etc. As daily life has become more hectic, impersonal and isolating, other kinds of relationship have filled the gaps, online ones particularly so. I feel it’s very wrong to dismiss or belittle online friendships as they provide the human contact and community that people lack in other aspects of modern life.
I think you might be right about shared experiences. I always remember SJ’s comments when we watched Strictly. Can you believe that was over a year ago now? Live has changed so much lol.
I met Becca (@beccaspeaks) once. We keep trying to meet up again but it’s not as easy as it used to be. I might drag the boys for a road trip to Norfolk.
But we have Rickie and Twitter to thank for our friendship I think. Without Twitter we might have vaguely known each other but not to the extent that we do now.
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