Scratch

Here you will find older scratches, musings and other detritus that once were located on the front pages, but have now faded.

Filed away here to collect dust and cobwwwebs in perpetuity, links may break, facts may change and data may corrupt.

On occasion I may come down here to tidy, but for the most, I prefer to leave the past where it lies.

 

Oystercard

Having been a frequent user of the Tube for some years, I was overjoyed when, in 2003 they introduced the Oystercard to make things more efficient and effective. And to all intents and purposes it has. One glitch in two years ain't bad..

The idea was simple. Gone would be the old paper cards prone to such issues as being chewed by the machine, being thrown away with receipts, absorbing coffee spills and perhaps most annoyingly, just degrading over time. In their place, a rechargeable smartcard that could withstand the maulings of a dog, being immersed in a majority of non chemical spills without disolving and, although probably not something that is shouted about, strong enough to jimmy open a door lock. And it doesn't stop there. Only last week there were mutterings of Octopus an extension of the Oystercard in the small purchases market eg milk, parking etc.

Convenience and simplicity through tehnology.

Before the Oystercard, I occasionally forgot my season ticket, had it mauled "I'm sorry I can't come in boss, but the lizard ate my travelcard", but now I just have it wedged into the deepest pocket of my wallet so that I can never loose it/forget it. Its just a simple matter of waving my wallet, or if its very cold waving my wallet in my jacket pocket, over the reader.

Of course when it goes wrong it goes really wrong.

Ticket barriers were left open and travellers showed passes to staff.

Do you know how inconvenient it is to show your pass when it is wedged somewhere in a bottom compartment of a wallet, in a pocket that you could loose a small panda in, let alone a small piece of leather. All the time people surging by, trying to trample both you and the ticket guard to death, not through any particular malice, but just because you are there. It was at this point my brain decided to remember a piece of writing by Douglas Adams from the The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy:

Mr. Prosser said, "You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time, you know." "Appropriate time?" hooted Arthur. "Appropriate time? The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked him if he'd come to clean the windows and he said no, he'd come to demolish the house. He didn't tell me straight away of course. Oh no. First he wiped a couple of windows and charged me a fiver. Then he told me." "But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months." "Oh yes, well, as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything." "But the plans were on display..." "On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them." "That's the display department." "With a flashlight." "Ah, well, the lights had probably gone." "So had the stairs." "But look, you found the notice, didn't you?" "Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display on the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'"

And all the time the technophobes with their little paper cards stream through. Its enough to make you want to take there little bits of paper and rip them up in a menacing manner. They may have one a battle today, but how I will laugh when the revolution comes and they try to hide behind there pieces of pulverised tree....

11 Mar 2005 8:17 | (0) comments | Technology

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