The march of progress

It's not only just faster processors and bigger hard drives. A couple of years ago, I replaced my 1986-vintage bike with a new one, and was amazed by the added comfort of the ride with the alloy frame and suspension on the seat column. This summer I upgraded my sandals (hard leather and buckles Jesus-style jobs) of similar vintage for modern plastic ones with padded straps and velcro fastenings. Ah, comfort.

But you know it's progress when, like on Saturday, we picked up a mid-day snack at a Marks and Spencers food store near St. Pauls - a couple of wraps - 3 bean and sweet potato, and four cheese and sundried tomato - on the grounds that at the station, the best we'd have would be roast vegetable and brie sandwiches. Twenty years ago, ham, or cheese and pickle would be the best on offer, like as not, and even coronation chicken would be exotic.