Christmas appears to have come early for one Sepia Saturday participant. Our theme image this week features a party where the participants are wearing name tags and my picture also shows a party where the participants are wearing name tags. I have a feeling that the cute little chap in the centre of the picture is me although it may be my brother Roger. The occasion is undoubtedly one of the Christmas parties hosted by the factory where my father worked - the Mackintosh Toffee factory in Halifax. If I do not feature on this photograph there are lots of other similar ones which include my smiling little face. The interesting thing is not so much the picture or the identification of the sibling - it is the tortured process which has brought the picture to my blog.
It all started on Tuesday when I was walking through town feeling sorry for myself. My route took me passed the Apple Store and my legs took me reluctantly inside. One thing led to another, and one thought led to another. The wise words of some long-gone relative seemed to echo through the showroom : "there are no pockets in shrouds!". Within 10 minutes I was walking out of the store with a brand new iMac under my arm. Since then it has been a migration of epic proportions from the tired familiarity of a PC to the different world of the Mac Operating System (it is twenty years since I used a Mac - back in the days when they were boxy TV monitors).
It took me most of the first day to find the on/off switch (a mere dimple in the sculptured metal superstructure) and most of the second day was spent in a fruitless search for an optical drive (it would seem that such things have been consigned to the technological junk-heap). Whilst most of my essential programmes and devices - such as my beloved scanner - have made the journey with me, they demand new approaches and new methodologies. The fact that I am (hopefully) able to publish something on my blog this week is little short of a miracle. The fact that it (hopefully) includes a scanned image is astonishing.
The new computer is, I suppose, an early Christmas present (Isobel was going to buy me a new vacuum cleaner so, hopefully, I have forestalled that). Like with the little lad in the photo, it is a present from Macintosh, although my recent experience has proved the truth of yet another family saying : "there's no such thing as a free lunch".
For more Sepia Saturday presents take a journey to the Sepia Saturday Blog
Good luck Alan in switching to the new Operating System of a Mac. You are a braver lad than I am, and I'm a lassie. But I do envy you, because I'm so tired of all the problems my PC has given me this year. Yay Alan the Brave!
ReplyDeleteAlan 'the Brave' - your new sobriquet? I really enjoyed the way you tackled this post. Like a good story, it has a beginning, a middle and an end. The photo is great, too. As for PC v Mac - I believe supporters of the latter get quite passionate about it!
ReplyDeleteBrave or not, some of us might think you've gone over to the dark side, Alan. Recently I had the identical frustration trying to manage a Mac that belonged to my father. It felt not unlike my first adventures behind the wheel of a British automobile. All backwards on the wrong side and with a different vocabulary to boot!
ReplyDeleteHappily, toffee does not require an operating system.
OMG - your father worked in a Toffee factory? Was he allowed to bring some home from time to time, I hope? We love good English Toffee. Almond Roca is okay, but we ran across a small company making THE best, soft-creamy, English Toffee we'd ever tasted a few years ago & for a while we bought pounds of it to give to everyone in the family for Christmas & other celebrations - including ourselves, of course. But as the company grew in popularity, so did their prices & now we can only afford to buy a little here & there for ourselves which is too bad. As for that Macintosh Apple - good luck. I had to work on one a few years ago & it was so different from what I was used to, it was terribly frustrating. I'll stick to Microsoft as long as I can stay away from Windows 8.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Apple family. We are an Apple family. It doesn't take long to get used to the new system. I've forgotten how to use Windows. Well done for getting a photo scanned and a post published. Love the old Christmas Party photo. Children look calmer than today's kids.
ReplyDeleteOur daughter left her Mac with us when she went to England some years ago, but I never got the hang of it I must confess, and there are a number of programs that are not compatible with Macs, for example Legacy, the genealogy program I use. Good luck with it though, and very clever tie in with the photo at the toffee factory. Our son worked in a chocolate factory and we enjoyed the benefits of his staff discounts.
ReplyDeleteBrave move Alan...were you feeling ready for a new challenge after your holiday? hope it gets easier. A Xmas party hosted by a toffee business...now that really is a case of being let loose in the lolly shop.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting closer and closer to a new computer; I dread the new Windows. Your struggles with your new Mac are NOT helping me make the decision! I suppose I'll go kicking and screaming into the next level, though.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad your Mac wasn't in a big box from McDonald's.
ReplyDeleteYou demonstrate the perfection of Sepia Saturday: it's not so much about the photo as the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the Mac. Prove once and for all that old dogs can still learn a new trick or two.
You made me laugh again! A computer vs a vacuum? No contest!
ReplyDeleteThe work parties for kids seem to have disappeared today? We always took our kids but profit has taken over now!
I am smiling widely as I read this post. A miracle indeed!! I just love that your father worked in a toffee factory - every child's dream come true surely?
ReplyDeleteI suppose you could equally have titled your post 'Toffee Apples'. Welcome to the Mac fraternity. I love mine.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if my dad still has his santa costume tucked away in a cupboard? He used to appear in it at some stage at every family Christmas and hand out little presents that he and my step-mother had shopped for all year.
ReplyDeleteYour santa has a very long beard:)
Hurrah! far from the dark side, I think you’ll soon see what we Mac lovers are always going on about. I switch happily between my Mac and my Macbook and I’m never far from my iPad. On the other hand I don’t own a smart phone of any kind.
ReplyDelete