This Is the Modern World.

Grandparents talk face to face with grandchildren miles away, video-conferencing on a hand held tablet PC.

John and Jan came over for lunch with Jan's Ipad. After lunch we used Skype to chat with Mr E in Cardiff. It occurred to me, as the family members gathered around the screen, that it looked like a repeat of the scene of the family gathered around a crystal radio set in the 1940's.

Chatting with Mr H (aged 17) I explained that when I was at Uni we didn't have a telephone in the flat. There was one in the block and a few telephone boxes in the streets, and in the Union but.....for parents to phone their kids it was almost impossible. This was difficult for him to comprehend and I don't think he understood all the ramifications.

Anyway - the joy that conversation gave everybody was wonderful to see. I'm also giving my age away choosing a title like this.