19th March 2023

 It’s Mothering Sunday today in the UK. Such a lot has happened since first I became a mother, but the greatest change has been the rise of IT. Whole new social rules have sprung up. I can tell immediately the likely age of an email sender by the use of punctuation, spelling and correct grammar!  And woe betide an emailer using capital letters - anger personified.  My biggest email worry is not noticing a huge mistake until after I’ve sent it. Once sent it’s too late. Forwarding can be useful, especially with attachments but, as I’ve learnt to my cost, always check before sending that there’s not something incriminating underneath! But even with fixed phone lines, there’ve also been social changes.  These days, only old people seem to use them. When I was young, our first fixed line was a party-line, but no parties were ever arranged thereby. It was strictly for serious matters only. In fact, on the few occasions it rang, someone surely must have died. Ironically, today’s young people feel the same, but for different reasons. All their social interractions are via the ubiquitous cell phone, used on the go outside, even risking life and limb whilst crossing the road. Heaven forbid that, if killed by so doing, the family fixed line at home should actually ring with the dire news. To mothers everywhere, enjoy your day.