Good night, sweet prints

GOOGLE’S vice president says we should print out our photos or the 21st century will be an information black hole. Vint Cerf, is concerned that historians will have difficulty knowing much about us because ‘so much of what we leave behind may have become uninterpretable’.

I was already worried that our personal histories were in danger of being lost, so for Christmas we did a photobook for Fisher Junior and Son-in-Law, containing memories we have shared with them. Birthday pictures in Uxbridge, a barbecue in the midlands, and a medieval feast in Wales shared space with Shrewsbury Folk festival, the fjords of Norway and a rainy Italy. Friends, family, pets, food, clothes, houses and hairstyles – it’s all there as a reflection of the times.

By coincidence the same day that Mr Cerf ’s article appeared – in which he added it was ironic that ancient scrolls may stand the test of time better than records of our ‘advanced age’ – I opened the door to a delivery man who handed over a rain-spattered parcel. It contained nearly 200 pages of photos in two books, ordered by Mr F. They chart the World Cruise we took in 2012, and reflect many thrilling experiences from our trip to the Sydney opera house and tea in Thailand to watching baptisms in the River Jordan. All of these pictures had been lurking in the bowels of the computer, hardly looked at. Now we can flick through them whenever we want.

I love my digital camera but I will now make a point of printing out any important pictures or making more photobooks. Anyone interested in the latter – we found both www.photobox.co.uk, and vistaprint.co.uk to be good.

I attended Mayor Catherine Dann’s Civic service on February 15 at St Lawrence Church in Eastcote with other members of the community and councillors. Several mayors from West London boroughs sat together at the front – making a dazzling display of red robes – but the stars of the day for me were the school choir from Bishop Ramsey C of E who sang so beautifully.

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