It's a running gag of mine, which has also more or less run out of people to tell it to. A take-off on a phrase which we've associated with my mother, though originally it was probably a joke by my father. A grandmother, sitting with others (let's say in a retirement village) exclaims to everybody and to nobody in particular "my purse is so heavy with the new photographs of my grandchildren that I just received". In digital terms that gets translated to "my hard drive is so full with the new jpgs of my grandchildren that just arrived via e-mail".

In the traditional setting everyone can be expected to ask to see the photos, and without any difficulty they can be pulled from the purse, spread out on the table, and properly appreciated. But how are we supposed to respond to the digital version? It's hard to visualize a group of elderly women getting up from their table, trekking over to someone's room, turning on the computer, accessing the photos, and then everyone crowding around and oohing and aahing in tones of proper appreciation. There's obvious a market out there for pocket jpg viewers. I've already got a suggestion for the first commercial.

Go to: It's been a long time, or
Go to: a petal fallen from your soul