I love new stuff. Ideas, technologies, experiences, connections – they all inspire unexpected possibilities and adventures. Most of us never think about the stuff we shed as we head forward – I seldom do – so I was fascinated by this huge list of skills declared obsolete. As I was on a long flight, I had some fun adding a few of my own and making up an alphabet. There’s a few that may be obsolete in most people’s lives but still feature in mine (7 actually, but who’s counting?). Over to you to figure out which ones. And if you’ve got any additions, let me know.
A for Adjusting the rabbit ears on a TV set
B for Building with Meccano
C for Carbon copies
D for Dialing a phone
E for Eating a high carb diet
F for Filing
G for Getting down a dictionary to look up a word
H for Handwriting anything
I for Inserting a fountain pen into a bottle of ink
J for Jokes
K for Knowing how to do long division
L for Loading film into a camera
M for Memorizing phone numbers
N for Navigating with a compass
O for Operating an overhead projector
P for Paying cash
Q for Quitting work at 5 pm on the dot
R for Replacing heels and soles on your shoes
S for Setting the time on a VCR
T for Tying a Windsor knot
U for Using a beer can opener
V for Vinyl records
W for Winding down car windows
X for X and Roman numerals in general
Y for Yodeling (in my world anyway)
Z for Zip drives
