Imagine a world without paper...
By John Dickinson on 15th Nov 07
JD ponders about the paperless office, wonders just how green society really has become and reminds us why we don't ride on Remembrance Sunday...
ABOUT 20 years ago, just as computers firstmysteriously began to appear on T+MX desks (yes, we were latestarters!) replacing our lovely old clanky Olivetti typewriters, onwhich we cheerfully churned out reams of unforgettable prose, we werepromised, by those who could apparently see into the future, the dreamof a "paperless society.” And as I survey the paper volcano thatcurrently looms over all available T+MX editorial desk space, with awry smile I recall on a daily basis that sweeping statement from allthose years ago.
Strikes me that, far from becoming a paperlesssociety, more paper than ever before is being churned-out, lots of itentirely unnecessary (check-out the skiploads of rubbish that poursdaily through your letterbox) but on the other hand just as much of itis as necessary and as welcome as ever.
Take newspapers. These were going to disappearvirtually overnight, according to the techies, nerds and assortedcomputer buffs who told us that in future we would all be spending ourentire working and waking hours staring at screens. They were rightabout ‘working' hours – wrong about waking!
Obviously, no-one bothered to consult anyone wholived in the real world about these revelations. White van mancertainly wasn't asked his opinion – and he has continued toreligiously buy his copy of the Sun every day and lob it onto thedashboard of his vehicle where it proudly sits as a badge of honouruntil brew time. Likewise, T+MX sits up for all to see in countlesscars, vans and racehomes the length and breadth of the country and inworks canteens and garage washrooms and kitchens and anywhere you arelikely to find an off-road nut actually. Which is pretty mucheverywhere.
Don't get me wrong, computers, DVDs, the Interweb– it's all fantastic stuff, it has its place and we use it all on adaily basis but the fact is you just can't match the
simple pleasure of picking up a paper, magazine orbook and leafing lazily through. Can you even imagine carting yourlaptop off to the small room for a quick peek at T+MX during yourmorning break...or staring at a flickering screen instead of turningpages as you eagerly get stuck in to Stefan Everts' biography ?
What got me thinking about this? It was actuallythe time spent each morning siphoning through all the junk email thatarrives in my Inbox coupled to the increasing amount of paper kickingaround, despite being assured 20 years ago that paper was effectively adead man walking...I don't think so!
REMEMBRANCE Sunday has been and gone again andleading up to it T+MX received, as usual, several enquiries as to whythere were no events taking place. When told that events did not takeplace out of respect for all those who lost their lives, they alwaysretort with a "but” as in, "But every other sport carries on virtuallyas normal.” These people actually know full-well why there are noevents being run and are usually trying to make some clever point orother but whether they are being clever or simply naive matters not –they won't be riding on Remembrance Day.
Well, we can't speak for other sports andregardless of what your take is on the subject – and some people dofeel very strongly indeed – the bottom line is that the majororganisations including the AMCA and ACU feel that it should be nogreat hardship for us all to miss just a single Sunday in the year.
Some clubs circumnavigate this by running onSaturday and the Northern Experts Trial is an excellent example as tohow this can work really well. Saturday is not the normal day of choiceto run events for many people but again, plenty are prepared to make anexception once a year and the Experts gets an entry that well exceeds100 riders.
In previous years, several clubs and individualshave mooted running official events on Sunday with all proceeds goingto the British Legion. That doesn't sound too bad a proposal does it,but the counter argument goes, why not run on Saturday for the samereason, or the Sunday before, or the Sunday after?
Then again, some clubs and centres take the chanceto hold their AGMs, while certain individuals gain vital browny pointson the home front by doing as they are told for one Sunday a yearinstead of loading-up the bikes and b*******g off with their mates...