This afternoon, I was thinking of a house I lived in while in Saskatoon years back. It was a wonderful 2-1/2 story home with a small footprint. It went up not out. I remember my mother calling it an Eaton house. This company delivered pre-fab houses back at the turn of the 20th century. These thoughts took me to an earlier conversation I had with a friend. We were bemoaning the rise in online shopping for clothes, appliances and cars to name a few. Such items are delivered to front porches after being bought sight unseen. We both felt that a car needed to be driven and not delivered to the front yard. I noted I have to feel fabric before I purchase clothing items. We both felt sorry that many people are missing the cultural experience of shopping in several stores to buy the one item on our list.
How did these two thoughts become linked in my mind, you ask. <smile> Well, while thinking of the house, I realized how many people have never shopped from the Eaton or Sears catalogues. It struck me at this point, that perhaps the catalogue experience could be akin to shopping online. I couldn't feel fabric when shopping from a paper catalogue any more than I can feel it when shopping online. In some cases, the catalogue shopping was superior to online databases that repeatedly show the same item on every 'page' Yet, online shopping allows shopping in super 'department stores' with many options for each item searched despite repetition. It also can let shoppers know in real time if items are in stock or not. The downside of this is scrolling through page after page of items with nothing in stock and no way to filter the results.
So, while buying a vehicle online isn't my preferred method, people in my grandparents lifetime, bought houses from a catalogue. Perhaps online shopping is the new catalogue method. I'm not sure I'll get used to that, though. I definitely will not get used to the push technology that populates all sidebars on any online site with items that I had seen in online stores. There are ways to get around that, too. More software to learn how to use. <grin>
A song came to mind while I sat listening to the rain. It fit perfectly with the blog topic today. I used a cover version in keeping with the theme. <smile> Keep safe. Enjoy!
Everything Old is New Again -- Anne Murray
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