On a recent visit to Suffolk I observed that my daughter Joanne had a new mobile phone. This thing has internet capabilities and even receives emails, marvellous, does everything bar the washing up. I just can’t imagine having to cope with that level of wizzo technology. I mean, if my phone goes off I firstly have to unearth my glasses from the bottom of my handbag, then have to locate the phone itself and hope I press the right button before it stops ringing. However, this is modern life and children are born into a world where fully functional computers are carried in people’s pockets. Husband Keith and I have more grandchildren than is affordable and it’s difficult to keep up with their ideas on a technological level. They all like reading, but while a book is relatively inexpensive a Kindle reading device, each isn’t. Keith and I end up giving money which always feels less personal than a carefully chosen gift. This made me think of presents I had received as a child and I wondered how they would go down with the children of these techno times. Mind you when we are in Suffolk we take the children to the beach and they play in the surf and waves for hours. Just as I did and my children did. So, would they enjoy the miniature chocolate dispensing machine that Keith and I both got so excited about as children or the magic colouring books that only had to be wetted for the colours to come alive. A favourite for me was the lovely petticoat my Aunt Lil brought me when I was about 12. It was beautiful white silk with lace and little red roses along the hem. I wore it till it fell to pieces. For Keith it was his judo style pyjamas which made him as happy as a dog with two tails. I wonder if our grandchildren would be happy with judo pyjamas and a silk petticoats. They just might be, children don’t seem to change even if technology does.