What Was Old Is Now New

I voted!

Elections in Virginia, my home state, aren’t until next month.

But because I live overseas, I can apply for what’s called “an absentee ballot.”

Overall, the American government makes it easy to vote.

Except, you have to mail in your ballot!

That means you need: a printer, an envelope and a stamp.

Three errands for one letter!

The first stop: the computer shop to get more ink for my printer.

As I was waiting for someone to help me I noticed something odd.

Amongst the rows of high-tech gadgets for sale – drones, phones, bluetooth speakers, etc – there was one device which looked out of place.

It was a record player!

Remember those?

I looked closer and I saw it also had: a radio, a CD player and a cassette player.

Four obsolete technologies all in one – amazing!

What’s old is now new.

The Old Ways

There’s something nice about the old way of doing things.

Meeting a friend in a cafe instead of on Zoom.

Reading a physical book instead of an article on your phone.

Slicing bread instead of buying a sandwich.

These days, everyone is talking about AI.

There will be change.

Jobs will disappear.

But some people will still appreciate the old way of learning English.

I’m talking about real conversations with real people.

Doesn’t that sound nice?