Or so said the ten or so year old lad when he overheard me talking to my children recently.

Let me take a step backwards - as a family we recently visited the Science Museum in London and I simply love going there. One of my earliest memories and pictures is of my grandfather holding me up to get a better look at an airplane engine. No doubt he also tried to explain it in some small way because that was his trade during the war - plane engine repairs - so he should know or thing or two about them I guess.

Anyway, I digress. I’m there with my family and we are looking at the exhibit of old computers they have and my eldest is doing the annoying teen thing of “look dad, look at this one.” In the end, in an effort to stop him I go back to the earliest model they had there, I forget if it was an Atari or similar and pointing at each one in turn I say: “See that one, I’ve repaired them” and so on down the line. It is at this point that some ten-year-old kid comes out with his immortal line - one the family aren’t about to let me forget any time soon.

“Gee mister, you must be really old.”

I’m not, but I have been around for pretty much the entire life cycle of personal computing in the UK. Does that age me? Not a bit; I still feel fitter than most of my colleagues who are in some cases almost 20 years my junior.

Life is good - live it.

Tags: fun, old, humour, computers, museum, science