I wish... I still printed my photos and put them in albums (part 3)

I picked up the first memory card. I would start with the oldest photos and work my way forwards in time to the newest photos. That would make sense.

I put the memory card back down. I'm not a big fan of sense. Where's the fun in that?

So I picked up the last memory card, number 13, loaded it into my Samsung ES75 camera, connected it to my laptop with a USB cable, fired up the flux capacitor, and accelerated to 88 miles per hour.

My nephew Toby, ladies and gentleman. In case you're worried about saying something un-PC, Toby is healthy in every way, including his eyes. Cheeky monkey.

This was taken on a short cruise to Bruges in May 2014 for my Dad's 60th Birthday. Unfortunately the sea was so rough that we couldn't dock in Belgium so instead we bobbed around in the channel for two days.

My favourite photo from one of seven weddings I went to last year. The bride's name was Holly and the groom's name was... Darren? I think? I can't remember. They are friends of my friend Steven.

Steven asked me to be his plus-one at the last minute. Everyone assumed that I was his gay lover.

Which I'm not. Just to clarify.

Firle Beacon in August. Immense. The people in the photo are my friends Rupert & Nicky and Nick & Anna. I went for a walk and took some photos because five's a crowd, right?

Nicky & Rupert organised a weekend of camping because it was their last chance before they have a baby. It was very sweet of them to invite me and I absolutely loved drinking and chatting with them around a camp fire and then walking onto the South Downs the next day.

A summer sunset in Buxted Park. I adore this place and walk there regularly all year round. The way the sun illuminates the long grass like this and a breeze ripples through it in waves is an awesome performance that I just have to stop and watch.

I have seen so many photos that make me smile on just 1 memory card. What will I find on the other 12? 

What do you wish you could do that would put a smile on your face?

I wish… I still printed my photos and put them in albums (part 2).

What good is a memory card if you can't remember what's on it?

About this time last year I was moving boxes, stacking boxes and unpacking boxes. Fortunately I wasn't living in one. I had moved back to my hometown and was squeezing years and years worth of accumulated belongings into a small bedroom and a cluttered garage. Needs must.

Whilst unpacking, I came across several cameras and camera cases and boxes of camera-related wires and discs. I put them all in a plastic storage box under my desk because I wanted to keep them safe and I wanted to know where they were. I'd sort them out later.

On Friday I finally pulled that box out from under my desk, opened it, and began searching for digital memory cards. I thought maybe I'd find half a dozen. Perhaps a couple more.

I found 13 memory cards!

I couldn't believe how many there were. Had I bought that many? Did they still work? What on earth was on them? 

I felt a curious flutter of excitement. The sort of anticipation I used to feel when picking up photos from the developers.

One at a time I inserted the memory cards into whichever camera accepted them and then looked at the first and last few photos on each card. Some photos were tagged with a date, some weren't. For those that weren't, I estimated a date based on the events recorded in the photos. 

I caught glimpses of a road trip to Edinburgh (I nearly moved there), a Caribbean holiday (bliss), a fancy dress pub crawl in Brighton (I got thrown out of a bar - long story), day trips with my ex-girlfriend, teacher training in London (I was a 'mature' student - yeah right!), a holiday in Norway, a stag do in Belgium (cold, so cold), and my first craft fair.

In this way I was able to put the cards in chronological order.

2005 to 2014. Ten years! A decade of my life recorded on 13 little rectangles made of metal and plastic.

My next step is to download the photos (Is it downloading or uploading? Do I care?) onto my external hard drive and then file them in folders by date and event.

That sounds suspiciously like hard work.

Do you wish you did more with your photos? Why not dig out a favourite snap from your past and share it with me.

I wish… I still printed my photos and put them in albums.

Once upon a time, before there were slim digital cameras and smartphones with screens to playback your selfies, there were big bulky plastic cameras into which you loaded a roll of light-sensitive photographic film. 

You squinted through a small viewfinder, took a photo, wound on the film using a small crank, and then took another photo. 

But not just any photo. Oh no. You would choose your subject carefully and frame it just so, because you would only get 24 or 36 photos on each roll.

Am I sounding old and nostalgic? Excellent, I'll continue...

When you got back from your trip, you would take your rolls of film to a photo-developing shop where the staff would develop the negatives and print your photos onto paper (usually glossy) over 24 hours whilst having a good chuckle at your rubbish photography skills and a good perv at your beach snaps.

The wait to collect your photos was excruciating and delicious. Would they be as amazing as you expected them to be? Or would they be a murky mess because somebody opened the back of the camera too soon? Or the flash didn't go off? Or you were standing at the far side of a rock concert and the only thing you illuminated was the left ear of the tall git in front of you.

Whatever the result, it would be a surprise. It was exciting.

The next delight was choosing which photos to put in a photo album. And in which order. A few hours later your photos would be lovingly sealed beneath a clingy film or carefully wedged into slits inside a large hardback album.

Et voila! A book of happy memories.

Fast forward to today and my photos, which number in their thousands without the limitations of film, are mere digital files scattered across SD memory cards, my laptop, an external hard drive, my mobile phone and numerous social media websites.

Frankly, it's a mess.

I can never recapture the suspense of waiting for my photos to be developed; I have seen all of my digital photos a mere moment after taking them.

But I can still experience the pleasure of choosing which photos to put in an album, and in which order.

I know that many people these days upload their digital photos onto websites that print them directly into books. 

I haven't done that. Not yet.

So this month I will organise my digital photos, print some, and put them in an album. Whatever format that may be.

What is your wish of the month? What do you wish you could do by the end of January?

I wish... I supported local independent shops (part 4)

Shopping in local independent shops does good and feels good. What's not to like?

Mid-afternoon on 17th December I began walking home in a hurry. I needed to shower, change and drive to my work Christmas party. I also needed to buy wine and chocolates for a colleague whose house I would be staying at afterwards. To say thank you for putting me up. To say thank you for putting up with me!

I crossed the road towards Tesco and then remembered my wish of the month: Support local independent shops.

I paused. I didn't have time for this; I was in a rush! I could buy a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates in Tesco and be done with it. But I'd have to visit two shops on the High Street where the prices would probably be higher and the choices fewer.

Bah! Humbug! What a Scrooge!

I walked to the High Street and into Noble Wines, a small off-licence, where I bought a decent bottle of wine at a similar price to what I would have paid in a supermarket. Then, a little further up the High Street, I bought a box of chocolates from Uckfield Candy Store and More. 

Since both shops were on my walk home and there were no queues to speak of, I was home quicker than if I'd hiked around Tesco, chosen from their vast selection of products, and queued to pay.

A few days later I returned to the High Street to finish my Christmas shopping. It was an operation of military precision. Armed with an empty rucksack, a list of presents to buy, and a working ballpoint pen (rarer than it sounds), I stormed the little shops. 

I bought a present for my brother-in-law in Propel Bikes, an independent cycle shop owned by the very helpful Rob. I picked up gifts for my nephew and niece in Kids Stuff, a local family-run toy store with an impressive selection and, admittedly, another 6 shops in Kent and Sussex towns. And I found a little something for my Nana in Kamsons Pharmacy, which again has stores elsewhere but its Uckfield branch was its first. 

I also visited two fab independent shops seemingly run by couples: Pipe Dreams (Snow-Surf-Skate) owned by David and Julie; and TN22 Sussex (Lifestyle, Vintage & Re-Worked Furniture) run by Steve and Janie. I didn't buy on this occasion, but I'll be back!

I wondered whether my locally purchased gifts this Christmas would be as happily received as presents I'd bought from chain shops in previous years. From what I witnessed (and assuming my family are not talented actors), they were.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that you or I stop shopping in supermarkets and department stores and household name shops altogether. They have their benefits. But...

The next time you need to buy something, ask yourself if it's possible to buy that thing in a local independent shop.

If you're not sure, go and have a look. You might be pleasantly surprised. Surprised by the selection, the price, the customer service, and probably by a warm fuzzy feeling inside for having supported a local business and the local people behind it.

Shopping in local independent shops does good and feels good. What's not to like?

I wish you a very happy New Year! Join me soon for a new Wish of the month, and tell me what you wish you could do in 2015.

I wish... I supported local independent shops (part 3)

Is a 3-for-2 offer a good deal or a good trick to make you buy more?

It was 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon when my shift at work finished and I began to drive home. But instead of driving straight past Tunbridge Wells, I decided to pull into a multi storey car park and go to the shopping centre.

Noooooooooooo!!!

I had betrayed my High Street already. But it's not as bad as it sounds. You see, I needed to go to one particular shop to buy one particular present for my Mum. Something that I knew she would love. Something that I wouldn't be able to buy in a local independent shop in Uckfield.

It's only one present, I told myself. It's only one shop.

Ten shops later, I was wandering aimlessly along an aisle, clutching a bland ceramic item cleverly disguised in attractive Christmas-themed packaging and rapidly scanning the shelves for two more average gifts. Just so I could take advantage of a 3-for-2 offer.

I overheard two women discussing a gift they were thinking about buying. "It's a bit much for what it is," said the first woman. The second woman looked at it and replied, "But it does come with a tin."

It was my cue to leave. I returned my item to its shelf, walked out of the shop, walked back to my car, and drove home.

I'm not surprised that I walked into shops that I had no intention of visiting. The retail environment entices you with expertly designed window displays, special offers and brand names that spark a subconscious memory of an advert you've seen fifteen times this month without realising it. And I've been going to shopping centres all my life; it's second nature. Plus I had paid and displayed. I couldn't just walk in to one shop and walk out again when I was entitled to two hours of primetime car parking for my investment of £2.40.

Ridiculous. I could have walked to my High Street for free.

Do you have a wish of the month? What has been distracting you lately?

I wish... I supported local independent shops (part 2)

Permanent independent shops are committed to your High Street. Pop-up shops are not.

My toes were cold. I had been standing in Uckfield town square for an hour. I say town square; it's a scruffy rectangle on two levels with concrete steps and a pebbledash slope between them. But it does the job.

I wasn't alone. Two hundred people, mostly parents and children, were watching kids from six primary schools sing Christmas songs on a temporary stage (the open-sided flat bed of a lorry). Two DJs kept reminding us that it was being broadcast live on Uckfield FM, our community radio station, as they walked up and down the stage asking questions of monosyllabic children and saying brilliant a lot.

After the third school, I'd heard enough. I hugged my friend Kathy and said well done to her teenage daughter, who looked at me like I was from outer space. 

Shops! That's what I needed. Local independent ones. Local was easy to spot. But independent...?

My search halted outside a pop-up shop in a normally empty premises. It was being run by the Uckfield Framing Company, an independent business on the industrial estate. Perfect, I thought. I went in. 

I bought a handmade greetings card by a local artist and picked up a jar of homemade spicy apple chutney. "How much?" I asked. "Whatever you want to donate," said the woman behind the table. "It's for my son's school." I dropped some coins in the tin and walked out.

Success. 

However, it was a temporary shop. What about permanent independent shops? The shops that want to be permanent, anyway. 

I walked in to The Bargain Store. Normally I don't. Well, you wouldn't if you saw it. The windows are covered from top to bottom in flyers and posters and scruffy handwritten ads. But today I would give it a go.

A bell tinkled as I opened the door, and again when I closed it. A real bell. I looked around. It was the kind of place that sold chocolate liquors, children's marbles in little nets and an obscure Latvian brand of washing up liquid in the same aisle. 

I browsed for a stupidly long time. So long in fact that I felt obliged to buy something - anything - so as not to offend the husband and wife who appeared to own the shop. I bought some chocolate Christmas tree decorations with a dubious list of ingredients on the back, and a small packet of Liquorice Allsorts.

Turning back up the High Street, I followed a crowd into Olive's Yard and found myself in a queue to see Father Christmas. Deciding I was a bit big for that kind of thing, I dived into the nearest shop, which happened to be the Lions Club secondhand bookshop. 

Again, I bumped into a friend I used to go to school with, Denise, and again I walked out with a purchase: Eden by Tim Smit. It wasn't my final purchase. That was charity Christmas cards from another pop-up shop on the walk home.

I thought about my first attempt to support local independent shops. It hadn't been entirely successful. Only one of the shops was independent and permanent enough that I could support it regularly. 

Next time, I'll go shopping in the High Street when there isn't a special late night event going on. 

Next time I'll go shopping in permanent local independent shops only.

Are you committed to your wish of the month? How could you make it a permanent change in your life?

I wish... I supported local independent shops

I do a lot of shopping in supermarkets and big department stores. And online.

Why? It's convenient. I drive to a big car park, walk around inside a huge warm building and choose from endless goods with brand names I know and trust. Or I sit in the comfort of my own home, browse big name websites and choose from endless goods with brand names I know and trust.

Occasionally I walk into a small, independently-owned shop. I might even buy something: a coffee and a chunk of tiffin from a quirky cafe in Brighton; a book about art from a dusty secondhand bookshop in Lewes. 

Each time that I do, I feel good about it. Because I know that I have supported that little shop. My money has contributed to the income of the owner, who may well be the same person who served me. 

Perhaps that little business will survive a little bit longer because of me...

But, when it is no longer a sunny Saturday afternoon in June, and I'm not ambling through a trendy corner of London-by-the-Sea or a quaint street in a tourist town with a visiting friend, I return to my usual mainstream buying habits.

It's not good enough. 

I've watched the news in recent years. I've seen the slow decline of High Streets nationwide because of recession and changing spending habits. 

Use it or lose it - If we don't use local independent shops regularly, they go bankrupt and close down. 

Another small business might start up to take its place, but often not. More likely, a big brand name will move in and open it's 295th branch. Over time, the High Street in one town looks remarkably (or unremarkably) like any other.

Or the premises remains empty, the High Street loses its kerb appeal, less people bother to shop there, and more businesses close. It's a vicious circle.

My hometown, Uckfield, has fared well compared to some. There are only a few empty shops. But over the years I've noticed more big companies move in, and big name charities fill in the gaps. 

I wish I supported local independent shops. I wish I bought products from them instead of supermarkets and department stores and online versions of them. I wish lots of other people did the same thing and the independent shops thrived and attracted new independent businesses and new shoppers. But that's wishing for a lot. I can only do my bit.

This month I will do as much Christmas shopping as possible in as many local independent shops as I can.

Starting with Late Night Shopping on Friday 5th December!

What is your wish of the month? What do you wish you could do by the end of the year?