Dimples are Delightful

I have marvelled at scientific progress over the last 5 decades.

It is hard to believe that things that we take for granted today were mere theories, notions, scribbles or fanciful schoolboy day dreams not that long ago.

Take television, for example. Founded in scratchy and unreliable black and white and held in wonderment by those who witnessed it. Imagine then the jaw dropping experience of the introduction of broadcasting in colour.

I had a huge valve powered radio in my bedroom as a child. It was a piece of furniture in its own right and had to be regularly switched off to allow the innards to cool down to a safe, non combustible temperature. This equipment was soon replaced by a tiny transistor radio that I was presented with on passing my 11-plus examination to go to the local Grammar School. Now even that is positively archaic with the availability of DAB digital services.

Our family were enthralled with the early video games. The cumbersome and clunky table tennis kept us engrossed for many hours. We could scarcely contain our excitement upon learning that the local pub had a Space Invaders game in a table top.

Again, this is all a bit embarrassing to recollect what with the rapid development of gaming with such strikingly life-like graphics and ever more compact delivery systems.

Just today I realised how far we as a civilisation have come.

This is in the form of a single, simple innovation but one which represents a positive revolution in my life.

For many years I have struggled with one particular operation in the kitchen. I am certainly not alone in this predicament and this will, no doubt, have prompted a huge investment in research and development by one particular corporation.

I am talking about that difficult task of levering up the pull ring on the lid of a tin of Heinz Baked Beans.

The latest tin that I purchased today from the Tesco Express has been designed with a small, perfectly round and shallow indentation under the outer rim of the ring pull. I have not ever noticed this detail  before and believe me, I have had a long term relationship with this one of the 57 varieties of Heinz products.

My stubby, nerve chewed-nail fingers can now, with ease, grace and a smooth movement liberate the contents without the frustrated stabbing and probing with a sharp object that so often figured in my ritualistic preparation of Monday's tea.