Nothing has changed on the #GreatKateWait, and I'm passing the time thinking about, or more specifically, trying to remember, how I heard the news that Prince William had been born, 31 years ago, which is also an exercise in "how things have changed" in terms of how we get information and news. Truth is, I don't remember exactly how I heard. In 1982, I lived in an apartment and went to work in an office every day. The prince was born at about 9.00 the night of Monday, June 21, which is early afternoon in Portland, Oregon where I lived. I don't remember if I had a computer on my desk in those days, but if I did, it would have been just a "dumb terminal" connected to a mainframe. There was no internet, no websites, no live-streaming Lindo Wing baby cam. Smart phones weren't around yet either so I couldn't check my Twitter feed every 15 minutes, which is pretty much what I'm doing now.
So how did we get information back in the olden days? I may have heard the news on the radio as I drove home from work, or on the evening news on television. It's even possible I didn't find out until the next morning, watching the Today show or Good Morning, America as I got ready for work. (How prehistoric does that sound? These days I fully expect to learn about this royal baby, pretty much instantaneously, on Twitter.) There was also a funny little document known as the morning newspaper, although even in those days I didn't subscribe to one. I do remember that a few days later I left work at lunchtime and drove to a grocery store to buy the new issue of People magazine, pictured above. It'll all be different when Princess Charlotte arrives and if you'll excuse me, I have to go check my Twitter feed. Stay tuned...
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