Ordinary everyday things I no longer know how to do

We couldn't put the pushchair up in the first place the first time we attempted to take a little DGC for a walk.
It seemed ok but it kept folding in on her so we gave up on the idea.

Prams were so much easier.

Sara1954

Bluebelle
I once had to ring my daughter when I got to school, because I couldn’t put the pushchair back down. I tried to force it into the back, I contemplated taking it back into the school and asking them to keep it till the next day. My daughters instructions, something like, twist this while pushing that, simultaneously releasing a lever, were useless. I felt like sitting in the road and crying.
Eventually between the two older children and myself, we managed it, but I was straight off to John Lewis at the weekend, to buy a lovely simple to operate pushchair.

Oh yes, I thought my little GS would have to spend the night in his pushchair as no way could I undo the harness/belt thing.
I eventually found a young mum neighbour who did it for me!
Mind you, once open, could I do it up again?

Vintagejazz

Booking theatre tickets. You used to just ring the box office, book your tickets and collect and pay for them on the night. Now you have to register on a website, remember your password from last time, key in your visa details, print off the ticket and probably pay a fee as well.
If you do ring the box office you have to press button this and that and then speak loudly to a machine and then probably get cut off.

You don't need to print them off just save them to your documents on your phone or to your apple wallet of your Google pay?

I wish car parks with number plate recognition would allow a 'close enough' when I input my number. DH and I have lots of similar letters (but not in the same places);on our cars.

Then I saw a couple go to put their number in and they had taken a photo of the plate so they didn't have to guess.

I can't use my thumbs to type and use a stylus so any mistakes are not my own.

My newer car is way more sophisticated that me or my previous little i10.
There are so many gismos that are a mystery to me, despite reading the handbook. I’m just hoping that they’re superfluous to everyday driving around ?
The salesman did patiently spend 2 hours explaining it all but much of that went in one ear and out of the other!
The fact that several GNers have driven away without the key fob is something I must remember, though at the moment DH isn’t driving.

Where do I begin ??

My phone freezes if asked to do anything too complicated.
I expect one day it'll just give up the ghost and switch itself off for good.

I can do it all, but I’ve got so many apps on my phone now and have to be very careful typing in details.

Bluebelle
I once had to ring my daughter when I got to school, because I couldn’t put the pushchair back down. I tried to force it into the back, I contemplated taking it back into the school and asking them to keep it till the next day. My daughters instructions, something like, twist this while pushing that, simultaneously releasing a lever, were useless. I felt like sitting in the road and crying.
Eventually between the two older children and myself, we managed it, but I was straight off to John Lewis at the weekend, to buy a lovely simple to operate pushchair.

lixy

Our car has a manual gear stick and a key that needs to go into a keyhole to start it.
DD and DS have cars that seem to go by magic.
I'm dreading our car deciding that it has had enough.

I'm there and it's almost put me off driving. DH insists that driving it really is no different but it is for me. There's six gears too. I was happy with four and reverse.

I'm ok with the TV but it took a while.

Those little bar code squares were a mystery until yesterday. I took my 8 year old twin DGC into town and we had lunch out. I was expecting a human being to come and take the order so I just sat there. Then DGD said mamar you need to order on your phone. Thankfully between the three of us we managed. I'm sure I could do it again.

Sara- you are not the only one-some of the cafes in our local town require downloading an App or swiping a QR code to order!
During Covid the only way to pay for parking at my local station was via an app - as the parking machines were put out of use as a touch free Covid precaution. Unfortunately, having to download this on my phone and enter all my details in the pouring rain on my first day back after shielding, I mistyped my number plate ( screen too small to see properly) and not only missed my intended train -got fined for effectively paying for the wrong car plate! I used the car park several times before the error came to light, so had a huge fine due to struggling with wet reading glasses in the rain! I needed a human to sort that one out!
I’ve almost given up listening to the radio!
I often struggle without written instructions as many require a download or perhaps ESP!

Welbeck, thanks. I'll just do that very thing with the bike. I actually believed it was a skill that was retained but have since heard from a scientist friend that balance frequently deteriorates with maturity. As if we didn't have enough to contend with!

Working in a charity shop we sometimes get given pushchairs or prams and I cannot for the life of me manage to unfold them and get them into normal position When mine were babies the pushchairs simply folded in two, and that was it, but now they have multiple folds and locks it’s like the crystal maze You need an A level in folding or unfolding a pram or pushchair

welbeck

greenlady102

nothing...and If I wanted to know how to do something I would go online and find out

but that won't help being steady up a step ladder to change light-bulb etc. just saying.
be careful. pride goeth before a fall.

I still know how to do those things but I choose not to do them which is different.

greenlady102

nothing...and If I wanted to know how to do something I would go online and find out

but that won't help being steady up a step ladder to change light-bulb etc. just saying.
be careful. pride goeth before a fall.

Dave Allen spoke about his car telling him to put his seatbelt on, almost as soon as he opened the car door, and getting increasingly insistent if he didnt.
He said he was tempted to climb through the window just to trick it.

MissAdventure

Oh yes.
My daughters TV would pop up and inform me it was going to switch off as I hadnt done anything to it for a while.
I hadnt done anything to it because I was watching a programme!

the tv sounds like a sulky spouse.
reminds me of when nick abbot on LBC, used to be suddenly plunged into darkness while broadcasting, had to wave his arms around.
must have been very distracting, live on air; stupid system.
all these stories are making me laugh. thanks.

I’m feeling quite smug, my daughter put the car parking app on my phone, so easy, no more hunting around for change.
What is scary though, if she hadn’t been with us, and downloaded the app, we wouldn’t have been able to park.
We left a restaurant recently because they told us we had to order on the app.

If a failure to cope with the things listed here is as common as this thread suggests, I must be way too young for Gransnet. I enjoy learning how to do new stuff. A recent holiday in London gave me the chance to get the hang of Deliveroo and Uber, neither of which are available in my own neck of the woods.

I think the things we can do with technology are awesome. I wish I could go back to my 12 year old self and tell her that one day, I’d have a device in my pocket that could not only make phone calls without being stuck at the bottom of the stairs, but could also be used to navigate, pay in shops, do banking, write instant ‘letters’, make video calls, provide the full text of daily church services, read books out loud to me, take photos, play live radio and recorded music and translate into other languages. Oh, and do maths. My Dad had just bought one of the first pocket electronic calculators, and I thought THAT was magic!

I once came home from the wilds of scotland on a series of buses and trains, and I think I only made it because a kindly woman told me to pull myself together and go and ask the guard where I needed to go, instead of sitting against a wall,. hyperventilating

Recently took a flight by myself and am so proud that I sorted out the easyjet app and boarding pass on the phone and managed to book in a case without talking to anyone .
However I can't do my tyre pressures at a garage anymore as can't bend to fix the gauge to the tyre. Then I would have to find glasses so I could see the readings ! Hopeless !

Now I've moved to a town I've applied for my bus pass.

I don't think I've been on a bus since I left school so I downloaded the app which serves as a timetable but I can't work out how to use it.

Ooh yes, they're great aren't they?
The sweepit carper, as my daughter used to call it.
My mum swore by hers, and it was good!

MissAdventure

I couldn't even work my daughters vacuum cleaner when I was left in charge.
When she used it, a light would come on and then it transformed into all different shapes to fit into nooks and crannies.
I had to use a dust pan and brush.

still have a trusty bex bissell carpet sweeper;
it beats as it sweeps ! remember ?