What's changed in the last ten years?

[dolorous_ett]

A lighter topic, this time, I promise. No gripes about the publishing industry, and not a swear word in sight!

From the BBC webpage: some readers' thoughts on what's changed in the last ten years. 

I can remember coming back from China about 6 years ago, and it seemed like all the cars had got more rounded in the 4 years I'd been away. And coffee could be bought and drunk in bookshops, which I still consider to be the height of decadent luxury. And nobody who had any pretensions to fashion whatsoever wore dresses any more.

So - what's changed for you in the last decade or so?

Comments

[lyras.livejournal.com]

Everything seems more integrated these days. Our local indie cinema (I still think of that as being in Newcastle :)) sells wine and patrons sit on sofas as well as ordinary seats. M&S apparently has a posh restaurant again. There are no large independent gig venues, but there's more live music in pubs. People drink wine in bars, and beer (and cider, for god's sake!) has gone designer. Gyms are lifestyle arenas - with coffee shops, of course.

The big one in a few months will be no smoking indoors, of course. It's already happened in Australia, and I can now smell cigarette smoke a mile away.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

The trouble with integrating arts cinemas and cafe bars is that the cafe bars tend to turn more of a profit. There's at least one cinema where I live that is being threatened with having screens ripped out, the better to accomodate more Chardonnay-sippers. *sigh*

No smoking indoors is already here - in Scotland, at any rate. The change for the better was noticable within hours. Though it does lead to noisy groups of smokers outside pubs. Still, if Scotland can make it work, England should be a pushover.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I'm a decade older, and a lot better dressed.

The ever-increasing push of direct debit for paying for _anything_.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about direct debit. Though I quite like not getting all those red bills through my letterbox any more!

[ajat.livejournal.com]

Now there's a shop near my house where I can buy the packets of chips I want.

:)