I was talking to Raymond Blanc the other day (excuse me, while I pick up that name I just dropped), and one of the things that came up was how nothing seems to ever stand still now days.

RB (as his staff affectionately call him), was just back from a few days’ holiday, which started us chatting about how busy life is and how we’re constantly bombarded with new information, new ideas, and new ways of doing things, which for some of us barely leaves a spare moment to stop, take a deep breath, and relax.

As RB says, it’s like we’re on a fast-moving train, and if you jump off, you feel like you might get hurt.

Don’t get me wrong, I thrive on ‘new’, but driving back from the gorgeous Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons (having just declined a complimentary drink because I had to get back to work, and yes, idiot is the word you are looking for), I got to thinking about ‘how things used to be’.

Back in the day, I’d drive my parents mad by constantly moaning about being “bored” because the days seemed so long, and there was so little to do.

No Internet, no mobile phones, no DVDs, in fact, we only got a video recorder when I was 10.

It’s a miracle I survived beyond childhood! Although the more I think about it, I was quite lucky as a kid because not only did we have a swimming pool, one of my best friends had a pony, while my other friends’ parents owned an incredibly cool bike shop to hang out at. Yet we still moaned about being bored.

Then came the ’80s when my family was lucky to be one of the first in my school to get a fancy computer game console. Admittedly it only had two games, and both involved moving a white line on the screen to hit a ball, which in actual fact was just a shorter white line. But for a child growing up across the ’70s and ’80s, I had it made!

Yet I was still bored.

Maybe it was because I didn’t have Facebook, Twitter, iPods, or the iPlayer and ‘catch up’ was what you had to do if you stopped to tie up your shoelaces while your friends went ahead.

There was no such thing as ‘leaving a message’. If you rang and the phone didn’t answer, you just hung up and tried again later.

Our local radio station used to shut down with the national anthem at midnight, and most days the local TV channel only went on air at midday.

Summer holidays involved going to the beach, the pool, the beach, the pool and sometimes a quick diversion to tell mum and dad how bored we were.

I know what you’re thinking: this is where I sentimentally wish for the good old days when life was simple and we all had so much more time. Well, you’re wrong.

What I’d really like is a chance to head back to Le Manoir to waste an afternoon enjoying that complimentary drink (or two).

Please RB...