The Humble Battery

On this lazy Easter Sunday, I started to get a bit nostalgic. Thinking back to the 70s and 80; the happier times of my childhood and teens.

I love technology and all the advancements there have been since my youth, but I also hanker for tradition and those little things that keeps me anchored to my roots. I'm a hoarder, probably compulsive, and I tend to keep objects that hark back to important junctures in my life. I know that, mentally, it's not a healthy thing to do as it can condition your life going forward.

I think that it is linked to the realisation that things we are accustomed to and comfortable with, will one day disappear. Technology has a way of making older things obsolete pretty quickly, and consequently, making us feel obsolete as well unless we keep up.

Anyway, I got to thinking of what I use daily, which has not changed over my lifetime. Then I realised that the humble battery has always been there whenever I needed it.

There have surely been advancements and myriads of shapes and sizes, but some haven't changed since their inception.

The AA battery was born in 1906, the AAA in 1911 and the 9V in the 1950s. There are still too many applications for these humble batteries and I'm confident I won't see their demise, at least in my lifetime.

I recall in the 80s and 90s when solar panels became all the rage. They were on calculators, digital clocks and some toys. However, the hype didn't last long and batteries are still required in almost every electronic gadget.

So, to conclude, of all the things that I hoard to keep a foot in the past, I know that I won't have to with traditional batteries, that I'm sure will never abandon me.

As I wrote this I remembered a fantastic movie that I must watch again:

Batteries Not Included


Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

a reply to: Encia22

Remember when carrying a calculator and a pen in the front pocket of your shirt made you look smarter.

Today people with wireless earbud and smartphone in their hand while crossing streets look stupid.

a reply to: Trueman

Oh yes! Until the pen leaked and left a huge ink blot on your shirt. That's when it was time to get even more nerdy and use those plastic pen organisers to keep all the pens straight. The more pens, the smarter you were. That's until the Bic 4-way colour pen came out... it was a must-have and that's another thing that has withstood the test of time and is still available.

Cheers for the memory!

Memories are amazing things. Coincidentally Batteries Not Included was based on the novel written by my high school english teacher Wayland Drew.

but overall nostalgia smells like mothballs.
Unless it smells like Frankincense. Then the older the better. There's something old that's always new. It's ancient but it doesnt have the mothball vibe like that movie...
Anyway, I'd recycle those batteries. I like to burn old stuff. It really is refreshing but I let go couple of old tools I'm missing. Like that old wooden hand plane. What was I thinking? Next time I'll wait until I have a new one 😀

a reply to: Encia22

Loved that movie, went looking for another old classic the other day and watched it again.


Nothing wrong with hoarding old stuff so long as you live clean and it is not overly cluttering you, after all were would antiques be if people did not love old stuff.

And have you seen the value of some of those old games consoles today?.

In case you just hanker for the song.

a reply to: AccessDenied

Wow, that's an interesting bit of trivia. I'm happy to see he was credited. Many novelists have their ideas hijacked and never given their due recompense.

a reply to: PapagiorgioCZ

Old tools are the best!

I missed out grabbing some old tools after a relative died over a decade ago. He was a shoemaker in a small town in Italy. He had a chest full of shoe making tools, along with wooden feet used to model the leather. I believe he had used the same tools for his whole life.

a reply to: LABTECH767

Thanks a bunch! You got me shedding a tear or two.


Yes, collecting old stuff, especially if of an antique variety is a great idea. My problem is that what I hoard has no value, neither economic nor practical. I keep things like nuts, bolts, odd mechanical innards of things I dismantled when I was a child. I keep little rocks that I've found during my travels that just appealed to me at the time. I can't throw away corks from wine or champagne bottles from certain times in my life.

The list goes on and on. Fortunately, because I've been a hobo most of my life, making my home wherever I lay my hat, all these knick-knacks fit into a couple of shoe boxes.

a reply to: Encia22

Then they mean more to you than just stuff, they are like you taking your home with you a link to childhood and remembered stability when parent and home meant the same thing.

Places are often not our home but our mother and other close family often are.

A place without family can be the loneliest thing in the world but good family even without a place is always home, they are your root's.

I remember though something Jesus said,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

a reply to: LABTECH767

Thanks for those wise words. Thoughts such as those are to be treasured even more than material objects.

🙏🏻