Sunday Morning Blues.

Recently, I remembered something.

(It's not that I had a blog which I hadn't updated in a while.)

On a Sunday morning I spent in a nearby cafe with C (which we regularly haunt for breakfast, both being lazy and unmotivated to make some) there was a newspaper on the table.

A first for the establishment, it was more of a surprise distraction from the hordes of glossy rags passing themselves off as 'light reading for the masses'. I took it up and began reading it. In between sips of tea and breakfast, I cluttered our table with a broadsheet newspaper and it took me back to a nostalgic time.

I remember, through my youth, looking forward to a daily ritual of reading the papers. It was the cornerstone of the day. We'd all read it piece by piece over our cups of tea. It was very much a family affair. Horoscopes for Mum, Financials and sports for Dad, editorials and world news for me (well, mostly comics first, since i read the paper unconventionally back to front). The papers on Sunday would occupy a good amount of my time.

The newspaper was a tool with many uses. It was used throughout the day as a reference for day to day life. What movies are on? What's the weather forecast like? Did you hear about this story? It was the Internet before the Internet so to speak. At the end of the day when we'd gone through it, sometimes it would be turned into boats or paper planes, while other times it would mainly carry greasy food in lieu of plates (the laziness bloomed early in me)

However, this is a nostalgic feeling. I no longer do this on a regular basis. I get my news on the Internet digitised with sounds and video. I no longer can read the comics first, putting me in a more accepting frame of mind for the incoming bad news. I can no longer carry greasy food in a convenient, disposable frame.

Instead I find myself reading 'comments' from other readers. Or Googling the relevance of the story, perhaps for a different point of view. With one click I can see what others have been reading most today. In case you are curious, it's the all new tea party association of America funding a signboard comparing Obama to Hitler and Lenin. I read editorial/blogs of journalists and writers alike, gleaning their expert views on the world. I read mundane little snippets of news that otherwise would make no impact on the world.

I'm a news junkie, and my drug can now be fed to me almost nonstop through a drip made of wires and microchips. I enjoy it. I came into journalism when words like convergence and 360 media coverage were the things people in suits in boardrooms were talking about. I'm at ease with technology.

Then why am I championing the newspaper? Easy. Because it was something that started me off. The medium of print was the base on which I could stand and see the world. I may have shifted to writing on a blog instead of putting pen to paper or ink to broadsheet, but I recognise where my origins come from.

The print media, specifically newspapers, are suffering. They have been downgraded from a necessity to 'if I have change left over' goods. I don't see them ever going away, but then I don't see people suddenly making newspaper delivery routes feasible again. Free newspapers are a great idea, but local news is all they can manage. Or, like the Metro, offer the snack equivalent of a broadsheet daily.

I'm sure that my views, as always, are a bit exaggerated. The feeling of nostalgia is exactly that - a reminder of what you liked in the past, something that made you the person you are. As often is the case with such feelings, they are tinged with sadness.

So, lets watch the demise of newspapers from the relative safety of the Internet. Excuse me, as I adjust my drip for some more news.