we all know that the internet has exploded in enormous proportions over the last few years but this quote i found whilst perusing uk.telecom.broadband put the whole explosion into perspective for me:

At risk of sounding like the bloke muttering at the back of the bus,

I’ve got more Internet bandwidth from here at home than the UK had, in

total, circa 1992 (1) and I’ve probably got more Internet bandwidth in

my pocket with GPRS than the UK had, in total, circa 1988 (2).

i got on the net in october 1990 which seems to be just when

UKnet upgraded the UK link to Amsterdam (the link to the rest of the net) from 9600 to 64K

i’m flabbergasted. for me the net will never be as fast, as exciting, as mindblowing as it was in 1990. and summers will never be as g, hot and sunny as they were in childhood either. (though in my defence on the latter point i was 4 years old during the drought of 6 which probably colours my perception quite a lot.)