I've had an interest in Bond and his franchise ever since the mid 80s, at one point probably achieving unhealthy levels. I watched the films on repeat, amassed an extensive collection of the James Bond comics and bought whatever merchandise I came across, postcards, posters, records etc. Had I been a fraction older and significantly richer I would've totally gone to the annual Bond conventions in the UK. Molly Peters who played the nurse at the health clinic in Thunderball was a regular 'star' at those if I remember correctly.
For the young me, Bond was sheer excitement. The larger than life plots, the uber villains, the menacing henchmen and women, the exotic locations, the set pieces, the one-liners. My interest has waned with age but I still retain a modicum so I figured I might as well visit the exhibition, despite having zero interest in cars. I'm more of a gadget person myself so I was hoping for an assortment of gadgets in addition to vehicles, perhaps Rosa Klebb's poisonous shoe or Oddjob's decapitating bowler hat, but instead the focus was very much on the vehicles. And there were plenty of them. For example the Mercury Cougar from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the Lotus Esprit submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me and of course the silver Aston Martin from Goldfinger, complete with one of my favourite Bond scenes of all time playing in the background. "Ejector seat? You must be joking!". "I never joke about my work 007".
You gotta love the Q branch's ingenuity. Wrist-mounted dart guns, guns concealed in ski poles, water vessels in the shape of a crocodile, watches that double as miniature saws, magnets and lasers, cars driven by mobile phones and of course glasses that allows you to see through people's clothes. Who wouldn't want a pair of those??
I've had an interest in gadgets for as long as I remember, undoubtedly borne out of my geeky obsession with all things Bond. It all started when my parents bought us all a cassette Walkman in 1987 (for some strange reason they were called Freestyles in Sweden). Mine had a three level equalizer and everything. Chuffed is the word. We got said Freestyles to keep us occupied for our trip to South Korea. No wonder really, this was of course in the midst of the cold war so the majority of airlines operating in the west were barred from entering Soviet airspace. Furthermore, we were flying with Korean Airlines, whose flight KAL007 (Bond connection purely coincidental) had been shot down by Soviet missiles 4 years previous so they were clearly going to take the long way round. We flew Stockholm-Paris-Anchorage-Seoul, lasting over 24 hours, and whilst I can't recall exactly what I'd taped for the journey I do remember buying Madonna's True Blue in Seoul for the home leg. It came in a funny grey paper sleeve with a mini picture of the actual album cover, but lacking the inner sleeve with lyrics and credits.
The equalized Freestyle served me well, lasting a good few years, and since then I've bought a plethora of electrical equipment and gadgets to help make life more enjoyable. Some more effective in life enhancing than others. I heart gadgets. Though not to the extent that I will ever feel the need to queue overnight to be first in line to get my hands on Jony Ive's latest design marvel, even committing the cardinal sin according to Apple by skipping device iterations. I clung onto my 3rd generation iPad, the inventively titled 'New iPad', for a good while. It wasn't broke so I wasn't compelled to fix it. Til now, when through an unexpected quirk I noticed that iPads are about 65 quid cheaper in Sweden than the UK, an iPad Air 2 64 GB WiFi costing around 415 quid. That was all the encouragement I needed.
I kept the patriotic wall paper as well because in my mind there are no better motifs out there, the red and white of the Gunners a close second. As each new model represents a restrained nudge forward as opposed to a seismic shift, there are few surprises in store. It is however lighter, faster, smaller and holds the battery for longer, so job's a good 'un.
The battery life of mobile devices leave a lot to be desired and running out of juice is a constant source of frustration. The difference between travelling on public transport listening to tunes of choice as opposed to banal conversations and crying babies is monumental. In the past my refuelling options have been limited to say the least but thanks to this little beauty I shall never again have to endure the painfully dull sound bites of the general public.
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