I had to buy a clock radio yesterday, and decided to buy a DAB digital clock radio instead of the tried-and-true regular clock radio we all know and love (or hate, depending on how much of a morning person you are). I didn’t think that usability would be a problem, as clock radios have been around for a long time. The more fool I.
I had a brainstorm last night and wondered how Holmes and Watson would regard such a radio, and got up and wrote three pages on it. In order to spare people’s friends pages, I’ve quoted the first few paragraphs here and then included the link so that, if you think it worthwhile, you can go and read the rest.
“The following story is real, only the fictional names have been changed to protect the guilty. I apologise to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for making the (not entirely unknown assumption) that Holmes and Watson were closer than he let on and lived to be somewhere in the region of 160 years old. On the other hand, I don’t apologise to the maker of the radio in question, as obviously they have a lot to learn about how people actually use their products.”
“The clock radio went off at 5:57 am precisely. Watson, always the military man in bearing and habit, stared at the ceiling until 6 am, when the Today program came on. Holmes, as was his wont, did not acknowledge that anything had happened at all. The news was the usual mix of scandals involving Cabinet ministers, wars, famine, natural disasters, and complaints. The welcome relief of the weather report washed over Watson has he prepared to arise and face another day. He sat up and reached over to switch off the radio. He pressed the switch. Nothing happened: John Humphrys continued to blithely interview a journalist. Watson was surprised and stabbed repeatedly at the switch. Nothing still.”
“Resignedly, Watson switched off the alarm itself and said, ‘Time to buy a new clock radio.’ Holmes grunted and turned over.” …
For the rest of this story, you may proceed to my web page here. I’m also glad I did, as I discovered a reference to my Demon email address that was unencrypted on one of my webpages and corrected that as well. In every cloud there is a silver lining.
Well, the story amused *me*. I presume that shall serve as a positive datapoint.
Watson, always the military man in bearing and habit
Well, thanks for making me picture Dr Watson in a habit.