But back to the driver who took me to the station. He worked as a compositor
at the newspaper for more than twenty years (compositor = a person who set and
corrected type and assembled text). He was a ‘hot metal’ man
when newspapers were produced with metal letters. He did a 7-year apprenticeship
with 12-week release courses every year. He was a member of a print union. He
had professional knowledge, had acquired a skill, and was a member of a proud
trade. But all that is gone. With modern digital printing there is no need for
his skills anymore. So he drives a taxi, and the question I ask myself is
whether I should mourn the passing of his trade which, as so many others, has
disappeared under the weight of modernity.