We Were Promised Jetpacks

What a fantastic name for a Scottish Indie band: ‘We Were Promised Jetpacks’. They do indeed rock.

The thing that struck me when I first saw their name on a poster was that it seemed so sad; it painted a mental picture of disillusion and shattered dreams of a bright new tomorrow. We were promised jet packs. Nazi Germany developed basic individual flying machines to propel its troops safely over minefields during World War II, James Bond used one as a futuristic getaway vehicle in ‘Thunderball’ and who can forget  Bill Suitor flying his rocket pack into the Los Angeles Coliseum during the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympics? Given that these technologies have been available for decades, is it too much to have expected that by 2012 the local biker gangs would have given up their two-wheeled thrills and now be annoying old ladies by revving loudly high above their heads?

We were promised jet packs… but nobody has delivered on that promise. And that includes Bell Aerosystems who strapped lucky old Bill Suitor into that flying bomb at the Olympics. My redundancy cash won’t be going into their shares, that’s for sure.

When I was young Raymond Baxter, James Burke and Judith Hann presented a programme called ‘Tomorrow’s World’. It looked at innovative scientific breakthroughs and basically promised us jetpacks on a weekly basis. And flying cars. Swimming ones too, for that matter. And houses that made sure you never needed to clean, cook or iron again. That was another promise that nobody has ever delivered on – unless you count my Beloved (thanks, love).

Now I’m trying not to be gloomy or live in the past (though I appreciate that even mentioning ‘Tomorrow’s World’ dates me) so the more I think on it the more I see that there’s also a veiled optimism in the band’s name. They weren’t content to live their lives as repetitive shadows of their parents. They wanted more; to them the idea of zooming around in flying suits signifies a better way of life than the previous generation had enjoyed. Surely that’s something for which we should all strive?

OK, some of the ideas on ‘Tomorrow’s World’ look laughable now but many have become accepted parts of our lives. CCTV, IVF, cashpoints, barcodes, compact discs, digital cameras. All these scientific breakthroughs were introduced to me and countless millions of others via the show, leaving a lifelong interest in science and gadgets in particular. Call me a geek if you will, but at least I appreciate the brilliant irony in reading the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on an i-Pad, or the nerdy delight of speaking into a personal communicator that looks pretty similar to the one Captain Kirk used in the futuristic ‘Star Trek’ forty-odd years ago? I can even just speak a name into it and be put through to them just like he did, though I don’t personally want to befriend anybody called ‘Bones’.

And just because some of the more outlandish inventions from the past haven’t yet come to fruition – paper everyday clothing, food made from worms, floating bicycles etc. – that doesn’t mean that they won’t eventually become part of our world. Perhaps  even tomorrow. Maybe someday even time travel will become a reality. That would put book-makers out of business overnight.

So let’s be more optimistic and see what happens. It’s certainly been a smiley week for me. My long-awaited collection of short stories has finally been unleashed on an unsuspecting world. See www.shaunfinnie.com/TinyTreats.html for more details. I say it was long-awaited… at least it was by my Beloved. She’s hoping it’ll pay for her next Florida trip.

Keep hoping, love...


© Shaun Finnie 2012