Columnist: The world is getting smaller every day...

I did just that last weekend, spending a couple of days with a friend who lives in the west of Scotland.

It was not only a chance to admire her new home, but also to see other friends in the area.

And while I was there I received a phone call from another friend who has recently moved to Chicago.

I also heard a radio programme about war brides who had followed their American and Canadian husbands across the Atlantic at the end of World War II.

Those women, some with very young children in tow, boarded ships to head for a new world – with no expectation of ever seeing their British families again.

It all made me reflect on how small our world has become, just in those 70 years since the end of the war.

Gone are the days of the tissue-thin aerogramme – now we think nothing of picking up the phone to call anywhere in the world.

Even better is the opportunity to talk face to face, thanks to the internet.

I have neighbours who have seen their grandchildren on the opposite side of the globe just as much as others whose grandchildren are just a short car-ride away.

And I’m in regular contact with relatives in Australia – their parents were £10 Poms – of whom I knew nothing until the advent of social media.

We equally think nothing of jumping on a plane – as I shall be doing later this year – to visit friends and family right across the world.

Some of us may find it hard keeping up with technology, but it’s certainly helped us keep up with friends and family.