I didn't leave the house for a day to see if london's startups could save us
You're sick, or maybe you just don’t want to go out today?Don’t worry, we tried to see if we could live for a day without leaving the house, relying solely on London’s start-ups to get us through the day. We went full-millennial, so you don’t have to.
In 2013, London Mayor Boris Johnson declared he wanted to make London the new capital of innovation and technology. The country's capital has more than 200,000 people employed in this industry. London is the European capital of startups. In recent years, a sector is expanding, the delivery of products or services at home. In 2013, only 2 of the startups listed in the following article already existed: Uber & Amazon Same-Day.
This Saturday morning I woke up at 9:30 am, with the uncomfortable feeling of a cold and a little tiredness. I decide to get up for good because I have to wake up my children to go to their sports lesson. It is usually my wife who takes care of this but she left earlier this morning to attend a conference and will be back at 5 pm. Today it's been 7 years that I'm with her, I have to buy her a huge bouquet of roses.
Surprise. When I walk through the door, a violent feeling of cold grips me, nothing more horrible knowing that I'm already cold, a little rain mixed with a few snowflakes are falling from the sky. It's decided, today I do not go out.
First, I have to call an Uber to bring the kids to their tennis and dance lessons, it's a few miles after all this should not cost me more than £10 round trip. The first problem solved. But this is only the beginning.
This feeling of cold isn’t budging. Call me dramatic, but I need a diagnosis from the doctor. I really do not want to take public transport in this state. A friend had told me about an application called Babylon that lets you call a doctor on FaceTime. I don’t hesitate for a second and download the app.
At the time of downloading, problem! The screen of my iPhone which was already cracked does not work anymore. So I decided to make the appointment using my computer. First good news of the day, I can see a doctor in under 10 minutes.
But no time to savor. I have several important calls in the afternoon and I can not use my mobile phone anymore. I'm starting to realize that I will probably have to go out to find an iPhone repair shop. But I’m smarter than that. I type "Repair iPhone London" to see customer reviews. Luck! I come across a website called Repairly which is able to pick up my phone in less than 30 minutes, fix it and bring it back to me in less than 3 hours! AMAZING. This means that I will have my phone back at 2 pm maximum.
A problem never happens alone. I decide to go prepare food for lunch because the children will arrive in 1 hour. Unfortunately for me when I turn on the tap, I realize that there is a leak in the sink. Me who thought to spend a quiet day at home ... I must now repair a small leak and I do not want it at all. But no choice, I go to the garage to look for tools, but again I do not have the ones I need.
I have two choices: call a plumber, but it may cost me quite a lot and I know that the end of the month will be quite difficult, or buy my wrench, my screws and my hammer on Amazon Same-Day to fix it myself. I will opt for the second solution, it will be more economical, and in addition, I will be delivered in just two hours.
All this did not solve the problem of what we will eat for lunch. Again, 2 solutions are available to me: go out and go buy a McDonalds, or continue on my way and order good food on Deliveroo. Again, I chose the second solution. It will surely come back to me a little more expensive, but hey time is money, right? I order a good pizza from Pizza Pilgrims.
The order will arrive in 25 minutes. Perfect timing. It’s now 12:15 pm the children have arrived and I think they will be delighted to eat good pizzas. I have not told them yet, I surprise them. I ask them to set the table by the delivery man will arrive in a short time. It is now 12:40, the delivery man is in front of the door. I am impressed by the precision of the app.
After the meal, I get a Repair notification that tells me that my phone is repaired and that a deliveryman is on my way to bring it back to me. Perfect. 10 minutes later, I receive a notification from Amazon Same-Day telling me that my tools will be delivered in 15 minutes. At this point, I feel like the on-demand king. A true millennial. I and my smartphone can do anything.
Someone is ringing the door! It is the delivery man from repairly who brings me back my iPhone, I see that it is well repaired and it’s in a nice case.
I now go to the Bloom & Wild website and order 30 roses because we are both 30 years old. The flowers will be delivered before the return of my wife. At the end of my order, someone else rings the doorbell. This is the delivery man of Amazon who brings me my tools.
I almost forgot about tonight's meal. It must be exceptional, I want to impress my wife. A friend told me about a company named Home Run that delivers home groceries at a moments notice. I go to their website, place my order to prepare a meal 2.0. Smoked salmon, potato, green vegetables, I think she will be thrilled. Most importantly, she’ll have no idea that I’ve not left the house all day. My groceries will be delivered within the hour.
It is 4 pm, I have to give another gift to my wife. Call it laziness guilt. I read in the newspaper about an app called LeSalon that provides home beauty services: manicure, pedicure, waxing. I do not hesitate a second, I reserve a ‘Salonista’ for 5.30pm.
Today I really did not want to go out, and I think I did not take the tip of my nose out. But despite that, I was able to make sure that kids get to their sports lessons, consult a doctor, fix my phone, buy tools, eat the best pizza in London, offer 30 roses to my wife and a manicure, and finally do my food shopping. Mission accomplished. Do I really need to ever leave the house again?
