Not having internet access for several days really brings home how much one has come to rely on it. Quite apart from my work for Parliament, there’s online banking so I can’t move money about which I’m always doing to keep the books balanced, I can’t pay bills, accessing the publishing sites about the book The Clouds Still Hang, online shopping which I do for “Robert” and “Ken” at Tesco, never mind things I want from the likes of Amazon, updating my TV guide, Facebook, Twitter which I use for the book, never mind other social networking contact sites. Then there’s Facetime which we use to speak to “Harriet”, getting updates for software and antivirus programs, I know I’m getting important emails but I was limited to my phone for dealing with them which often can’t be done because of attachments I need to send etc (and anyway I can’t even get 3G in the house); the list goes on. It’s surprising how often I think I’ll just do something. Like googling for something while watching TV for instance, and then realise I can’t because whatever it is needs online access. I could sometimes get next door’s wifi on my phone but it’s weak. A couple of times I managed to connect the computer via the phone and next door but so S L O W.
Engineers and helplines were helpless. But I described the symptoms to “James” who then promptly diagnosed the fault and here I am, back on line. Can you see why I love “James”?
And yet 25 years ago I seem to remember managing quite well before the internet came into general use.