..ok maybe not crashed exactly, there was an earthquake in the US a few days ago; I am told, but crashed? not as far as a whopping almighty earth shattering end of the universe sort of crash, more a ...bloody hell no flippin' internet for a week and the world is passing me by here in lonely wet Hereford...sort of way, crash!
Can you imagine life without the internet? I mean, really, what did we do when we were kids and TV didn't start until 6pm? When I was little I lived in Europe a fair bit, had a parent in the Air Force, so we travelled and saw lots of lovely places and had ONE television channel. ONE! not a zillion like now that repeats everything several times a day that you have seen at least 6 times a year for the last 10 years, but just one lonely channel that was in English and kids TV was just an hour or so on a week day late afternoon, after that was news and adult sit com type stuff, not very interesting for a child.
I read. A lot. We played outside. A lot. Fast track ..ahem...a few years and I am completely dependant on the cyber force that enters my home without me seeing it, its magic, its a life line and bugger we don't have it at the moment!
Last week, exactly a week, we were accidentally 'switched off' as we were changing internet providers and the company got the wrong Tuesday, should have been today not last week, still we rang to get switched back on and .... we have a fault on the line. We still have a fault on the line, despite endless phone calls, both to them and them to us, various tests on the line and the threat of having to cough up a few hundred quid for a man to come and tell us it doesn't work, that had the hubby coughing and we don't need a man as he talked to the 'other' man at the end of the phone...the mobile phone...
So, this morning, after a Bank Holiday yesterday, a very wet August Bank Holiday yesterday, we still have no internet and my neighbour - who actually lives across the field from me - rings here this morning, only he is ringing his house and he comes through here, the phone lines are muddled. He rings British Telecom, we ring British Telecom, British Telecom say we don't have a problem but for a few hundred quid we can have a man....that had both my husband and the neighbours husband coughing...we are not getting a man, we don't need a man, we have them two.
We still don't have internet. We still have the phones playing up. We still don't have a man, in a van with British Telecom written down the side, but....I have learnt a new terminology, even though I keep messing up the name - maybe I should work for British Telecom? - I am toggled...no...tethered like a horse to my daughters phone to access the internet but I am limited to how long as she wants her phone back to go out to work.
Off to dust off the books on the bookcase. Remember them? Lots of printed pages all bound together in a nice hard cover or the ones with a soft cover and great picture? I even have encyclopedia's here somewhere in the loft, that was Wikipedia in the old days kids, have I spelt that right? off to find the dictionary, the big one that takes two hands to carry and you have to work out the spelling of the word before you find the word to make sure its right, no 'did you mean' in the old days with a new page flashing up to help you. Mail actually came via the postman, now its just pizza adverts and bags for charity as all my other mail is cyber stuff.
*sigh* I miss the internet.
Can you imagine life without the internet? I mean, really, what did we do when we were kids and TV didn't start until 6pm? When I was little I lived in Europe a fair bit, had a parent in the Air Force, so we travelled and saw lots of lovely places and had ONE television channel. ONE! not a zillion like now that repeats everything several times a day that you have seen at least 6 times a year for the last 10 years, but just one lonely channel that was in English and kids TV was just an hour or so on a week day late afternoon, after that was news and adult sit com type stuff, not very interesting for a child.
I read. A lot. We played outside. A lot. Fast track ..ahem...a few years and I am completely dependant on the cyber force that enters my home without me seeing it, its magic, its a life line and bugger we don't have it at the moment!
Last week, exactly a week, we were accidentally 'switched off' as we were changing internet providers and the company got the wrong Tuesday, should have been today not last week, still we rang to get switched back on and .... we have a fault on the line. We still have a fault on the line, despite endless phone calls, both to them and them to us, various tests on the line and the threat of having to cough up a few hundred quid for a man to come and tell us it doesn't work, that had the hubby coughing and we don't need a man as he talked to the 'other' man at the end of the phone...the mobile phone...
So, this morning, after a Bank Holiday yesterday, a very wet August Bank Holiday yesterday, we still have no internet and my neighbour - who actually lives across the field from me - rings here this morning, only he is ringing his house and he comes through here, the phone lines are muddled. He rings British Telecom, we ring British Telecom, British Telecom say we don't have a problem but for a few hundred quid we can have a man....that had both my husband and the neighbours husband coughing...we are not getting a man, we don't need a man, we have them two.
We still don't have internet. We still have the phones playing up. We still don't have a man, in a van with British Telecom written down the side, but....I have learnt a new terminology, even though I keep messing up the name - maybe I should work for British Telecom? - I am toggled...no...tethered like a horse to my daughters phone to access the internet but I am limited to how long as she wants her phone back to go out to work.
Off to dust off the books on the bookcase. Remember them? Lots of printed pages all bound together in a nice hard cover or the ones with a soft cover and great picture? I even have encyclopedia's here somewhere in the loft, that was Wikipedia in the old days kids, have I spelt that right? off to find the dictionary, the big one that takes two hands to carry and you have to work out the spelling of the word before you find the word to make sure its right, no 'did you mean' in the old days with a new page flashing up to help you. Mail actually came via the postman, now its just pizza adverts and bags for charity as all my other mail is cyber stuff.
*sigh* I miss the internet.
Poor you Laney much as people moan the internet really has become so important to us....it makes us feel alive and that we are never alone. Come back soon :-) xx
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