Abhor, Despise, Detest, Loathe, Scorn...

I try not to use the word hate. It has such unpleasant connotations even when used about inanimate objects. Nevertheless there is no real substitute for how I feel when I cannot get Internet access. Abhor, Despise, Detest, Loathe, Scorn, - perhaps there are other words after all! This morning Broadband disappeared and it drove me up the wall. I couldn’t check my comments. I couldn’t do a couple of book reviews because I wasn’t certain that I hadn’t already blogged them. I couldn’t look at other people’s blogs and by the time I get access – assuming I do – later in the day I’ll be busy about my own work and won’t have time to wander around the world. I couldn’t install a new program to download my phone because that needed Internet access as well as the CD that came with the phone. All in all it is very frustrating when that happens.

Equally frustrating is the fact that one rarely knows why Internet access has suddenly been denied. It’s a bit like being in the medical profession and having a patient you thought you’d cured suddenly having a relapse for no obvious reason. By the time you send for an expensive specialist the patient has usually either revived or died for good. I am tempted sometimes to make a note of how many hours I spend on frustration computer breakdowns or program problems but I suspect it would be so depressing that I might give up altogether and go back to pen and ink. I picked up a lovely goose feather while I was on the Isle of Lewis. It would make a fine quill and there’s ink in the desk drawer...

But then I might lose contact with some of the lovely folk I have met through the Internet. People like the Canadian Chickadee who so kindly sent me a couple of books through the post this week. I’m really looking forward to reading them. I never cease to be amazed at the generosity of folk. In this case it’s not just the value of the books or postage it’s the time and trouble involved in sending something abroad to someone who you have only had contact with via a couple of e-mails. It makes the books something to be doubly treasured.

Since I haven’t got a clue when I shall be able to post this I shall stop rambling for now and go and have some breakfast. Have a good day...