Technology - love it or hate it

Wednesday 30th September, 2020

Today I have woken in my own bedroom back home. I arrived yesterday evening about 7pm. I had a hot bath, got in to pyjamas, had a supper of pitta bread and humus with salad. Then watched a new series on television and rather relished its portrayal of people and relationships. It is called 'Life'. Somehow it seemed true to it.

I woke this morning early and made coffee at 8am. No rising sun or dawn watching as per the last three weeks. Normally at home I have been staying in bed until 10am getting through a streamed service on my iPad and doing various chores. I may revert but today I was up. It was raining. It has rained all day with just the occasional intermission. It has varied in strength and ferocity. It has been welcomed by many gardeners. Scotland is chillier than England...of that I can assure you!

Last evening I had tried to turn on my own second television in my study. It did not connect. All sorts of messages showed up: 'weak signal', 'no connection', 'check leads' and other suchlike came on screen. I tried again this morning...again it did not connect even after I had pressed and pulled and turned off and disconnected all sorts of buttons and leads. It has happened before and I went through the procedures I could recall. At 11am a helpful, intelligent and patient friend came to my aid. After two hours on the telephone to SKY whose office was located somewhere on this planet, the voice on the phone said he had booked an engineer for tomorrow. He tried to describe what might have gone wrong, who and what kind of engineer might come or not come, who might want access to the house or not need it, whether he/she would wear a mask or full ppc and bring his/her own gel etc and that the appointment would be, he hoped, between 8am and 13.00pm. Cleaning facilities would / might be needed. This conversation was over by 15.00 and I retired for a siesta, the rain still falling.

Technologies are, I am told, marvellous. I am not good at them nor use them except for emails and news summaries as I mildly fear them. I know that society and industry, business, medicine, communicators etc rely on them more and more. When they go wrong I get frenetic, as do many I know. When working they are valued and I have heard of the relief of zoom, Facebook, whats app and many such in these days of lockdown and little travel.

Lying down on my bed for my siesta I picked up the nearest book. For some reason my room has been organised and tidied in my absence, so I am a little lost as to where most things are, so my books for reading have been put 'in a safe place'! Thus I simply picked up the nearest book. It is Emily St John Mandel's 'Station Eleven' . It is about a virulent pandemic's effects. Shall I cheer you?  Page 37: " There was the flu that exploded like a neutron bomb over the face of the earth and the shock of the collapse that followed, the first unspeakable years...." I have just read a passage on the disappearance of the Internet.

So rain, collapse of television and a book on an horrendous pandemic....all cheering? Actually for some reason I am enjoying the challenge of it all. It is almost galvanising me and making me look to inner resources. I have not listened to the Prime Minister but I believe he has spoken. I opine that that really would depress me. I will not look to the iPad's news pages! I shall bury my head in the fictional pandemic! Reality can hang on a bit longer. I will watch it on the second episode of Life!