Vive l'internet!

Reading Gemmak's latest post this morning led me to pondering on how important the internet has been to me. Having come to computers in the days of the BBC microcomputer (32 bit memory!), I was hooked immediately, but it was some years later when I made the acquaintance of the internet. In fact it was when Elder Daughter went off to university and we were able to set up a dial up connection which was temperamental, to say the least. But it was a start and eventually we graduated to broadband and the delights of the world wide web became more accessible.
Now, I am well and truly hooked and couldn't imagine having to do without it (witness my withdrawal symptoms when I am away from home and have no access!) I have made lots of online friends through Blogger, of course, and emailing friends and family is so much easier and more immediate than old fashioned 'snail mail'. When Elder Son is abroad on a tour of duty, I can email him and he receives the email within a couple of days rather than having to wait for weeks and during my last few years of teaching, internet access in the classroom through an interactive whiteboard was a real thrill for me, although the six year old pupils were so much more blase about it, of course.
Through the internet, I have renewed contact with people from my past and when you have an intenet 'presence' who knows who you might be reunited with or what new friends are just a click away? It can be a two-edged sword, but my life would be very different now were it not for the internet and yes, I'm happy about that.

Walking some more

There was a prescription for Keith waiting at the chemist so off I went yesterday morning, braving the gale force winds, uphill all the way, to walk the two and a half (or maybe three) miles to Coed Poeth where the chemist's shop is.
"I walked to Coed Poeth this morning," I said to Keith later.
"You didn't! You're joking!What on earth did you do that for?" was the reply.
Not really what I was looking for. "Thank you for getting my prescription," would have been more the sort of reaction I was seeking.
"Oh yes, thank you for getting my prescription," he said meekly.
(Anyway it must have been at least half a stone's worth of walking - at least.)

The Government and the banks are looking after us - honest!

I was sent a link to The Daily Mash in an email this weekend and couldn't resist posting it here. We probably mostly breathed a sigh of relief that the USA and European governments finally decided to do something about the chaotic financial abyss yawning at our feet, but looking at it this way - well, it does make you wonder...
The Government is to invest £500bn of your money in British banks so they can lend it back to you with interest.
The historic move is being hailed as a lifeline for the financial system as long as nobody asks too many questions. Julian Cook, chief economist at Corbett and Barker, said: "The government will give your money to the banks so the banks can start lending you that money, probably at around 7% APR. Thanks to all the interest you're paying on your own money, the banks will make billions of pounds again and normality will be restored. After a few years of this the government will cash in the bank shares it bought with your money and use the profits to build a huge f*****g dome somewhere."
He added: "In case you hadn't already worked it out - the entire global financial system is predicated on the assumption that you're an idiot."
Chancellor Alistair Darling said the decision had been taken in tandem with the banking industry, adding: "They used a lot of dirty words I'd never heard before and one of them had an angry looking dog."
Meanwhile, Emma Bradford, a sales manager from Bath, said: "Why doesn't the government just give my money to me so I can buy stuff from businesses who will then make a profit and put it in a bank?"
But Mr Darling insisted: "Shut up."
And then, of course, when you keep hearing snippets of news about how the city wizz kids are still getting their fantastic bonuses and no heads are really rolling over this and no-one seems to be addressing the question of how to prevent this sort of thing happening again, you have to wonder if your money (if you still have any) would be safer in a sock under the mattress.