I feel like I have been reincarnated or born gain. My wife and I arrived in England nine days ago, and I have been unable to use my ancient laptop computer until yesterday. I did check my mail on my sister-in-law’s and brother-in-law’s computer a few days ago and found 140 messages, of which 4 were of any interest---par for the course. Then yesterday, when I was able to use my laptop, I found 190 messages, of which 9 were of interest. I got busy deleting and cleaning up this garbage and now I’m in good shape.
Internet is expensive here, as is phone service. My best deal was with a U.K. provider called O2, which, fortunately, has the best reception in the hilly area of Meads, a section of our town, Eastbourne , where we live. I am using a dongle, which, I found out, is not a male appendage to the body but an appendage plugging into my laptop, which connects me via mobile broadband to that great nether world of cyberspace.
I have also purchased for under ten pounds (under $15.00) a pay-as-you-go cell phone which will be a lot cheaper than using BT (British Telecom), with whom I would have to sign up for a year---or pay a steep cancellation fee. B.T. charge by the second, and the last time I used them two years ago for telephone and dial-up internet service it cost me for three months about $700.00. Now I have broadband and cellular phone, and it will be a lot more reasonable.
Without my computer, I felt like a druggie needing a fix. I had not realized how dependent I have become on the computer or how isolated I felt from the world. For example, I found out this morning that my beloved Cincinnati Reds are in first place by three games. (No, they do not show American baseball scores in the newspapers. They used to, but no longer.)
So, I have returned to the world of the living, my friends, and will stay in touch more regularly.
It's amazing how dependent we are on our gadgets. We went out of town for 4 days and without internet access I thought I was going to get the DT's.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I was thinking it was Northern Ireland that had most of the good guys and that the villain all these years had been Ireland and the British who had committed most of the violence and therefore one might be lead to believe they also had a capacity for the most stupidity. Maybe not. I will admit all the information I have is based on hearsay. That being the case, maybe Grumpy is right, and that stupidity can take root anywhere and not only in America.
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