Sunday Musings #184

I wonder what my kids are going to tell their kids . . . “It was so rough back in my day, I didn’t get a phone till 4th Grade and sometimes the wi-fi didn’t always work upstairs.”

– Unknown

 

Yes, this is exactly what they’ll say, because by then the whole world will probably be linked by neural implants*, with instantaneous access to all the data you could ever wish for!

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Aaaaggghhh!!

We had no internet the whole of Sunday!

No, I didn’t spill my coffee over the new Router!

I did my morning chores then sat down with my laptop and a cuppa to do my Sunday post. WordPress would not load. OK, it happens. Maybe WP is working on their site.

So I did some gardening; hacking back vines behind the bougainvillea, which I really don’t like doing.

When I tried again later, there was still no internet.

We had nothing all day.

I don’t know what was going on, but we weren’t alone. A very large area of Cape Town was off-line.

This was more than frustrating as I had arranged to chat online with my sister in the UK. I hadn’t spoken to her for weeks, because of my previous internet problems, (albeit self-inflicted!) I had to cancel.

By 10 pm there was still no connection and the Router had finally given up trying; now showing a solid red internet light!

This morning I automatically checked the internet access.

Wheeeeeeeee! We’re Back!

So here is my Sunday Musings on a Monday!

 

*post script: While I was simply being amusing here, the reality may be a lot closer than we think. Read this: Elon Musk hopes to put a computer chip in your brain.

 

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Great Expectations!

Hard Times Book by Charles Dickens

So, after eight days, they finally delivered our new Router this morning.

Only it was the wrong one and we still have no wi-fi.

Great Expectations turned to Hard Times!

Yet in the grand scheme of things, I’d rather be without internet than without electricity or water!

 

post script: Charles Dickens published Great Expectations in 1861 and Hard Times in 1854.

 

Sunday Musings #182

I turned my phone on Airplane Mode and threw it in the air. Worst transformer ever!

– Bill Murray

 

Sometimes technology is out to get you. Sometimes you help it along!

 

post script: My Router is trying to recover after I spilt my coffee over it. Thank you for all your kind words. 

I don’t particularly miss the internet, though I do miss contact with my family overseas and my Blog friends. 

As to the rest, I admit to buying a little data for my phone, so I could continue my 790 day Duolingo streak. After all, it would be nice to get to 1000 days! 

And I hope to be re-connected sometime next week. See you then!

 

How to Kill Your Router!

Apparently, when you spill your coffee over the Router  – it dies!

I have no Internet. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

 

In Isolation

Little Monkey 1

Haiku 73

In isolation

An inconvenient truth

Of First World problems

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As you can see from the super relaxed position, Little Monkey is supremely unaffected by two days without internet and a twelve hour power cut.

Little Monkey 2

After all, she doesn’t chat online or drink coffee!

 

No Comment

Pretty Flowers

OK so probably no-one is interested – but I’m gonna ramble anyway.

The last few weeks my internet has become soooooooooo slow during working hours! Because other people in the house require what little there is for more important things than blogging (I know!) I have to write most of my blog posts at the weekend, and schedule them each day.

Early in the morning, before the web gets blocked up, I open my blog site and quickly scan my WP reader. I like posts that I – well Like! Those I want to read in more depth, or Heaven forbid, actually comment on, I click to open in a new Tab, to read later in the day. Half the time photos don’t load in my reader. I can only guess how beautiful the picture actually is – until after 6pm.

Those of you who have set your posts to show only a few lines, and require that I load your blog to read the rest – well you’re also going to have to wait till the end of the day.

So if you have noticed that I have liked one of your posts, but only commented on it half a day later, then this is the reason why. The same applies to replying to comments in my notifications. The wheel just keeps on spinning!

So it is frustrating, but it is what it is.

Just thought I’d let you guys know, that I haven’t stopped thinking about you, and I haven’t stopped wanting to comment. Just that it is sometimes impossible to do so!

 

post script: It is really exciting – (well for me anyway!) My stats are sitting at 9984 views. Who is going to be the lucky 10,000th visitor?

Snow Business

Snow Daisy

There’s snow Business Like Show Business!

If you’ve visited my blog lately you’ll have noticed I have activated the snow* feature. I like to see snow falling on Little Monkey, as she frolicks in the searing sunshine. You gotta know that not one single snowflake would survive long enough on its passage down through the hot air to actually land on her!

If you read my posts fairly regularly you will also know that my internet is rubbish for most of the day! This is perfectly illustrated by the falling snow! Before 8 am and after about 6 pm, snow falls in a steady stream, sometimes so fast you see three dots streaking down the page instead of one. Any other time during the day – ie when I actually want to use Word.press, the snow stops and starts and inches down the screen at a snail’s pace, or freezes altogether. Welcome to my world – of slow snow internet!

It really is quite hard to try to write a post at these peak hours, especially if I have a photo from the day that I want to add to my post! Impossible! I often end up writing a post at night and scheduling it for publication the next day. Not how I intended blogging at all. I began by writing a quick post in the afternoon, instead of having a crossword break.

It is also impossible to visit other blogs and comment. The wheel keeps on spinning and I get nowhere. So if you were wondering why I had not been commenting as much lately, here’s your answer.

To make life more interesting, we are also experiencing power cuts for two or more hours at a time. We are told, “No, it isn’t power cuts, it is load shedding.” ?????

Basically – it is power cuts, but they are supposed to tell you when you will have them. This doesn’t help either, cos you will look online (when you have power) and be told emphatically There Will Be NO Load Shedding Today – only to have your power go off, for three and a half hours with no warning!

 News flash: Yesterday morning we had two power cuts lasting a total of four and a half hours in the space of six and a half hours! So I didn’t manage to get my post out.

It is very frustrating, not to mention down right annoying. It took my daughter one hour to do a usual five minute part of her journey home the other night! Total time – an hour and a half. Why are traffic lights not on a separate system, and therefore not cut?

I can’t trust the food in my fridge, when it has been switched off for hours, as it is summer here and very hot (33C today). And I find I wake at night to hear the pool pump going at 2 am,  because I have forgotten to re-set the timer again – and again!

Still, I shall find a way to keep posting – somehow!

post script: If you want falling snow* on your blog, go to your Dashboard, select Settings in the sidebar, then General. Scroll down to the snow option and tick. Voila! You have snow till 4 Jan! I found this out from Rachel Squirrel

Are you my 5000 visitor? My stats are currently at 4999. Who will be the lucky one? Oodles of points up for grabs!!

 

Waiting on line!

Scifihammy – A Shadow of her Former Self

Hooray for me! I have published a post every day for the past 4 months. (This is my 147th)

Sadly, my internet sucks – as it does for most South Africans, no matter how much money you spend on it every month. When I try to read my WP reader, it takes forever to download, especially photos. When I try to visit someone’s blog, I leave it “spinning” and go do something else for half an hour, often to return to find it has timed-out or crashed. It is very frustrating!

Next month, my daughter will be visiting from the UK, so obviously I will be busy spending time with her.

These two events combine to make it likely that I will only be posting a few times a week for the moment.

While it doesn’t take me that long to write a post, particularly if it is mostly a photo, it does take me a very long time to publish the post, particularly if it is a photo! It also takes a very long time to read other people’s posts – (see internet rubbish above!)

And the blog world is two-way. Why should you read my posts, if I am not reading yours?

But though I may not be able to visit and comment on your posts every day, I will visit you as often as I can, and I will catch up on all your old posts. And though I won’t actually be absent, I won’t be as present! And as the saying goes –

Absence makes the heart grow fonder!