“Shall I show you how to do it?” I suggested, having told him our eBay password. “Not much point” responded the Sage cheerfully. “I’ll only cock it up.” “Yes, you probably will. Oh darling, you are sweet.”
The Sage is hopeless on the computer. He is completely bewildered by the cursor whizzing about as his hand roams the mouse around purposelessly. I’ve tried to show him; or rather, I’ve tried to encourage him to just keep practising. I do remember the first time I sat at a computer, some couple of decades ago. I had no idea what I was doing and it took a while to find out. But the Sage has a closed mind to it. He doesn’t believe it’s within his capabilities or interest. Yet I know he could learn to love it.
Just as well, perhaps. Although, on the other hand, it would justify the purchase of a laptop, which I can’t now, useful as it would be. No, I must be honest … pleasant as it would be. Frankly, what I want is to sit out in the garden blogging, isn’t it? Not now, it’s jolly cold. But how enjoyable in August.
In other news, I can’t find a hotel at a price I am willing to pay close enough to the flat to be bearable. I know myself well. I need to be close so that I’ll arrive early and get on. Dear and lovely Dandelion has offered to put me up, but I have to get to work first thing on Sunday morning, and it’d be too tempting to faff about and chat. I hope to meet her later in the day, however, and that is a very good reason for starting work early and getting it finished.
Don’t tell Weeza about this, will you? She has so sweetly said she feels bad about calling me pigheaded; which she did in the most well-meaning fashion possible; I didn’t take offence as none was meant. It was true. But, whilst I was willing to pay £70-something a night (sadly, that hotel is fully booked), I’m not willing to pay £100. It’s not worth it, just to lay my head for a few hours, and that’s that. I can get considerably cheaper rates – indeed, well under half that – but too far away for me to be willing to travel. I’m too weak-willed. I can only push myself if I’m harsh.
I haven’t been following the comments- been having to sneak in reading the blog:)- so forgive me if you’ve covered this already- but why don’t you do an air mattress? It’s got to be less than 70/ night, and maybe you can stick in the attic there or something like that so it’s there when you need it. I’ve slept on them and they aren’t bad.
My mother refuses to learn how to use her computer, and has now removed the internet connection at home too. Yet, as I keep pointing out to her, there are plenty of silver surfers who manage to cope with the complexities of the keyboard.
The men in my house are not too happy with computers and, although I’m far from expert they are always calling me to help. Would you really be happy with a laptop? I find the ‘inbuilt mouse’ thingy very difficult to manipulate though I suppose you can attach a ‘proper’ (note I did not say ‘real’) one.
Last time I went I took a proper inflatable bed, but the pump was so heavy I could hardly move the suitcase about, even though it was on wheels. If I could get a simple li-lo, that’d be fine, but in my little town there doesn’t happen to be anywhere that sells them. If I can find one I will, but it’s the sort of thing that you don’t know where to go to get in a hurry.
Dave and Sandy, it is hard to learn to use a computer from scratch and you have to have an incentive. If you don’t really want to learn, it’ll seem too hard.
I don’t want a laptop instead of this computer, but it would be nice to have one as well, for various reasons. I’m reasonably proficient with the little pad, but I’d probably use a mouse. I like ‘proper’ – indeed, ‘real’ isn’t quite the word.
I find a lap top is good, it means I can sit in comfort on the settee to do things instead of at a desk…
…. but I was very disappointed last summer to find that it wasn`t practical to use in the garden, as the sun turns the screen into a “mirror” and you can`t read anything on it.
An AppleMac is good too, as you’ve got a full size screen and a proper (if not real) mouse and keyboard and that’s it. The computer is contained within the screen.
On the other hand, it’s an expensive toy. And I see what you mean about the garden laptop. I suppose it’ll be a book while I lounge on the lawn watching Dave building my wall… (joke, Dave, I know you’ll be the one overseeing operations)