Once more dear readers I’m writing in line with one of my solid retirement and even life values – balance. We need clarity about our key values at times like this and balance is definitely one of my most-treasured ones. As somebody once defined stress, it’s what happens when your day to day behaviour is out of line with your values. So, in an effort to reduce stress at these times, I’m making sure I’m acting in line with one of my most important values – balance.
In this instance that means, having written recently about that old stress-reducing, stand-by, physical activity (recently in an outdoor form) in the shape of DIY tasks, I thought I’d post a brief retirement blog about the digital side of the analogue coin. So I’ll give you an update about my internet type activities.
One area that has brought me some real pleasure just lately (although I have absolutely no idea how or why or how to repeat it) is my retirement blog appearing on the first page of Google. I’ve even included the screenshot above to prove it. True, sometimes I slip, but only to page 2. And even then I tend to be above some of those blogs I had always looked up and yes, envied. I know this level of competitiveness doesn’t present me as a particularly nice sort of blogger or even person, but I can’t lie to you. After all, you’re the people who put me there.
So it’s nice to start on a positive note. As for the rest of the digital spectrum, it’s a case of it being the best of times and the worst of times. That Dickens knew what of he wrote. To balance my report, in case you think I’ve gone happy clappy in lock-down, there has been my attempts to post short yoga videos to Mrs Summerhouses’s yoga class members.
The lesson plans she has wanted sending have gone off a treat. Scan, attach to group email (which I set up no trouble) and send off, bosh. Then she decided it would be lovely to send short videos to her distant students. We started off with 10 minutes long. No chance. No way would this go as an email attachment.
Despite trying Bigfile, Youtube, Whatsapp and a ton of other programmes I’d never heard of and can’t remember now, I ended up sending the first two through the post on a memory stick (remember those?) to a more-technically advanced partner of a class member. I have eventually, successfully, sent a couple of videos, less than 5 minutes long, via Youtube, but guess what, each one takes 2 hours and 45 minutes to upload or whatever the term is. That cannot be right. This was probably the most homicidal I’ve been vis a vis technology in lockdown.
As for ordering stuff on-line (as we know, we’re all doing it), I can only report again, best of times, worst of times. Trying to order foam to reupholster our Chesterfield, no good. On the other hand, Amazon orders have tended to come sooner than they promised. So, good.
The winner of the longest time between order and delivery must go to IKEA who, with our order for picture frames, checked in (eventually) at about one month. Whereas the photos to go in the frame, took a mere two weeks. By the time the frames arrived we lost interest in the idea of displaying scenes from our other houses on the walls of this house. So 3 or 4 days after arrival they’re still in their box in the hall.
Our attempt to support friends in their hour of need didn’t go all that well. If we’d kept it analogue like buying bread and cakes from our local café, we’d have been successful, but our gesture went as far as Western Australia and an attempt to buy a case from their winery / restaurant which was suffering. This turned out to be madness. We ordered on line, they said, you’re mad. They were correct. $200 for the wine, $200 for the shipping, £85 duty (Excise and Import). An expensive way to buy wine. Still that wasn’t the point, was it?
I’ve already told you about my digital musical experiences. The Zoom group seems pointless to me. The live-steam jazz evening really didn’t work at all and the poor guy had to rerecord it all and make it available to us on Facebook. The bits that worked best were the old-fashioned video clips on Facebook of our jazz tutors giving us lessons. Simple and enjoyable.
Obviously I’m in a minority when it comes to extolling the benefits of the internet in times of challenge. Just another challenge to my sanity much of the time. And I haven’t even mentioned my slow broadband speed with everybody else looking for salvation on-line. So from another ramped-up blog offering I’ll say, bye. Can’t wait to get back to my ‘normal times’ retirement blog.