Streamwriting

Ok, ok, has anyone actually noticed I wasn’t here for nearly THREE weeks? 

It wasn’t a deliberate absence.  My laptop decided to play havoc on me.  Either that, or it was the universe’s way of saying - take a break!  I came back from Almeria (where I have been running a magazine this past yr) with a long list of To Do’s.  Day one and I turn on the laptop only to discover the damn thing won’t turn on.  Frustrating, but I decide to let the battery run down and then re-try later. 

I spend the day aimlessly.  Most of it propped up in Bar Oscar drinking cafe con leche and announcing to the world I am having a ‘day off!’

That night, I return home and am SHOCKED to discover the laptop still won’t turn on.  I *think* I pressed the on button about 100 times.  Quick discussion with dad and we decide it must be the battery - it’s been playing up for weeks.  That’s ok, we can order a new one and it’ll arrive within the week.  (That’s the downside to living up a mountain - no immediate access to a fully stocked Apple Store.)

I spend a computerless week.   The shock is immense.  I go walking.  I join a pilates class.  I read.  I make notes on Lizzie.  I sit in sun.  I realise how much time I fritter online.  I realise how much my life is depedent on the computer.  I am childless, husbandless and now computerless. 

I am *sad*.

Week two and cue one very distressed Hannah.   I fret that it’s NOT the battery.  The man in the Apple store in London said the ibook ought to work fine without the battery, if plugged into mains.  Mine DOES NOT!

‘Yeah, but you made a hard copy, didn’t you?’  say all my friends.

*gulp*

No.  Not even of my book!  How careless is that?!!!  I’ve had the memory stick staring me in the face for weeks and I kept putting it off. 

I acquire a thousand more grey hairs with the thought of having lost my book, all my work, my files, my contacts.  Luckily I find young lad in town who also has G4 ibook.  I go round his house, borrow his charger and have brief computer action.  So, now I know what the problem is.

The next day, the brand new battery arrives (it did need a new one) and I send off for new charger. It’s another week before the charger will arrive, but that’s ok cos my brother is returning back to Spain and he can bring it with him.   Another week without my computer, except for the one time I charged it round the boy’s house.  Then his charger breaks.

I think the universe is trying to tell me something….

I try to listen, but it’s hard with all this internal noise going on inside my brain….

My brother fails to come back on the Monday.  Too much work, he says.  I have to sit for another four days whilst the charger flies its way over all by itself.  FOUR more days!

Today, the charger arrives.  I am back.    Thank God.