Thursday 25 March 2010

Technology and the Technofailyphobe

I have never been somebody who copes comfortably with technology. I can do floaty fabric, splashy painty, random talky stuff, but when it comes down to the precision required by physics or computers I allow my brain to turn off. My husband is an engineer who understands numbers (even sums that use brackets) and our son is reading Computer Science at uni. I have used these facts as my excuse not to bother to learn more. (Also if I ask either child anything about the computer they rattle off the information so quickly and with so much flouncy eye-rolling somehow it just doesn't seem worth it)

Now I am the proud owner of an i-phone. The sheer excitement I feel about it is very uncool, but I actually feel as if I understand it, the whole thing is remarkably intuitive and other than one or two glitches (making the map huge and then not being able to shrink it again and telling it I didn't want it to talk to my i-pod ) I have found my way round it. For the first week I just looked at it askance and felt nervous but now I tweet, email, shop, watch films, read books and answer questions. Sometimes I even make phone calls. It has been a great ice breaker too, on my last 2 train journeys I have been given tutorials by the guys I was sitting next to. (Thank you Mr Gold Futures man and Mr Philosophy student man) Lots of help, albeit with a little metaphorical patting on the head, from people who used theirs in very different ways. Is there anything this little beauty can't do ?

My lovely, shiny new friend welcome to my life.

Wednesday 10 March 2010

The Fragrant Mrs H


This morning I had a shower, which, fortunately for those I live with, is not in itself worthy of comment but as I applied gels and unguents all guaranteed to make me younger, smoother and calmer I idly totalled the products.
Shampoo
Conditioner
Soap
Facial Exfoliant
Shower Gel
Body Moisturiser
Serum
Moisturiser
Frizz Ease
Deodorant
Perfume
Eleven products for heavens sake and I don't consider myself particularly high maintenance.

Thursday 4 March 2010

World Book Day


This year I am on an economy drive. Having left work money for anything other than necessities is scarce. It would appear I consider books to be necessities. All the books in the picture above have been bought this year, along with half a dozen others that are already "visiting friends". Admittedly I was given book tokens as a leaving present by work and I allowed myself a treat with some of the money I got at Christmas but it is still a healthy haul for only 9 weeks.
At this rate the bookcases I am drawing up for the joiner aren't going to have space for long.
Postscript. The books currently on tour include "Kill-Grief" by Caroline Rance, "Blackmoor" by Edward Hogan, "Night Music" by JoJo Moyes and "Letters to Sister Benedicta" by Rose Tremain and then the postman has just brought me "Ottolenghi, the Cookbook", "Human Traces" by Sebastian Faulks, "Samuel Palmer, Vision and Landscape" and "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.
Twitter, please stop recommending books