I have just faced a major challenge………….lack of internet connection …..for 3 weeks YES 3 weeks I have had no internet connection here at my home in France. I live in the middle of nowhere – I am right at the end of the ASDL line – I normally have very narrow broadband width ….but I get by….I have learnt how to manage it…..but in  the recent storms the local transformer or whatever its proper name is  – was hit  – repair involved digging up ground – by law all lines must be underground now here in Sud Ouest France…..and since there are only 5 of us on this line it wasnt given a whole load of urgency……no matter how loud I shouted in my pretty poor french.

Finally today it is repaired….I cannot describe the rush I received as my emails – all 2852 of them popped up………..

For the last couple of weeks I have either bummed computer time at a friends house or Kate and I have dealt with urgent stuff over the telephone.

What have I learnt in this time

1. Not as much as you think is urgent is urgent -or even important – when we used to communicate by post it was a number of days before one received a reply –  not hours – I will try to remeber this

2. It’s good to talk – I had to pick the phone up – and I am sure the conversations were better in many instances than emails

3. Social networking is addictive but the addiction can be beaten – I was desperate to know what the latest twitter chat  – facebook post and linked in comment was – but hey I survived

4. French customer service is probably the worst in the world ( with the exception of the wonderful technician who arrived today) ….but thats a whole other story

So sorry for the lack of updates here on the blog – I am about to put that right…..with bells…..