…. as the man said. Surely life was better before we became so dependent upon computers? For the last three days I’ve been fighting to stop wheels falling off my particular electronic wagon. For reasons that remain entirely mysterious I was informed that my ISP was “updating”, in a process that lasted for two days. Then a document I was editing in order to send to somebody else developed entirely unwilled intrusions I could not eliminate. Finally, I have spent a good part of the day wrestling with the supposedly basic task of filling in a document sent to me in electronic form. Mysteriously it appeared to have developed a will of its own, and decided to re-format itself in the process.
Tomorrow I will write a letter, put it in an envelope, and stick a stamp on it. I do not anticipate any problems!
My mood has not been lightened by the fact that our political class are in the throes of a collective mental breakdown. On top of that I returned from yesterday’s climbing trip completely ruined, having failed to do climbs that I recorded in my guidebook as having done more easily in 1995. I like to tell myself that the explanation lies in the freezing wind that was battering in quite unexpectedly across the moor. If I’m honest, however, I’m just unfit.
The day has finished, however, with a small encouragement. Reflecting on the experience of visiting the Bill Viola exhibition on London last week I was cheered by reminding myself of a comment he made in a video about his work. “Don’t force it”, he said, stressing the need for patience, and the need for artists to allow time for ideas to develop. I’ll hang onto that one.