Not really what I had in mind when I invited my parents over for dinner on sunday night. Sausage casserole with organic leaks and apple, organic potatoes followed by pear and apple crumble. The problem was that my dad tried to load onto my computer a new anti virus checker. Computers I think are rather like handbuilt dry stane dyke walls and a new virus checker is rather like removing a stone from near the bottom of the wall with simply disasterous results. Now the computer has gone to computer hospital and my dad is muttering about XP upgrades and I'm checking my emails at internet cafes.

I'm totally reliant on google for info like address, phone numbers of businesses, I'm now having to batch my information gathering and make lists of stuff that I want to do rather than drifting over to the computer when I feel like it and doing a few emails. On the downside I feel a bit adrift a bit marooned and cut off on the upside I'm more focussed, have knitted a lot more (baby blanket nearly finished !) I've done a bit more phoning than emailing, and I'm much much more focused and therefore more productive. An interesting experiment!

A core tool of the Artists Way is a week of 'Reading Deprivation' where people are urged to take a week off from reading and other inwashes of media. The results are always surprising. The first one being that people reported masses of time for actually being creatie and also finding new hobbies, reconnecting with people and their own spirit instead of drowning it out with a mass of'information' 'entertainment' 'trivia'.

Perhaps I need to schedule internet retreats?