Saturday, July 9, 2022

Life without Internet

 Yesterday was a day without internet of any sort except for a brief time in the morning when my internet worked on my telephone. This is how I begin my day these days after my stretching exercises first thing which involve moving my feet back and forth twenty times and then turning my feet on my ankles fifteen times each way, then reaching up and pulling down ten times then away goes the pillow and I do a full body stretch that brings my torso off of the bed and continuing I put the soles of my feet together and draw them towards me then my feet flat on the bed and I bring them up as far as I can then another body stretch but sideways followed by bringing my legs up to perpendicular and touching my toes then up I get and touch my toes ten times (actually the floor) and then I weigh myself and I still have not gained back the fifteen pounds that I lost in the year before last although now more like two years and a half. Then I walk for three hundred steps and turn my computer on at the beginning of the short walk. It does wake me up and today is another beautiful day but perhaps somewhat hazy so likely a warm day but it is only 13 degrees celsius thus far. This has been a cooler July than the last. We have been watering though as this tends to be the dry season. The tomatoes are growing quickly outside but the peppers are slow; definitely they need more sun than they are getting even where they are so next year back to the spot where they have grown best in the last few years. The green onions have been quite good and the lettuces which we have had a little have mostly been gobbled up by the four rabbits that visit us in the morning. The raspberries we have had several quarts of them and must pick them today. That is my usual day anyway but generally I then sit down at my computer and do my microsoft solitaire but not yesterday - there was no internet so I quickly shut off the alarm system just in case that went down as well but it stayed up the entire time without any problems. 

So what did I do instead; I tried my home telephone but no internet on there either and although I did not try it my phone probably also out. I went down and rebooted the router but that gave me only a no internet signal. I tried the television and that didn't work either. I decided to make my breakfast and that did work. My usual breakfast much enjoyed by me of oatmeal cooked in milk with raisins and cranberries in the five minute process of cooking then add the wheat germ, wheat bran, chocolate square (70% cocoa) and blueberries. Marvelous breakfast but no news to watch whilst I ate it. I actually didn't think of any ominous things whilst all this was going on but instead searched out the radio and found a channel that told me that Rogers was down all across Canada - I still marvel that the alarm system never went down and was working very well although warned me that the internet was down. 

What would I do with a day without internet. First of all you can not use debit it appears but the credit card still worked which was great news. The bank still opened and we whipped over and got money to go canoeing because we have given away our lovely canoe and happily it is now being enjoyed by another family (a young family and that canoe will be the love of their life probably for quite a few years). We rented a canoe after lunch which again was easily managed as we had egg salad sandwiches with green onion from the garden and a slice of swiss cheese on 100% whole wheat bread some small tomatoes filled the dish and then greek yoghourt with Dad's cookies (my favourite) before setting off on our quest for a COVID-19 shot which I could not find but will book one for Monday once I get onto the Internet. Then we went canoeing which was most successful and enjoyed by us on the Ottawa River. It was an older fibreglass canoe - not the class of the cedar strip canvas covered cargo canoe but did manage quite well and we had a good ride although I was pretty tired by the end of that ride. Then back to get some groceries and that reminded me that I really prefer to use the cashier rather than the automatic checkout - I do not like my red meat in with my groceries so returned it to my cart after doing the automatic checkout and pressing the do not bag button. The over zealous clerk (perhaps affected by the internet being down) instead of checking the computer which would have shown him that I put the pork into my cart was somewhat over zealous in his query as to why the pork was in my cart  - I told him and said that he could check my receipt at the end and on the way out I did show it to him being that kind of person but instead of apologizing he ignored me which is perhaps the result of lack of internet - fear does affect some people that way. But in future only the cashier for me as then it is easy not to have raw meat in with my other groceries - I am there to take care of that. But all in all a successful day as we got everything done and then had our dinner and relaxed on the swing with our daily ice cream bar to end the day of eating. No TV show as we generally watch a documentary at the end of the day before we do "Walk it out" which also worked without internet and we generally run around the basement with that. Still no internet although it was trying to come on by the end of the day but it was a good day actually and we had a great time. 

Today is starting out well - there is also internet. It was missed but not to any degree that overly affected our lives as it turned out. If there were things you had to do with the internet it must have been very frustrating as the work arounds were there if you happen to use two services and one was still up or there was always the local coffee shop with internet but I can actually manage a day without internet as it turns out. In the morning I also worked on the Pincombe Newsletter for a couple of hours until I reached a point where I did need to look up some records on Find My Past/My Heritage/Ancestry so I closed that task but already I am on page nine so not too bad. 

I had done my solitaire games from yesterday first thing and will do todays a little later but all in all the day without internet went not too badly but then I am 76 and retired so the effect somewhat minimized but it is nice to have the internet for sure. A bit more work to do and then on to breakfast. 


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