Techno problems

I'M OVER AT FRAN AND DEN'S today, trying to fix their computer printer problem - that's to say, trying to get it to work.

Nothing I do seems to have any effect and finally I admit defeat. "Get a professional in," I tell them, and I give them the name of the young genius who sorted out my IT difficulties.

Thing of it is, I don't really understand the techno side of - well, anything really... I just push a few buttons and hope for the best.

A sad reflection from one who used to work in the early days of the computer industry.

I mean I remember the days when you needed to use reels of paper tape, with holes punched along its length, to input data; and heaven help you if the tape snapped or got itself mangled up in the machine's gubbins. You literally had to repair it with scissors and self-adhesive plastic.

Room-sized computers in those days had less computing power than a modern pocket calculator.

Don't get me wrong, I love the whole modern technology thing: to me it boldly goes where no technology has gone before. I suppose I love it because it's mysterious, and because like most ignoramuses, I only partly understand it.

"Omne ignotum pro magnifico" the old Latin tag has it, "Everything unexplained is (thought to be) magnificent". Very true.

The only trouble is that the more technology advances the further away from me it gets!

I suppose I still wish that all technological problems could be solved with scissors and Sellotape.