Technical challenges

Monday got off to a good start until I decided to try and 'heal the rift' between the laptop and the old Sony Bravia TV screen that we'd been using to watch some good SBS scandi noir series. After 2 hours of restarts, holding buttons in, flicking through non responsive buttons on a very old remote, I had to give up, and IYKYK, giving up is not in my vocabulary.

I retreated to the hills and dales of the farmlands, past the milking cows and in an hour did not see another human, or a car or even a tractor, harvester, or similar! But I at least felt better for my 6kms of exercise.

Then I was confronted by the next tech challenge - the WIFI gave up. Its been erratic for the past 6 weeks and all the modem lights had failed, but finally last night it died.

So today, armed with a letter of authorisation from Emma Lou, we set off for Saintes, 30 mins down the A10 with the goal to come home with a new modem. We arrived at the 'Orange' (telecom equivalent), shop at 10.05am, along with all the other pensioners and were relieved when the 'greeter', a mature woman at the door spoke excellent english. She arranged for a modem test and we watched as all the green ticks appeared, but we had evidence of the failed lights on the front so without too much hesitation, she offered us a new modem! Finally a win. It did take a while to connect so there were a few tense moments but as of tonight, we are looking pretty set.

And in a complete contrast to modern day technology, I am sitting out on la terasse when I hear the sound of gunshots. Hunting season has opened and low and behold I look up to the hill behind us and see a large deer leaping across the top paddock. The French don't cook alot of venison, so we think the deer was safe, but we've seen pheasant and foxes around on many occasions so this may be the target. I'll be keeping to the laneways on my walks - no shortcuts across the paddocks for a while.Read more