Monday, August 10th

The day of reckoning has arrived. The computer is delivered! Sheer intimidation. Hardware, software, cables, documents galore - is there any end to it? Gazing up at me quizzically from the pile of papers, is the "temporary student licence". The expression, "chronic student" comes to mind. Perish the thought . . .

Sit down at computer, after it's been set up at my desk. There's nowhere else to put it in the house. The computer takes up almost the whole desk and gives a totally different atmosphere to the room. Head starts buzzing. Attempt to take control. The friendly mouse scampers round the mouse-mat at random, not really knowing where to go, seeming as bewildered as I feel.

What do all these symbols on the keyboard mean? Symbols that the simple typewriter of my youth would never recognise. Not that I've typed anything in several decades. Scrabble through the documentation, but can't find any explanations for the symbols on the keyboard.

My memories from the intensive eight-hour course run by the Information Age office a couple of months ago are struggling to emerge. I remember enough to make me feel that I should be confident, yet the frustration wins out. Hit keys at random. Trial and error. Persevere, I tell myself! It's only day one.

Tuesday, August 11th

This morning I visit the Information Age Office to hand in my application for a final student licence for the software, Windows 95. The phone calls from other "students" in the town are coming in all the time. Everyone is seeking advice.

Edel in the office is so patient. She demystifies some of these keyboard symbols which are giving me such trouble. Now I know the arrows at the side are for moving the cursor. I hadn't realised what the shift key was either, or where it was.

Back home, sit down again at the computer. Keep experimenting. Mostly typing on screen (still no printer). I don't bother saving my attempts at typing. It's for practice. How can I send emails if I can't type? Keep hitting those keys. Hit and miss. Hit and miss.

Decided that I'll take tomorrow off.

Thursday, August 13th

Full of confidence and resolve after the day's break. Realise that the mind was never in a static mode. Thought I was taking in nothing, but already the keyboard, screen and mouse seem less intimidating.

The desk in this study was designed in pre-computer days. It's not what they call computer-friendly at the moment. The computer is taking up far too much room and the light is bad, because it's coming from the wrong side. So decide today to change everything around.

This is not the simple operation I was expecting. Move the desk around all right, and then move the computer. But unplugging all those cables and remembering where they all came from isn't easy. Valuable spousal assistance solves the mystery of which bit of wire belongs where!

Becoming reasonably nimble with the typing. Getting used to coming into the study and seeing a computer there. Still haven't done anything too ambitious, though.

Friday, August 14th

Encounter what I thought were gremlins on the screen. Some of the keys are acting up, or are they? It's all still confusing. Again, the Information Age office sets me right.

In the evening, I feel set to seek entry to the Internet world, the new world we all hear and read so much about - the fourth world? This is the first time I'll be using that modem. But how does it work, and what do I do? More confusion. What do I key in to get started? Ring the Telecom office, but recorded message tells me I've missed out for the day, must wait until Monday.

I'm going to take the weekend off. Is it only a week? It started with such frustration and has ended with far more confidence that I ever thought possible.

Tuesday, August 18th

Register manually for the Internet today. Then, with the help of the guiding voice from the Telecom Internet service, go through the process for linking up with the Internet. Then I'll be off in search of the New World.

I knew it couldn't be that easy. The screen coldly tells me that a "dial-up networking connection" cannot be established. Start again. Check my password. Try again. And again. Same sharp reprimand every time!

Wednesday, August 19th

Many calls to and from the Internet support service. Try again. New message this time. As if the computer is registering its distaste and disapproval at such a convoluted process, the screen tells me that "the computer you are dialling into is not answering". As if I didn't know! Is it on strike? On a go-slow? Or just exasperated with me?

Later that day, the support service sorts it out. It's evening by the time I click and dial, and get past all the barriers. The world opens up before me at last. It is extraordinary. There is information on everything. I keep opening more and more websites. Lists and more lists and more lists. I'm trying to find out tourist information about Canada. Canada is inside the computer. I had no idea the scope of the Internet was so wide, so huge, so exciting. It's late but I keep on exploring.

Why, then the world's mine oyster,

Which I with sword will open.