I’ve been rather out of the loop of updating and keeping this place alive because I haven’t been online as such. I’ve had access to the internet but by not having access via my normal computer I haven’t been able to do my normal stuff. I could usually upload photos onto Flickr or check emails via my email client and then, gasp, keep them with me. Because we haven’t had the internet connected all of this kind of thing has been shoved back. I’ve been doing a lot of reading of newspapers.
I came back to Leeds just two weeks ago and it’s funny but you don’t notice how much media hopping one does until you lose it. We have a TV but we don’t have digital, so we don’t get the 24 hour news channels I’ve grown accustomed to, nor the ‘real’ cultural programs as broadcast on BBC 4, nor the flesh-fest that is music television at the moment.
I brought my hi-fi system but neglected a tiny little cable that plugs in the back of it: the aerial. I had an AM cable which is great because it means I can get the nightly 1AM-onwards news magazine that I listen to on the BBC, but couldn’t get music or the fantastic speech station that is BBC Radio 4. We don’t have a radio in our kitchen yet so despite doing a lot of cooking, I’m still not feeling fully up to date. The newspapers I’m reading are always telling me of yesterday’s news.
I could normally supplement my media hopping by going online. When our TV at home goes haywire, you can be sure of getting most of the news that you’d see there online via the BBC’s Broadband News service, as well as news that you don’t normally get in the same way on the NYTimes website, like the story of the first ever entirely computer designed aircraft.
Without the internet, which is supposed to be installed this afternoon, I’ve been lost. I’ve been reading several newspapers each day because I don’t trust getting my news from one source, even reading papers that I’d have never touched before because I thought them boring or just too trivial (buying the Times, and reading the Leeds Student…). I’ve been doing a lot more work on/for my course, and getting involved in other things like the refugee action group meeting I was at last night. It beats a booze-up with the LGBT society. Perhaps it’s a good thing to be cut off every so often as it really focuses you on what you need. I find that I can easily get by without the internet, but I’d hate to attempt to write a term paper, research an article or share photos with friends without my regular access. Apple Powerbooks are light and nifty little things but they’re still a drag when carrying in a satchel for half an hour each way to and from work. I envisage most people carting them around in the back of the car or in a briefcase, rather than in competition with the daily haul of books I get from the library.

Anyway, the general message is this: I’ll be back online soon.

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