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The on-line writings of
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Modern Lifelines
We have become so dependant at the same time we have become so mobile. Dependant on having the correct cables with us at all times to charge the diverse batteries in our diverse mobile toys.
I was expecting to be able to spend two weeks in my cabin in the woods in Sweden with my family. We would make great food, play board games with each other, and in the evenings Mom could catch up on the pile of work she has been pushing in front of her all semester (all year?).
We got in the Sunday before Christmas, unpacked, opened a bottle of wine, and my son asked to use the computer to watch a DVD he borrowed from his cousin. Sure, it's Christmas, why not? I got out my laptop, reached into my backpack for the cables, and found: nothing. No electricity adapter. No mouse. No adapter for my PDA. Panic.
Somehow in between packing the cable for my telephone and the cable for the computer I got sidetracked. And since I now have a second cable at work so that I don't have to truck cables back and forth every day with me, I don't normally have it in my back pack. I'm gonna have to make a checklist in writing of things to take with me when I go somewhere.....
No problem, I called our neighbors who have a key. They checked - yup, all the cables are on my desk. I called DHL, who advertises "express delivery world wide". Well, there was one slight problem - since it was Christmas, they had no deliveries in Sweden Tues-Thurs. But the cables could be picked up on Monday and delivered to my by Friday. Were they sure? Of course, normally they would be there on Tuesday, but because of the holidays it would not be delivered until Friday.
Since my laptop maker does not sell in Sweden, they would have to send me a new one from England, and that wouldn't get here until Friday, at three times the price. So we settled on DHL, and I spent a few nervous days without computer and Internet. My conference needs organizing! My corrections! All the people writing to me because an article was just published on Spiegel-Online! All the writing I wanted to do! Oh well, it's Christmas, it won't hurt to spend a few days doing something else.
I first calculated how many *different* mains cables we need to be able to function in our 3-person family:
Not to mention the battery charger for all the stuff we use that needs batteries: Walkman, label maker, camera flash, flashlights, alarm clock, ..... I yearn for one-size-fits-all! There actually are some universal adapters, but they only seem to go to 12 V, so they are not really universal. If we use all of these different things we are forced to carry around all these lifelines, so that they can continue working.
So we played round after round of Carcassone, visited with friends, and had some great food. Friday dawned, and I sat reading, waiting for the DHL man to show up. Every time a car went by, about every hour or so, I would start up from what I was reading. No DHL man. I didn't dare leave the side of the telephone, but by 4 pm I was getting antsy and called DHL. They hemmed and hawed, and then said that they seemed to have lost the package. They could see it coming into Copenhagen on Dec. 24, but from there they did not know where it was. They would call me back. They didn't. At 7.30 pm I called again, at least they had found it. It was in Brussels. What on earth it was doing in Brussels, no one knew. And since Sweden, Inc. closes on Saturdays and Sundays, they couldn't get it to me until Monday! A week for an "express" delivery, why I believe the post office could match this!
I turned on my laptop and used the last bits of the battery to email my entire correspondence and stuff I needed to do to a freemail account I normally just use for a private address. Saturday we drove down to Malmö and I sat in an Internet Cafe, getting the most pressing stuff done. Monday morning DHL calls at 7.30 am - the package is finally in Malmö, but there are no taxis available, I will have to wait for the normal delivery man, who won't be up our neck of the woods until 12. So I wait. Finally, at 12.05 I hold the precious package in my hands - I can work again! And somehow, I'd rather be playing Carcassone.....