The time change in early March is such a drag. Wouldn’t it be fine to follow B.C.’s lead and not have to do that again? My biggest issue is changing the time on the car display — not that I need to know the hour, only the minutes, so it doesn’t matter if I don’t bother doing it.
We had two clocks repaired this month: my ever-reliable cuckoo clock that is accurate within ten minutes, and an antique Sessions clock that chimes VERY loudly and not necessarily on the accurate hour. In the middle of the night, it slowly struck twelve when it was actually 2am. I’ll allow it some slack since the dear thing is well over 150 years old, and I can disable the chiming mechanism and only hear the “tick tock”, which I love. [Note: if you want to know the only clockmaker who can do this sort of work, get in touch and I will share. She’s an amazingly talented lady.]
I digress; these weren’t the times to which I was referring. When online banking arrived, I stubbornly refused to sign on, thinking it would be a hassle and definitely not reliable. I trudged into the bank for cash and wrote cheques to pay for everything; I didn’t even trust the bank machine. Remember the little deposit books with handwritten numbers? That’s what I had long after others had stepped into the modern era. When they were phased out, I was lost until the teller showed me how easy it was to do online banking. The cashier at Home Hardware educated me about the “tap” feature on my debit card, and woohoo! I became a Modern Woman in one lesson!
I rarely carry cash anymore. My debit card gets a good workout, and I know how to keep track of even the slightest purchase. I’m a big advocate of online banking and mercifully have never had an issue. As we’re admonished to do, I change passwords occasionally, but I’m running out of options and may have to get more dogs pretty soon! I check in with the pleasant bank tellers once in a while and find them as amenable as ever when Alan needs real cash. However, while he’s in line for a teller, I’m in and out with no line at the ATM.
For years I held out against Facebook, but as I was missing too much, I succumbed. Now I’m checking in with friends all over North America on a daily basis. Even if I only follow two groups, that’s enough. In addition, I’ve found long-lost acquaintances — some I’ve kept, some let go. The fact is, I know how to do that, far beyond what I thought I could do. WhatsApp connects me to our family in Germany, and what a blessing that is! I never thought I’d get the hang of it, but I can even do a video call and pretend I know what I’m doing.
We e-filed our taxes, and accomplished that with only a few hours of tedious form filling before I decided it wasn’t my cup of tea. In fact, it wasn’t even my glass of wine. I wanted someone else to do it!
Which brings me to online shopping. All the advice yelled “Don’t Go There”, but I have, and it’s been a big time saver, even if it’s a tad expensive at times. I need a teensy bag, not a cart to fill! My mantra is still “buy local”, but if “local” can’t supply something, I find a site that can. I eschew Amazon and the big sites for small businesses that I can contact on a personal level. There’s a watercolour supplier making paints on Manitoulin Island. I send her my order, and she hand-wraps my paints for delivery two days later and then wants to see what I’ve created. With JB Arts gone, I need this lovely lady. I’m ordering fish from Nova Scotia, and when I placed my order with a personal letter, I got a reply in ten minutes. Good service? You bet!
I don’t browse the shopping sites. That would be foolish, as they know how to tempt me with nonsense. But I will let my fingers do the shopping when I need to compare prices. We schlepped through four stores at Christmas finding the perfect tree, when I could have done it in five minutes on the computer.
In only a few years my acceptance of the computer to do more than write paragraphs has completely changed. It’s now an integral part of daily life. I suppose the pandemic was partially responsible, one good thing that came out of those dreadful times. It showed me that I can adapt and learn when necessary.
It marks us as old codgers if we don’t attempt to learn new things and keep up with newfangled whatevers. Besides, there’s real pride in being able to navigate some of the computer mysteries under our own steam. Onward and upward!