Oh dear! I don’t know what was going on astologically yesterday, but the planets sure had it in for Pisceans with Aquarius ascendant. There I was, happily writing away, surfing the wave of a tsunami of creativity and breaking the world record for wpm when my screen went blank. Nothing. And I do mean NOTHING at all. So, I did what they always tell you to do – I turned my laptop off and unplugged it, waited a couple of minutes and then switched it on again. Still nothing. Just a blank screen where there used to be a beautiful photo of cliffs and the sea. In a panic I phoned Jim, my IT man who fortunately said if I could get it to him he’d have a look.
Now that sounds quite easy and straightforward, doesn’t it? Well, he’s moved premises since my last visit. He’s now in the village of Hockley, which is somewhere near Rayleigh. I set off in the general direction and as I haven’t got a satnav – can’t stand the droney voice and I think it’s a lot to do with not liking being told what to do (go figure!) – three “I’m lost/sitting outside Sainsbury’s/ can’t find the Royal Mail building” phone calls later I finally found him.
He looked at my laptop and shook his head. It was terminal. I was hysterical – six months’ work on my next novel Sweet Lady, plus umpteen important documents (including those for the Employment Tribunal) were stored on there. But clever Jim had a solution. He could fix it by connecting the hard drive to my notebook. Unfortunately, that was back home in Westcliff, so I had to drive all the way home and get it and take it back to him, by which time he’d managed to put my hard drive into a little pocket, which now dangles from my notebook like some IT colostomy bag. But at least I have it all. Now I’m going to research an Apple Mac, I think, A couple of writer friends use them and say they’re wonderful. And note to self – ALWAYS BACK EVERYTHING UP ON A MEMORY STICK!!
So, IT problem solved I was ready for a brilliant session with the wonderful Anna Scher at AST in Islington. I set off from home at 5.50pm. At 7.35pm I was only at Barking. There’d been a problem on the QEII Bridge and traffic couldn’t get onto it so it had tailed back all the way down A13. And then there was a further problem in Newham. There was no way I was going to make the 7.45pm class, so I turned round and went home.
Sometimes, things are sent to try us. I’m very grateful the laptop’s been sorted – very grateful indeed. But spitting feathers that I missed the lovely Anna’s class.
