by I’m enjoying the cooler weather. Even in the first half of October the heat sapped me of energy, but now it’s like being in New Zealand again. I’m sleeping much better. Also, getting over those two hurdles has helped me to relax more. Not as many stress-inducing WhatsApp messages about things I don’t fully understand.
Dad only has a few days left until he goes back to New Zealand. He’s looking forward to it. This trip has provoked considerable anxiety in him; it’s been sad to see. Years ago, when his mother was still alive, he’d make the trip to the UK and not think anything of it. In fact he still felt more at home there than in New Zealand. I asked him what had changed. The UK being a country in decline? Just a case of getting old? No, he said that undoubtedly it was technology. The modern requirement to be connected all the time has made his time in the UK a misery. One minute Skype wasn’t working, then Outlook, then something else on his phone. It was like he was discussing a debilitating medical condition that could compromise his vital functions at any moment. He longed for the simplicity of physical maps and people at desks selling train tickets. I sympathise with Dad because I’ve found tech to be increasingly invasive. I want to use it when I need it, then forget about it. Yesterday I had to visit the bank; my query that was supposed to be about transferring money degenerated into talk of passwords and PIN codes and apps. I simply didn’t want to know.
Dad’s trip hasn’t been all bad. When I spoke to him last night he’d just been over to see some friends. On his near-daily visits to his sister, he’s had quite long chats with her that have often brought up memories of happier times. He said his last visit will be a tough one – it might well be the last time he sees her.
As for Mum, she’s doing pretty well. We can now make WhatsApp calls, and last time she gave me a quick video tour of the renovation. It’s all taking shape and looking increasingly housey and kitcheny. Mum has been winning golf competitions and even won a Melbourne Cup sweepstake at the golf club earlier this week. I told her that she and Dad should use her winnings to go out for a proper slap-up meal when he gets back. One day last week she was annoyed with Dad for going on about his technological woes when she’d been painting walls all day and hadn’t spoken to anyone else. She’s been exasperated at Dad’s lack of technological dexterity, when in reality she’s at the same level.
My parents have never been into tech, and when they did buy a gadget it was usually cheap and crappy. My classmates at school were constantly talking about the films they’d seen on video (a VCR that might have set their parents back a month’s salary – these things were expensive) but we didn’t get a video recorder until Dad bought one from a car boot sale when I was 16.
I’m about to have a two-hour online lesson with the boy I made cry back in January. Her mother just told me. Shoot me now.
