Okay, maybe it didn’t actually ruin my life, but you can count on one thing for sure. Take the Internet away in our household and all moods, relationships, and emotions are a complete free-for-all, none of them good.
Living in the wilds of Lanark County means that high-speed Internet is a pipe dream. No matter how many times we call and tell them we want it, the wait is always 12-18 months. And this is going on three years now. It’s kind of like when you walk into a busy restaurant when you’re starving. The place is crowded with people waiting to be seated, and the wait is always 15 minutes. Always.
Our family has satellite Internet. Not quite as fast as high-speed, but pretty darn close. With Peter being a journalist, me being a Web designer and Blondie being 18 and addicted to MSN and Facebook, the Internet is a necessity in our home. Without it, it’s like a photographer without a camera, or the Earth without oxygen. Yes, it’s that dire in our house without the Internet. I guess you know where this story is going.
Last Friday, with the bad weather, our Internet service took a nosedive. We were certain it was because of the weather, but when blue sky finally kicked the snow away, the Internet still didn’t think it was necessary to return to our house.
Peter immediately reverted to dial-up, the slowest backup plan there can possibly be. Me? I was patient; sure the Internet would miss us and demand to be searched at any minute.
Yeah, that worked.
Friday was day one. I think after the panic of realizing our lifeline was gone, we might have been a little “let’s relax until it comes back on”.
But relaxing is a little difficult to do when you know you have clients counting on you, and when you realize with total certainty that you only communicate through e-mail, a downed Internet connection gets just a little bit scarier.
And then there’s the effect on the family, living in a generally peaceful environment while the Internet is up and running.
Day two, no Internet: Blondie is asking when we might have it back. I am asking Peter when it might be fixed. I am calm; it’s Saturday after all, and that can be considered a day off.
Day three, and we start getting ansty. I mean really – who doesn’t search YouTube or FunnyorDie.com on Sunday afternoon? Without my humour fix, things start getting dire. And it’s not just me.
Members of my family start snapping for no apparent reason. We look at one another with different eyes, all because of that stupid Internet. We blame each other, wondering who it was who sabotaged our happiness by killing the Internet, all the while not realizing that it is this stupid information ‘super-highway’ that we are basing our moods on. Did I mention how sad this all is?
Day FIVE. Yes, FIVE. Now the Internet has been fixed. And it’s amazing, really. We’re like a silly Disney family, with no troubles, all happy with each other, squirrels singing, birds resting on our shoulders. Blondie has the brightest smile I‘ve seen in weeks. All because of that blasted Internet. And again, did I mention how SAD that is?
