A tale of two very convenient 'accidents'

The article about workplace memories was inspired by a few comments made to me by fellow workers many years ago. 

Two incidents involving another colleague surfaced in my mind recently while I was thinking about the past. Again, they seem much more significant now that they did at the time. They provide supporting evidence for some of my ideas about psychological black magic, one of the unseen influences that inspired the creation of this blog.

The first 'accident'
It all started when a colleague, a computer programmer I shall call Mrs M., realised that she had made a mistake after making some requested changes and putting the updated software onto a spool of magnetic tape for the computer operators to release into the live system. She suddenly thought of a possible problem; rather than confess and follow the proper procedures, she fixed the error and when she thought that no one was looking went to replace the original tape with the new one that she had made.

Mrs M. got caught by the operators in the act of substituting the new tape for the old one. She was not too popular with them and they had a big argument. She became very upset and said, “Why can't they trust me?” 

The atmosphere was becoming increasingly charged, then her phone rang. It was a neighbour: Mrs M.'s little girl had just fallen from her bike and the neighbour had carried her inside. She was slightly hurt, and the neighbour wanted Mrs M. to go and collect her.

So Mrs M. was off the hook – for a while at least. She had a perfect pretext for escaping from the office and the trouble that she had created.

Something about John Buchan and the colour green

After listing some connections and references to the colour green in the life and works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and covering some similar occurrences of this colour in the life and works of Rudyard Kipling, the next step was to look for green connections in the life and works of John Buchan. 

Buchan's works certainly contain a very large number of references to the colour green, but they are mostly casual and incidental. Many come from his frequent and routine descriptions of landscapes and the sea for example, and some just describe clothes of a colour suitable for wearing in the countryside and other wide open spaces. His books would greatly shrink if all these adjectives of colour were removed, but this would make little difference to most of the stories!

Even so, I have found some green references that can't be discounted quite so easily.

Buchan's exciting adventure story Greenmantle is an obvious candidate for inclusion, but its green aspects have mostly been covered already. 

The colour green in The Three Hostages
The Three Hostages has also been the subject of a previous article, but the green elements were not mentioned as they were not of particular interest at the time. 

A major character is called Doctor Greenslade.

One of the cryptic clues to the location of the hostages is “the green fields of Eden”.

One of the hostages, who is hidden in plain sight in a low-class dance hall, is frequently referred to as “the girl in green”.

A small green bottle plays a large part in defeating the villain Dominick Medina.

When Richard Hannay is sent for treatment to the practitioner Madame Breda, he finds that her front door has been newly painted a vivid green.

Richard Hannay tells his young friend Archie Roylance to look out for a green light. Archie is a great birdwatching enthusiast; nesting greenshanks and green sandpipers are mentioned in this connection.

Minor references include a set of green Chinese jars and a green herb fire.

Stone Age Internet: dial-up, dongles and Easy Cafés

The article about the great and positive influence of computers and the Internet describes how I relied on the Internet to educate and entertain me during the recent Covid lockdowns; this one covers my introduction to and first few years of using the Internet. 

I became aware of the existence, function and possibilities of the Internet by degrees over some years; I was fortunate in that I was able to take my time when learning how to use it and to have several options when deciding where to use it. 

I built up my usage slowly until the Internet became an essential part of my life, both personal and for work. This blog would not exist without the Internet for a start; I would not have had the great convenience of being able to do the bulk of the research and other tasks for my freelance assignments at home without the Internet either.

My introduction to the Internet
I first heard the name many years ago, when two computer engineers were talking about something called 'The Internet'. I didn't understand the significance of the facility; I thought that it was just for downloading software patches.

I was not very interested and soon forgot about it; life was very difficult at the time and I was fighting for survival on several fronts. 

My first experience of using the Internet 
A year or so later, the company I was working for installed the Internet on all of its workstations. It had previously been available on just one terminal, a key one in the Press Office. The boss was worried about the cost of putting it onto many PCs; he was also afraid that people would spend time surfing instead of working. However, he soon relented as many people really needed it for their work. We were given email addresses, which were very useful. Personal usage was permitted, but we were asked to keep it to a minimum. 

I cautiously tested the water, and as part of my job soon learned how to find information online. I also did some moderate and discreet personal browsing. As I slowly became aware of the possibilities of the World Wide Web and the large amount of interesting and useful information to be found online, I decided that I would have to find somewhere else to access the Internet: I wanted to do some intensive and extensive research.

I had not yet rejoined the Public Library after my long absence, so I didn't know about their free Internet access. Instead, I started to use Internet cafés or cybercafés as they were a very visible and convenient resource.