Is it only me...

...that finds technology spooky?
Last month my computer got a virus. I phoned Comet and spent a few minutes on the phone with a very good techie who took control of my screen, removed the virus and installed a Malware virus-killer. We chatted a wee bit: he was in Livingstone, had 2 weans and was fair looking forward to the family holiday in Lanzarote.

Today I handed over my large screen Samsung telly to the Comet guys to take away and fix in some workshop no doubt staffed by gnomes somewhere down south. Tonight, the Virgin box is still happily recording Flashpoint/Primeval/Special Victims - I know, I have very depraved tastes - though who knows if/when I'll ever be able to view whatever I'm recording?

I tried watching the news on the other (wee) telly, which also has a Virgin box, but it stubbornly refused to let me see or record anything. There followed 15 minutes talking to a nice guy ('free - just dial 150 on your Virgin phone!') who re-booted the box remotely and got it working nae bother. He was in Airdrie, used to work with a slabbing firm in Linthouse but saw the way the building trade was going and was really looking forward to a weekend off next week when he'd be going to a crackin party in Bellshill - if anything stretches the imagination, it's the last bit.

Let's not be coy here: this is weird stuff. I think of my Govan granny who only got the electric in 1947 and once wondered to my father if the electricity would leak out of the socket if she took the plug for the radio out of the wall. My Govan grandfather would have loved it all: he was blind and took very badly to being dependant on anyone. The computer would have been right up his street, though I'm not sure how his guide dog - an Alsatian - don't ask, it was his choice - would have liked being replaced by a GPS unit.