Dan Gowar on a Friday...

It could be a messy business when you had to change an ink ribbon and occasionally the keys would stick.

Most of the typewriters were fairly elderly and those fortunate to have been given a more modern machine guarded it jealously. I recall one former colleague whose typewriter was locked away at the end of the working day. Another colleague, a talented writer long deceased, sometimes had a bit of a problem with his typewriter. This difficulty never manifested in the morning — only in the afternoon. In days now firmly in the past (honestly), some reporters regularly met contacts in a house of refreshment during their lunch break.

This particular colleague sometimes returned from lunch with a degree of unsteadiness in his walk. He would start typing then be obliged to call for assistance when fingers on both of his hands got stuck among the typewriter keys.

A typewriter mechanic came in to service or repair the machines every month or so. On occasion he would have to declare a machine dead.

The manual typewriter had two things in its favour. It was obviously not affected by power cuts and faults were simple to identify.

As previously mentioned, some of the work I do for the paper, including my Friday ramblings, is composed on our home computer and sent electronically to the office.

More than a week ago, the home computer lost its internet connection.

The General Manager notified our telephone line provider who said the problem was not at their end. She next contacted the broadband supplier who said the fault was with the telephone company.

Today’s column was written by hand and then tapped into my office computer, as we still do not have an internet connection, despite the GM having made several telephone calls to find out when, if ever, the problem will be solved.

Someone is going to have to fix matters soon as my dearly beloved’s temperature is approaching boiling point.