My internet connection went down

just after lunch yesterday and was not restored until the wee small hours of this morning. That meant I could finish answering a long queue of e-mails but I could not send them out. It also meant that no more work came in. My news feed ceased. I could not search the internet. Of course my initial reaction was that there was something wrong with my computer connections. I wasted some time discovering that this was not the case. I am not in the least bit computer literate or internet savvy but I eventually worked out it was not my computer. I double checked by 'phoning my sister (whose husband works for my ISP). Yes, they had a connection. Could she please check the "advisories" - the list of outages? What was the point? We are on different telephone exchanges. Oh right. Yes, your exchange is out. Did I want to come over and use their computer? No thankyou. There was nothing ultra urgent. All of that had gone out in the morning. Anything else could wait thankyou. It might mean catching up later but I was going to take some time out. I have to lead the bookshop knitting group this afternoon. I can finish the work for that. I can wind a skein of yarn. I can play hooky until it goes back up - just as soon as I finish getting those e-mails ready to send. It was a rather strange experience. I am not used to taking unexpected time off in the middle of a Monday afternoon. The last Tuesday afternoon of the month is pencilled in to my diary. It is my bookshop day. As I work from home and often work from 5am until late I allow myself that time. I had plans for semi-retirement this year but world events got in the way. They really were exceptional but I am training up people to take over from me. It is a slow process. I am trying to pass on years of accumulated knowledge and contacts. I make assumptions I should not make. It is all a long, slow process. By late afternoon I had a long list of e-mails waiting to go in the "out" box. I usually send them as I finish them. The list looked good. I could see I had done some work. The internet was still not up so I guiltily brought up my current WIP instead and allowed my young hero to get a little closer to safety. We had been talking to one another all through this. He wants one thing and I want another but eleven year old boys are like that. We will see. I do not often get a chance to write in the middle of the working day. My young hero could at least do what I want!