Trying to be environmentally responsible

can be very trying.

We used to get a printed edition of the state's newspaper. This was because the Senior Cat found trying to read it on-line just did not feel right to him. He had been through many changes to the paper in his time but the jump from actual newsprint to on-line was too much. We kept the actual paper version. 

We used them in the garden, they were wrapped around things, they were placed on top of the workshop bench to protect it from some particularly sticky glue. Ms W took them home for their garden and one year she and her best friend made puppets out of paper mache for a school play.  Those we did not reuse in other ways would be placed in the recycle bin.

But when the Senior Cat moved into the residence I thought it was time to be environmentally responsible. I moved on-line. I thought it would be easy enough to do. I read other papers on line - or parts of them. 

Reading on line I have just been able to quickly flick past the sport, the "social" pages filled with glamorous people holding wine glasses, the weddings, and more. I have been able to completely ignore the racing lift-out and the "classified" section. It was possible to navigate my way through with relative ease. It was no worse and no better than any other on-line paper.

Not any more. There has been a change of "provider". The paper loads slowly. Going from one section to another is even slower. The colour choice for the supposed navigation panel is completely at odds with the research into the "readability" of such things. The print is too small to see of course. I expected that but trying to enlarge it is far more difficult than before. It is no longer possible to increase it gradually to the size required for comfortable reading. It jumps from around 8 point to 48 point in one swoop. 

I complained. One of the senior staff at the paper (they know me in there) sighed. I could almost hear the sigh whooshing out from the screen. Yes, he knew there were problems. They had changed the provider. They would give the provider feed-back. 

I know I am not the only person who has provided feed-back. The provider is not listening. Nothing has changed. It is unlikely it will change. The provider will say they are providing the service they were contracted to provide...and in a sense they are. They know that they have a captive audience.

But I could go back to getting the paper delivered each morning - or perhaps not getting it at all.