Apropos of some recent conversations about tech, I thought this article was quite interesting.
Well-written article - says it all I thinkā¦
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Oh my goodness, so much of that does seem to apply to me and I do use the internt and I do use a bnak card and I can read the English language and understand it when it is clear and I do have years of exzperinece of the things I was good at, albeit rubbished by some but, as those who have read the internet radio thread know, what could be a really simple to understand explanetry leaflet swiftly becomes gibberish because it wqas probably written by a moron who knows a lot about one thing and buhher all about anything else.
And I can put in most of the right letters, buit not necessarily in the right oder. This whole post is exactly how I wrote it, but without my customary diligent re-reading and correctins.
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Iāve generally no problems at all as I used computers extensively for work for about 15 years before retiring and several years for leisure before that. Iām also helped if necessary by a very computer literate daughter. However, what does annoy me is when you google a help site for some reason and one gets a load of unintelligible gibberish from some IT nerd. He and other high tec nerds probably understand it but not normal human beings.
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And it doesnāt have to be anything particularly complicated or clever, if you donāt happen to know one thing the whole rest of it is beyond comprehension.
I had never heard of or read the acronym WPS till yesterday when trying to untangle the instructions for my new radio. It could have been woman police sergeant for all I knew. 
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Well that is what it is (or at least what it used to be) isnāt it ?
I donāt think one is allowed to be gender specific about police sergeants, or any other ranks, anymore. As in WPC bad, PC (no pun intended) good.
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What gets me about all this āeverything onlineā stuff is the work insecurity that results from it.
Banks forcing clients to do everything online results in branch closures and redundancies.
My house insurance provider wants me to do everything online so that they can presumably close the local office and put the staff on the dole.
Car insurance is the same these days.
Doing things online is fine IF you happen to already understand all the possible options, and already know exactly what you want to purchase.
In any other case there is a need to be able to discuss the matter with a human being, preferably the same one that will still be there tomorrow, and who will therefore take the time to advise you correctly. You canāt have a discussion with a computer because it will never suggest something that you havenāt previously thought of yourself.
Iām not far off being 70. My brain doesnāt work quite as quickly as it used to do, my hearing isnāt as sharp as it was, Iāve not kept up with all the changes in technology, and I donāt understand many of the modern acronyms. Take all those things together and I NEED a human being to talk to, not a blasted machine !
I take solace in the fact that if ever the master fuse blows in such a way that the system crashes for weeks, then I will be able to teach all the youngsters how to write a letter, address an envelope, and stick a stamp on it. Of course that does rather rely on there still being postal workers to actually deliver a letter.
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Yes, you are right about that one John.
Caused chaos at times when the powers that be instigated the change.
Off weād all go to the demonstration and be lined up in front of ārent-a-mobā. When the pushing and shoving started the command was given āForm Cordonā. So all the 6 foot plus ā2nd row forwardā type fellas linked arms and took a braced stance, resulting in the 5 foot tall and 8 and a half stone dripping wet female officer being quite literally lifted off her feet. So you end up with a cordon line with a cat-flap !
All because some bright spark decided to make WPCs into PCs overnight.
Wasnāt long before the women had to be classified as āFemale Officersā for truly practical purposes, so all that fuss about not calling them WPCs was a total farce.
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Isnāt it funny that to open a policy you can do it on line, but to close a policy you have to write a letter!
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This made me chuckleā¦ since OH found himself in just such a situation (no laughing matter at the time thoughā¦)
His firm cleared out all the Oldiesā¦ who, at 50, were way past their primeā¦ onto the scrap heap with the lot of 'emā¦
Then, a couple of years later, he was asked to return to train the Youngsters who were getting things in a right mess ā¦ aaaargh.
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Old technology for me, the lovely little lady at the Agence La Poste, does that for me. But thanks for giving me another chance to sing the praises of La Banque Postale. 
I had a totally cockeyed experience trying to open an online savings account to take advantage of a high interest rate offer, with a bank Iād been with and closed an account ages ago.
They confirmed I could have an account, it turned out they reactivated the old account with all the associated details I had at the time. One of which was an old phone number they were using for two factor authentication to access the account. Trouble was, I couldnāt recall the phone number. So then tried phoning to get it sorted.
Multiple attempts to get through, abandoned due to lengthy wait times. Finally got through, to be told the only fix was to go to one of their few remaining high street branches with ID. A round trip of 50 miles. Trawled through old emails, finally found the likely phone number. Called again, went through a lot of tedious palaver being handed from one agent to another. Finally got to the point of giving them the number, just as I did, was cut off!
Went and wrote a stinging Trustpilot review. No reply there. They sent a survey for me to rate their performance. I gave full, critical feedback. No reply to that. They sent another survey. Sent it back saying, stuff your account. Heard no more since.
A classic example of badly-executed technology. The bank in question is Santander if youāre wondering. How not to do an online service. Decent online banks do exist, however, Iāve used two others since, both excellent. This experience was bad enough for me and I know my way around tech stuff.
Santander of course, recently had to pay a hefty fine for fraud. One to avoid, people. Another one to give a bodyswerve to is Virgin Money. Do not touch with a bargepole.
Excellent
Too late, transferred from Yorkshire Bank without so much as a by your leave. Nothing I can do about it, British banks steer clear of foreign customers nowadays
Commiserations. The good thing is if you discover just opening an account is a nightmare, you can ditch them before they take your money and cause real problems!
For some years now I have been combining my 3 monthly visits to the barber lady with a short trim on my beard because as I have been saying for years the Remington I bought on Victor Kiamās recommendation was no good as it had blunted and was tugging rather than cutting.
But my beard grows much faster than my head hair and, as I am not too keen on the bushy Father Christmas look, decided to buy another trimmer and do it myself. Spotted a suitable candidate on Amazon.fr but held off buying it till I had one last go with the Remington. Plugged it in in the bathroom and the cut was as smooth as silk with not a single tug felt. Couldnāt believe but when I went to put it back in the drawer what did I see, but the Remington lying there dormant. 
So what was this in my hand? A Baby Bliss. I have no memory at all of buying it or even buying anything other than the Remington.
So chuffed, I can keep my beard short now and have saved myself at least ā¬80 this year alone. 
They can go chuggy when they are not oiled as well.
Thatās what the barber said, and showed me the bottle she used, but I didnāt make a note of it, too busy joking that she was trying to do herself out of a job. 
Later on I thought I should have paid more attention but thought it was a bit rude to go back and ask. 
So, to avoid embarrassement, what oil would you use?
Not that I noticed any trace of a beard you understand.
I use this https://www.amazon.fr/Genuine-Wahl-Clipper-Clippers-CLIPPERS/dp/B077KD7KHY it will last you years.
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