Shutterstock / alphaspirit.it©The topic for this week’s Editor’s Diary came to me at the end of a frustrating day.
And all of those frustrations were caused by technology!
It’s wonderful when it works, isn’t it? But we have become so dependent on the internet for almost every aspect of our lives. When it goes wrong, it can be a major headache. And it’s so infuriating!
My problems started when I tried to book a flight to Bristol from Edinburgh. I haven’t travelled by air since autumn 2019, when I went to China.
The occasion this time, of course, is our fabulous reader holiday at Warner Cricket St Thomas next month!
Perhaps because I hadn’t used it for years, the online travel booking system decided not to recognise my mobile phone number. Nothing I tried could fix it. And I couldn’t move on through the system till that mandatory box was filled.
Luckily, lovely Sam in our Admin team was able to help and offered to book it for me. So far, so good.
Then the confirmation email that I needed in order to check in online didn’t arrive. And when it did, my baggage requirements were wrong. Oh, dear.
In between times, my home phone rang. A very nice taxi driver told me he was waiting outside. Why? I was completely confused.
Then I looked at the date. The taxi company had mistakenly put my online booking for Christmas Day (December 25) into the wrong month – which was why he was outside my door a month early on November 25!
Another snag
Eventually, that was sorted and I returned to my travel plans.
Airport car parking was next, but that mobile phone number was still causing problems. Sam to the rescue once more!
And when I did finally manage to check in online, I hit another snag. As I pressed “print” on my boarding passes, my kind printer decided to run out of ink. Honestly, you couldn’t make it up.
I’d love to say I was able after all that to sit back and relax. But instead, I had to head down the road for my COVID booster and flu jag. What a day!
For more from Angela’s Editor’s Diary, click the tag below.
Angela Gilchrist I am the former Editor-in-Chief of “The People’s Friend” magazine. My passions include cats, Highland ponies, good books, vegetarian food and long walks in the Scottish countryside. My favourite place to get away from it all is the magical Isle of Skye.
