Forgive me if I’m a little tense, but I’ve just got off the phone with my mother. An unscheduled hour. Mum had apparently spent the morning drafting emails on her iPhone, only to find them clogging up her outbox folder, because, as it turns out, she recently reset, and then promptly forgot, her Gmail password. So, she dialed up her friendly neighbourhood tech support: moi.
Is there anything worse in the world than providing a parent with computer lessons? Actually, yes: providing a parent with computer lessons when you are not even there. When you are, essentially, working blind. So, when they scream, "it’s asking me for a password!" you have to calmly deduce what the "it" is, from a hundred different variables: perhaps the settings app on their phone, perhaps a pop-up window, perhaps a website login, or a fraudulent text message.
"Call me on FaceTime, so I can see your screen?", I pleaded.
"How can you possibly look at my iPad screen, whilst I’m using it to video call you?!", she shouted back. Answering this would have taken another ten minutes, so on we soldiered, in audio form. I cracked open a bottle of wine.
Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME
Do you want to save 1.5 seconds every day of your life? According to the dishwasher expert at the consumer organisation Choice, there’s no need to insert the dishwashing tablet into the compartment inside the door.
May Fiction
An escaped slave's perspective renews Huckleberry Finn and the seconds tick down to nuclear Armageddon in Miriam Sallon’s top literary picks this month
Wine Not
In a time of warning studies about alcohol consumption, Paola Westbeek looks at non-alcoholic wines, how they taste and if they pair with food
Train Booking Hacks
With the cost of train travel seemingly always rising, Andy Webb gives some tips to save on ticket prices
JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Here, far from the crowds, in opal clarity, from May to September, the sun knows no rest. As soon as it’s about to set, it rises again
My Britain: Cheltenham
A YEAR IN CHELTENHAM sees a jazz festival, a science festival, a classical music festival and a literature festival. Few towns with 120,000 residents can boast such a huge cultural output!
GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB
Whether you love digging in the dirt, planting seeds and reaping the bounty that bursts forth, or find the whole idea of gardening intimidating, this spring offers the promise of a fresh start.
Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant
After working in TV and radio as an author and nutritionist, Suzi Grant started a blog alternativeageing.net) and an Instagram account alternativeageing). She talks to Ian Chaddock about positive ageing”
Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World
Sam Quek MBE is an Olympic gold medalwinning hockey player, team captain on A Question of Sport and host of podcast series Amazing Starts Here
Stand Tall, Ladies
Shorter men may be having their moment, but where are the tall women?