Drop out, chill out, and - lose out?

Is that true? I can't decide.

It is some years since I left work and the biggest shock to the system is the change in the internet over those years. And how much everyone has moved on while I have been trying to chill out and relax.

I was on full-time internet access at work before, but I had dial-up at home - and tried not to do it very often. Dial-up was a pain. I sat there watching stuff loading, hanging, and then cutting off. The pounds signs were multiplying in front of my eyes as I thought of my escalating 'phone bill. For nothing - a broken connection.

Now, domestic broadband is normal. Most people that I know in the UK have a blog or a website, or both. And know how to write (X)HTML, and understand all the other technicalities that I am seriously struggling with right now.

I have to say the lure of endless olive groves here in Spain and the simple life was pretty strong. No consumerism. No commuting in and out of work and having to be in an office for up to 12 hours a day. Or being on-call outside the office. Or working unsociable hours.

But I do not have that simple life in the olive groves. Fortunately I don't have the office life either. I now have a strange mix of lives. A small semi-detached house in a tranquil coastal village within easy reach of a town and a provincial capital. Perhaps I have always really been a city girl.

And reluctantly I have had to buy a new computer. And a printer. And connect to the internet again. So I have rejoined the world. Or at least the virtual one.

I have had some excellent times over the last few years without worrying about any of this. Now I am trying to catch up. But it is quite scary how fast things move when you aren't watching them.