Prague Journal

Tuesday, December 14, 2004.

The internet gremlins are having fun with my connection today. It’s up, down, up, down. Last time I waited, thinking that it would restore itself and I ended up without e-mail for three days, so this time I checked the modem initialization the first time it was down. No luck. Reboot, reinitialize, disconnect, reconnect. Finally, by late morning my e-mail was working again, so I sent notes to a few people to tell them to call me instead of e-mail, since I wasn’t placing any bets on how long the connection would work before going down again. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to turn my phone back on after having shut it off at the seminar last night! So I missed three calls – and ended up working at home instead of meeting with two people I had hoped to see. Too much technology to fuss with. How did people communicate before phones, faxes and e-mail? (Western Union said that the telephone had no useful purpose as a means of communication, and perhaps they were right!)
The internet problems prompted me to clean up my e-mail, including reading old messages that I haven’t had time to get to, and to organize some of my files.
This evening is the last night of Chanukah. We lit candles, but were careful to extinguish them before they burnt down to the the plastic holders! I'm glad that Chanukah is over before Christmas this year. And I'm looking forward to spending Christmas in Prague. Last time we were here, we spent December and January in South Africa, so we had a mid-summer Christmas feast instead of a winter solstice. Tinsel and ornaments hanging from the street lamps are not the same with warm, long days and bright sunshine! Here, people huddle at the outdoor markets, bundled up, drinking hot wine, as the sun sets before 4 p.m. No Santa Clauses with bells. And, so far, no piped-in Christmas music. Just school kids and community choirs singing acapella on the wooden stage in the square by the marketplace.

posted by JWinn @ 7:12 PM