What in the world...?

My computer's internal modem bit the dust over the weekend and managed to bring down all the phones in the house along with it. Talk about communication shutdown! While that was messing things up, there was a raging wind and sleet storm going on outside which eventually brought the electricity to a halt. Fortunately, I own a generator so I was able to restore power to selected items like fridges and freezers, but I don't carry spare modems so that had to wait until today to be remedied.

It got me thinking however how fortunate I am to have what I do have. I gain great joy from 'seeing' the world via my computer screen. I have learned so much and met so many wonderful people because of it. It has led me deeper into the kayaking world than I ever thought I would go and has enabled me to paddle in places and with people who have amazed me with their kindness and generosity.

I look at my 'Clustermap' now and then to see where you all are. Certainly North American and Europe is home to most of you. A few others look in from time to time in other parts of the world, like Australia and New Zealand. My son in Singapore sometimes checks on his dad (Hi Lee!). Then there are the parts of the world I never hear from: Africa, Russia, South America and China are missing. Somehow the cyber world, the world which is bringing us all closer to friendship than any other medium we know, has not reached these places yet in the same way it reaches me. I hope to see that change as time goes by. I hope they do as well.