Digital Stone Age – June 2025
I am not sure of the exact circumstances that led to the total wipe out of the Internet in Walkhampton, a quiet village nestling in the Walkham Valley on Dartmoor, Devon. Certainly, the substantial green box containing BT Openreach’s equipment was hit by something large – presumably a car, van or lorry – however it occurred the result was no one who relied on that service was able to enjoy any of their usual goodies: digital TV, email, Internet, social media – nothing… Rumours abound that it will take at least five days to repair. Five days! They were wrong… it’s now been 8 days and still no resolution.
It wasn’t all fun. Digital payments were not available at the pub: “Cash only”. Cash? Did I have any? Young people revising for exams had their preparation thrown into chaos as they scrambled to get a signal elsewhere to access their material. Online meetings scheduled via Zoom and Teams became impossible. Anyone who stored documents on the Cloud could not access them. I even had to put pen and paper to write a sermon I was to deliver as the printer, driven by Wi-Fi connectivity to our laptops, ceased working.
This year in Walkhampton we have experienced electricity power cuts, a water outage which lasted a few days with no water running through the taps, and now a digital blackout. I guess all of these may be described as “First World Problems” – and that they are – but it underscores how dependant we all are on technology. Even our local Co-op’s shelves have been half empty because of the cyber-attack they have experienced.
I guess the final ignominy will be if South West Water announces a hosepipe ban… that would be the icing on the cake…
Seriously, all this should give us pause for thought, shouldn’t it?
Those who escaped the digital blackout, in the ultimate of ironies, were those who had connected to the community Wi-Fi operated by Airband whose equipment is located on top of the church tower of the 15th century building that is St Mary the Virgin, Walkhampton. The church remained open, and during this time, many made the pilgrimage to use the church’s Wi-Fi connection to retrieve their email and to conduct their online business. An answer to prayer? I doubt if many thought in those terms, but it certainly demonstrated the perfect blend of old and new.
No doubt things will settle down over the next few weeks.
We were plunged back in the digital Stone Age, thrown back 30+ years to a pre-digital age. The old TV aerial was plugged back in to receive fuzzy TV pictures that broke up constantly; the long-forgotten DAB Radio was retrieved from the back of a kitchen drawer and set to work pumping out a limited number of radio channels. Some scrambled to find DVD sets long since abandoned. We were forced to get out a pack of cards to play whist in the evening in the absence of any online media to keep us entertained. A jigsaw puzzle reappeared. We read books and… we even talked to each other.
Summer has arrived!
30th April 2025…It’s still only April but the temperature is well into the mid-20’s and I am tempting fate by dusting off the barbeque!
Around the World 7th May 2023
Today I walked ‘around the world’. That is the name we give in our family for a circular walk which is probably no more than 3 miles long and takes about 90 minutes to complete, but which takes in a route past the church, up and down narrow lanes past fields of sheep and cattle, onward to Gypsy Rock, with a brief daliance with open moorland, before descending back home via more country lanes and a ‘busy’ road. Why ‘around the world’? I have no idea except while walking it this morning I mused that this is our world, the sights and sounds of bluebells and birdsong, of sheep and cattle and the occasional horse and rider and car. It maybe that others in the village use the same description for this walk too.
Gypsy Rock. Everyone locally knows this slab of granite as Gypsy Rock but I have no idea why! I have heard tell that it was the place of meeting for the Saxon Hundred but I have no evidence to support this view. It is another local mystery but if you live in Walkhampton most people know what it means when you say, ‘I’ve walked up to Gypsy Rock.’
Post-retirement I can take these walks without having to think I have a meeting to attend or a service to prepare. I am currently enjoying attending 8 o’clock services at Tavistock. Definitely a minority sport these days but I take my hat off to the faithful few who get up early on Sunday to attend church. I have the pleasure of being surprised with joy at some of the sights of Spring like a wood filled with bluebells.
Sight and Insight 5th May 2023
There is often a play on the themes of sight and insight in the Gospels. The blind see while those with sight don’t see. The miracle stories operate on multiple levels. There is the miracle itself with the restoration of the person who is unsighted. There is the reaction of the crowd who question who Jesus is. There is the reaction of the disciples who are unsighted to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. Only rarely do they glimpse this reality only for it to disappear from their sight. The religious elite are just totally bewildered, angry and upset as Jesus asks them awkward questions which makes their blood boil to the point of wanting Jesus put to death.
As I advance in years, every trip to the opticans seems to demand an increase in the strength of my lens prescription. My eyesight is gradually altering, should I say failing? I am not convinced there is a direct correlation between failing physical sight and gaining greater insight, but it is a thought worth considering. As the number of years ahead of me rapidly diminishes compared with the number I have already spent on this earth, the need to consider ones purpose for being here becomes more urgent. The unexamined life is not worth living, according to Socrates and the challenges Jesus throws out also demand examination. To fail to do so is to miss living life to the full. In Jesus’ day different people reacted to him in different ways. The same holds true today. He remains misunderstood, misrepresented, lambasted and, dare one say, largely ignored. He is judged by the failings of his followers, the church, who, like the disciples have an unerring ability to lack insight and only rarely glimpsing the reality of Jesus, the Son of God.
Retirement 3rd May 2023
Week 1 has dawned as I get used to winding down over the next few weeks. The urge to “do stuff” remains strong as does the difficulty in settling down to do very little. Should I be sitting here reading a book? Can I take the dogs out for a 2 hour walk? What are the markers that define the week? All this is new territory!
