Cyber World.
Created | Updated Nov 1, 2005
There is a whole new world these days in a place called cyber land; it is of course the world of the internet, where all you need is a computer or even a mobile phone, to join.
Being a new comer to this world myself, going on line, as they say, just over two years ago, I am only now beginning to understand it all. The first thing that anyone needs to learn after they join is of course the cyber language. When I first heard people talking in this cyber talk, I thought they were form a different planet. I was at that time still working in the ambulance service, and used to hear them talking about downloading and megabytes and other such terminologies. Of course I never had a clue at the time just what they were talking about, and at the time it made me feel some what inadequate.
It was not until some time later after I had been invalided out of the service, after an earlier back injury got to the stage where I could not work any more, I found myself at home all day with not much to do. It was this point when I decided to buy a computer and go on line, just to fill in the day and keep my mind occupied. So I bought myself a second hand computer and started to learn how to use it. I never went on line straight away, I decided to wait until I could handle the basics first, and looking back over it now I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me. When I eventually did go on line, it was a dial up connection which compared to todays standards was really slow, but it was enough to get me surfing as they call it.
During my surfing I found several sites for ex service personnel where you could register your details with the intent of finding your forces buddies, some of them did this for free, where as others charged a membership fee. I left my details with three different sites and went back to them every so often just to gain a feel for them. One in particular met exactly what I was looking for, it was not too military for example or regimental and I felt relaxed while posting in the forum section, so I tended to ignore the rest and just consecrated on that particular one. They welcomed me when I first went in, and made me feel comfortable. It turned out to be a good decision for me in the end, as not only did I find my best mate, who I thought was killed in the Falkland war, but I also made contact with several other people I had served with during my time in the Navy. In fact finding my long lost pal, who I thought was dead, was quite a topical point for some time in the forum section, and the good news was shared by everyone on the site.
Not only did I manage to make contact with old mates, I also managed to purchase an electric scooter for my wife, who has emphysema and can not walk very far. It happened quite by chance as we were discussing the subject of mobility at that time in one of the forum sections. After the initial contact with the person who had a scooter for sale, we made arrangements by sending post messages to each other through the site and in fact I even used the on line Route Finder to navigate my way down the England to buy the scooter.
When I arrived to collect the scooter, it was great to actually meet the person I had been talking to over the previous weeks, and we had a good time discussing various aspects of the site in general.
In fact I learned a lot more about being on line and all aspects of computing from that site, as we have what we call a techie section, where we can post various questions in the certain knowledge that our resident guru, who happens to be an I.T instructor, will answer them. There seems to be no limit to the skills I have picked up since joining that site. On another occasion we were discussing head phones in one of the forum sections, and I happen to mention that I had broken my ones and was looking to replace them.
I could not believe the response I had to this; I was sent links to various sites that had them on offer, along with other helpful suggestions. In the end one of them purchased a pair for me through EBay, as I never had a credit card to pay for them, and could not leave a bid. When I asked for his address so I could send him a cheque to cover the cost, I was told not to bother, and to consider them a present.
No matter how often I asked, he would simply not reveal his address, it just proved the point I had noticed some time earlier, that I was amongst decent folk. I suppose we all had that one thing in common, the fact that we had all served in the forces at some time in our lives. There is a wide range of members on the site, both young and old, men and women, and of course they all have that one thing in common, the forces sense of humour that only we can understand. Oh! There are disagreements amongst us and different outlooks, yet there is always that cheery banter that seems to come naturally to us all.
There is one person I must tell you about before I go, he is an older member, and in fact he is seventy three years old. Ho got his first computer when he was seventy; it was his grandsons who left it there so he could get peace to do his homework, away form his noisy house. Anyway, Sid, (we will call him that for the time being) was curious as to how this contraption, as he called it, worked. So his grandson set about showing him the basics, and how to go on line and so on. So Sid finds this particular site, and indeed enjoys his visits there, so much in fact that when his grandson comes home form school and wants to use his computer, there is Sid chatting away to us on line. In fact things got so bad that the poor grandson can not get on to do his homework at all. The problem is soon solved when Sid is presented with his very own lap top form his son, who bought it for him as a birthday present. So now Sid, can stay on his favourite site for as long as he wants, and has been given the honouree title of senior silver surfer of the site.
It just goes to show that in cyber world, everyone, no matter how old or young for that matter, can join in!
Smudger.05.
