And more woes and amusement from Norfolk

Well, following on from Emma's post on the internet problems we've been having, it seems apt to add this little tale about how I spent Monday morning.

I was apparently due an upgrade on my card payment terminal - upgrading from my lead weight dinosaur of a machine to a light weight super modern all singing and dancing beast.

Except that it didn't sing or dance. It just wouldn't install the software - it tried hard, all over the weekend. 

So Monday dawns and I decide I need more help from the support team. To be fair, they did phone me back when I complained heavily about the premium rate for the call. 

The joys of living in the country meant that we haven't a good enough GPRS signal to perform the download, so I had to drive it into town, beg some space and a socket to plug it in in a local shop. There I was guided through the installation process by a very patient woman on the help desk - still poor signal strength so the whole thing took quite some time. 

Anyone else could probably just plug the thing in, follow the instructions, and start taking payments. But not us, not out in rural Norfolk. But I think it is now singing and dancing.

And that was the end of my Monday morning - amazingly we still managed to get most of the orders out by the end of the day.

Internet Woes from Prague and Norfolk!!

This month has made all of us here at Penny Lindop Designs realise how much we depend upon the internet!

Back in Norfolk, Mum’s been having a lot of trouble with the broadband speed (or lack of it!), probably a relatively frequent problem for people living in the country! 

A good day for us

 

It makes running a small business extremely difficult – no emails in or out, which mean orders, both trade and retail, can’t be fulfilled! Nightmare! It also makes marketing a challenge – so much of it is now based around social media on line (including messaging back to base through Facebook); taking card payments has been a no-go too with additional problems there!

It’s not just out in the country where slow internet is a problem; I’m having to write this from a Starbucks in Prague because the Wi-Fi in our flat is very hit and miss! Mind you, the Wi-Fi is free, the tea is hot, and the coffee shop is warm – outside it’s around 3 degrees, with more snow fall over the weekend. 

While having slow internet isn’t as much of a problem for me, it does still cause some disruption – downloading materials for lesson planning, checking emails, and updating the website all become very time consuming! Attempting to have a conversation over Skype is almost impossible, and the frozen video results in some extremely odd facial expressions! 

Here is an interesting article on the possible consequences and likelihood of the internet crashing.

 

While no internet is a problem, it does give us the opportunity to do things that we probably otherwise wouldn’t: reading, a thorough clean of my bedroom and the kitchen, and some very experimental cooking! 

Emma

Norfolk Sketchers - Come and Join Me!

I have this crazy idea - to start yet another Norfolk networking group (boring, boring, do I hear you cry?)

Well, I hope not.

This is what I have in mind, and I'll write more in other posts about how the idea has developed:

The idea is to enable busy people to spend a half day a month away from their offices and studios, switch off the business/work brain and turn on the creative brain.

I'd like to invite Norfolk people (sorry if you live elsewhere, but distance is the problem) to join me in Norwich for a morning each month armed with sketch book or notebook, and pen, pencil or whatever implement you like to make marks with. I'd like us to spend time either as a group or wandering off on our own to spend some time sketching and writing, and then re-group for a drink and chat.

How does that sound?

All you have to do is turn up, sketch or write, drink coffee or whatever is your chosen beverage, chat and enjoy switching to the other side of your brain. I am certain that this will benefit us all, and bring out some amazing ideas.

The Twitter hashtag will be #NorfolkSketchers, so please use this in your tweets to help promote it

I have created a Norfolk Sketchers Facebook page (apologies for awful image and logo - very temporary!), so would love ideas and comments there too. You can find the page here

Please comment below, and come and join the fun. Day and time to be fixed. I'm excited by this and can't wait to get going!