Why get online?

Over the last few months it has been my pleasure to meet a lot of really wonderful people here on the World Wild Web. From my earliest fumblings when I had absolutely no idea at all as to what the 'net was, or what chat rooms were or how to go about talking to people in the chat rooms, I have been amazed by how very nice most folk are.

Whenever you read a newspaper or a magazine article about the web, or you watch a TV program, they all follow the same boring format. All 'netters are perverts interested only in pursuing their own sick fantasies and trying to get the rest of the world involved. They are also all pasty-faced, spotty young people with no other interests in life whatsoever. The picture is always presented of the computer nerd hunched over his keyboard. His desk is covered with technical books and the room is in semi-darkness. An angle-poise lamp casts a dim glow over the keyboard and from over the top of his wire-rimmed eye-glasses he peers intently at the screen. Hmm, I have yet to actually meet this particular character.

Oh yes, it would be foolish to assume that there are no weird, perverted or anti-social people out there at all, and I think we have all experienced them at one time or another, but in the main Mr, Mrs and Junior Miss and Master Computer User are ordinary people who love life and meeting people. I fall into the more senior (OLD?) category of Mr and I know what a thrill I get when I meet someone new.

Sometimes the people I meet share an interest and we can swap stories and tales of derring-do with each other about a common subject. At other times I find myself learning all about something I have never had an opportunity to explore. It was SCUBA diving last week, Graphic Design before that and next week? Well, who knows.

 It was through meeting some of the most technically adept and helpful guys on the 'net that I even contemplated constructing this web page. I know very little about this subject and am just sort of doing this on a suck-it-and-see basis so if what you see does not impress you very much then please allow me a little leeway. I am only a learner, mate.

What I have found though is that you are all quite willing to visit my site and to make generous and constructive comments about it. I am having a lot of fun building it and I hope that you at least find it was worth the trip here.

Some day, when I find out how to get them all in the place I really want them, I will put ALL my friends pictures onto my Art Gallery Wall. All of them mean so much to me and I would like you all to meet them. From the ones who just like a really good giggle to the ones who are really responsible for getting me hooked on the web and into chat rooms they have all become like a second family to me. I come from a fairly small family, Mum, Dad and two brothers. My new family is MUCH bigger, and spread out all over the world. From Canada and America, Australia, Holland, Italy, Korea and a whole host of other places they gather in my computer room most nights to just while away a few extremely pleasant, if somewhat expensive, hours. Expensive? Well here in the UK we do not have the free local telephone call rates that they do in the USA for instance. Even though local call rates are relatively cheap and there are a number of discount packages available and which I take advantage of, the calls are still a little bit on the expensive size. We could be talking of the National Debt here!

But my family are well worth any amount of money and I do not begrudge a single penny of the cost. To all my friends I want to say a great big Thank You and to give each and every one of them a great big hug. Well, maybe the guys will have to make do with a more gentlemanly hand shake but I think you know what I mean.

And who are the members of this extended family group?

Alice, my first contact. Hez, my regular REAL telephone buddy.

Sombero, who I love dearly and never have enough shared time with.

Rainmist, my most lovely technical advisor (Hi, Rainmist.)

Tommyknocker and Whisper2, two very special girls.

Mums and Sooner, Destry, ChocFish, Sparky Marky, Debbiehugs,

Magnus, a guy who puts to flight any thoughts that Australians are a bunch of crude people. This is one heck of a nice guy.

MidNightLady, she lives here in England in one of the more beautiful parts of our country. And she is as lovely as the countryside too,

Sir_Passionato, I don't really know how to describe Sir_P. If ever I had a foil to my wit then he is it. A deeper and more natural sense of humour would be hard to find. He has a passion for English muffins and scones,

Dragonslayer, Fazinating, Finn (even though he likes Mika Hakkinen the car racing driver), Janie, my Highland Lassie, Kooter, Sukey and Juliette, real good people who I hope to visit in November '98, Lacey, she of the practical joke, LadyWench, Lindy, MissEmily and MissKitty, I hope the arm mended alright MissEmily, Mischief, now she IS a barrel of laughs, Mojo & Shasta, MOON, will she ever get my Guest number right?, Neptune, who deserves a lot more luck than he has had lately, Roos, They drive on the OTHER side of the road over there, VON, who everyone thought was me in another guise until we finally appeared in the same room at the same time, Scooter, Searaider, Silence, HA! That will be the day, TNT2, Tullo, and Jextler.

And my latest friends are from another room, SaxyLady and Melody, new and with a lot to say, all of it good and all of it fun. Especially Melody who does like to wind people up. But all in good fun, I hasten to assure you.

There are others of course, and if I have left you out it is only because of my advancing years and the general failing of my.......my.........my........my...... Memory, that was it, Memory!

To all those of you who have read this far, then I look forward to meeting you as well and would ask you to come and join me and my friends in some of our favourite chat rooms.

See you there.