Part of the way through our lesson, Paris student Hélène’s side of the googledocs document stagnated at the last amendment, so nothing I’d added by way of notes and explanations was loaded up on her screen.
After a few very crude attempts at trying to rectify this — e.g., moving the additions to a new page, in case the movement activated something on her side — I suggested we both quit the document and go back in.
She was very wary of doing this: she’s nine years older than I (sorry to mention age!), even less tech-savvy than I, and has often made things disappear. (Ah, she should go and be a magician!)
As the Gentle Giant Swiss used to say in his quaint German-speaker English: “We’ve come out of the same hospital.”
That’s Hélène and me all right: we’d more than once ended up dialling people’s numbers on our WhatsApp (didn’t remember touching anything); she cannot call up multiple tabs on her computer screen; she closes a document, then it disappears into the ether / cyberspace; etc.
During the lesson earlier today, she said she didn’t dare quit googledocs. She’d already failed to get in before, and now that she’d got in, she wanted to stay put.
Somehow, I managed to persuade her to quit and log in again.
It worked. Not only was she able to get back in, her screen was unfrozen, and she was able to see the new additions/amendments. Phew!
She was full of praise, “Bravo! It worked. You’re so brave.”
I said, “I’m brave only because it’s someone else’s (computer) life I’m playing with!”
Haha, rather like gambling with someone else’s money.
(London, 2021)
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