How does somebody in a wheelchair take 985 steps in a day? I don’t know either but my new watch obviously has it sussed because the day before yesterday that is exactly what it informed me I had accomplished at day’s end. Now read on…

Anybody who has been ingesting my output for long enough will know that yours truly has been very slow to adapt to modern technology. So much so that by the time some gizmos and gadgets were fully acclimatised to, they were at least en route to being obsolete.

The Smartphone being the first example. Anyone who is on a bill pay plan for their mobile rather than pay-as-you-go will know that periodically upgrades become available. Over the years, though, it became standard practice for me to either pass them up altogether or pass them on to somebody else. As it was felt, due to certain circumstances concerning my disability, operating modern tech might be a bit beyond the scope of capabilities here.

Cue Covid-19. Everything about the world as it was know was totally upskuttled. Now. unless you’ve been resident under a rock for the last three and a bit years, you will know what a life-changing blessing Susie has been to my life since we were blessedly brought together in April 2018. However, when Covid chaos hit first, we went eight weeks without seeing each other.

So, on my part, it was a case of either learn how to use the Huaweii and ditch the faithful Nokia or be cut off from herself altogether. My God, the woman must have the patience of a saint. But slowly, very slowly, we got there. From video calling to using WhatsApp voice messages to actually typing messages and – the biggest development of all – figuring out to use all manner of apps and, from that, being able to work on the website when my insomnia hit overdrive.

From there, I’ve gone on to be able to pick my way round an iPad, a couple of Google Talk devices and a fairly high end camera. All of which has been down to Susie’s gentle prompting and endless encouragement. Because of it, mind you, I’ve been able to produce what is hopefully better quality content. And that in itself has given me a better quality of life. Most of the time, anyway.

Lately, some other assistive technologies have had to be taken on board. To be honest, that has been harder to adjust to than anybody – even myself – would have thought to be the case. The scenario has been very much a case of expanding horizons by way of the opportunities created by developments outlined in the preceding paragraphs.

However, having to embrace some aids to enable growing (a bit) older with dignity still intact. Without going into unnecessary detail, problems which it was hoped would never become an issue have wormed their way in under the radar. With the result that ones private quarters have become a lot more like a hospital setting than it was ever hoped they would.

Indeed, it was one thing which was railed against for as long as was humanely possible. So much so that having to concede on the issue feels like nothing short of a defeat. As if such feelings weren’t rampant enough already this year for very obvious reasons.

Be that as it may, the show will go on, because it simply has to. And the next addition to the technological arsenal will get ye even closer to the action.