PHEW! I have successfully managed to log on, open a new Word document and write this sentence. 

It may not seem much of an achievement, but to me this is a major victory. Each time I embark on a task using the computer, a successful outcome is far from certain. 

The trouble is I am using a computer that is 14 years old. Why am I using such an ancient piece of tech? The answer is simple: it still works. 

Physically there is nothing wrong with the computer. It is well built and looks as good as new. 

The problem is on the inside. It’s like a fit and healthy human body on the outside, but the brain is slowly packing up and we all know what happens once the brain starts going.

The software running my computer will no longer update. I am on borrowed time with it. I am a hostage to the tech companies; we all are. 

Once they have caught us with their fancy, superfast gadget, they pretty much know they have got us for life. 

They will only allow us to use their gadget for a certain time before it slows down or simply refuses to perform certain tasks. 

Once that starts happening it’s the beginning of the end. There is only so long you can reboot, find a temporary solution or just keep your fingers crossed.  

Eventually the devious devices will force us to upgrade and so the lucrative merry-go-round continues for the tech firms. 

I am sadly almost at that point with this computer. 

I know the time is near when I will have to do the thing I hate most: part with some money. 

It’s already happened with the printer. Just before Christmas it decided, for no obvious reason, to throw up an error message. 

It had shown no signs it was about to fail. It had been well looked after over the years and regularly fed its very expensive diet of costly ink cartridges (Why the heck is printer ink so expensive by the way?). 

Anyway, after 15 years of service, the printer had suddenly and very determinedly decided that its time was up. I tried many fixes I’d found online but to no avail. 

So, I had to buy a new printer. It was way more advanced that its predecessor and confidently proclaimed it would connect to the computer wirelessly. 

Ha! Not when the computer is 14 years old. It wouldn’t connect wirelessly or with a cable. 

These tech companies are damn smart. They’re not going to make it that easy. They want you to buy new cables and, better still, a whole new IT system, not just one bit of it. 

I refused to give in and did eventually find a very convoluted way to make the computer and printer speak to each other. 

It does show how our lives are totally dominated by computers. They have us trapped and we can never be released. 

We rely on them for almost everything and we place our blind faith in them. But, as the Post Office scandal has shown, computers are not infallible. 

Horizon, the system introduced to the Post Office in the late 1990s, was supposed to be the answer to everything. It would provide a modern, efficient service. It would save money and make life easier for sub-postmasters and mistresses. 

We now know nothing could be further from the truth. It had bugs from the start, it has cost lives, ruined families and will now cost millions to begin to put the damage right. 

Sadly, no amount of money will repair all the damage and although much of the scandal is down to lies, cover-up and the brutal persecution of innocent people, at its heart is a computer system. 

When they work they are amazing, but when computers go wrong, or in the case of Horizon are not fit for purpose in the first place, the consequences are devastating. 

Yet, we have no choice. Our lives are forever bound up in the world of computers, and that hold on us will only grow as Artificial Intelligence becomes ever more commonplace. 

Just last week my home broadband suddenly stopped working. I checked on my phone using the mobile data and soon realised it was a nationwide problem. 

Within minutes the name of the company was trending on social media and its customers were posting thousands of comments about the “catastrophic” effect it was having on them. 

Reading some of the comments you would honestly think that the end of the world was happening. 

There is no doubt computers have brought huge benefits. They have made life easier for many of us and provided a great deal of convenience. 

For instance, I am in awe of Sat Nav and will never cease to be amazed at how precise it can be. 

But again, it is far from perfect. Here in Devon and Cornwall we all know it can send people down inappropriate routes that are too narrow or come to a dead end. 

Yet this tech is here to stay. We are too dependent on it. We will have to battle on in our love/hate relationship.

Now, having written all this I am just hoping that the computer will save it to the correct place and when I press the send button it arrives safely at the other end. 

Here goes, fingers crossed. I sincerely hope you get to read this. 

Bye for now!