| I am getting used to my new computer which | | | | feeling and emotion. She loved the worlds that |
| also has a tablet function. In many ways I feel | | | | literature could lead you to. |
| blessed to live in such a time when technology | | | | I write all day. I write for my work [procedures, |
| makes lives so much easier. My passion is writing | | | | policies, plans, corporate documents etc], for my |
| - I love words and I love communicating. I often | | | | research - [academic papers and position |
| rant about the lack of understanding of the basic | | | | statements] and for my hobbies [my blogs, my |
| roots of the English language. Our culture is | | | | ebooks,] and last but not least for sanity [to |
| embedded in the language and our history. Many | | | | express my thoughts and feelings and unload |
| words have French origins, many Anglo Saxon or | | | | them onto paper]. It is now possible to publish |
| German origins, others Viking and many more | | | | your own books at an economic rate; and to |
| Celtic. Our language is a mirror image of our | | | | access a wide group of people through the |
| civilisation. Now we have adopted words from the | | | | internet from a whole range of backgrounds. |
| many new cultures that have influenced our | | | | My children do take technology for granted. |
| language in my lifetime. | | | | Thirty-five years ago we had to do mental maths |
| My grandmother did not have the opportunity to | | | | at school because calculators were uncommon; |
| go to school passed the age of fifteen and she | | | | shop tills didn't add up for you; we had slide-rules |
| gained all her learning from books. She wrote | | | | to work out difficult maths (anyone under thirty |
| exceptional poetry and would read the tales of | | | | probably doesn't know what a slide rule is! |
| Hiawatha to me when I was a child with such | | | | |