The September issue of Ireland’s Own contains one of my short stories. Although Ethel, the lead character, has my mother-in-law’s name she’s not really based on her. When I write about people I know, I change the names!

This Ethel has embraced some modern technology (as has my mother-in-law) but isn’t a slave to it and thinks the younger generations might be better off looking up from their screens now and then. OK, so that could apply to my mother-in-law too! Maybe it’s an age thing?

The changes that people now in their 80s and 90s have seen in everyday living have been incredible. Most of those people have adapted to those changes, and now make use of modern technology. I wonder if those who are teenagers now would cope so well if the world wide web was to fail, satellites lose their connections and most modern technology cease to work.