I have no idea when I'll be able to publish this blog post, as Seychelles has lost its Internet connection ... again ... and word has it that this outage is likely to last a while.

Ack!

If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be driven to distraction by a disruption in global communication caused by a January storm in Austria, I most certainly would have wondered what in the heck they were talking about, and would never have guessed how much of my life would be tied to and impacted by such events.

I mean, really! Austria? January? What does anyone expect, other than foul weather, snow, wind, freezing temps and the like? It's Europe, facryinoutloud, and that part of the world gets the harshness of January as a matter of routine. That, in fact, has a good deal to do with why I don't live there.

I chose to live on a tropical island known for wafting warm winds ... or blissful balmy breezes, if you prefer ... where 30 degrees is Centigrade for 86F and standard year round, and snow only happens in freezers. Apparently, however, when it comes to access to the world wide web, I'm still at the mercy of temperate zone winters.

Big world? Small world? It seemed almost tiny last night when we Skyped my friend Robbie ... from my veranda in Seychelles to his kitchen in Sacramento ... and once I get my webcam and he gets his webcam it will be much like the days when we were across the street from each other and would sometimes fall asleep talking to each other on the phone about the movie we were both watching from our beds.

Lose the Internet link, however, and the globe balloons to tremendous size as communication falls back to a precious commodity that runs more than $3 per minute ... complete with delays, echos and crackles ... and has everyone involved so aware of the meter running that spontaneous conversation becomes labored under pressure.

Yes, the world is big today, and the gulf between me and you is wide ... as wide as it was when every word traveled by snail.

Waaaaa! I want my little planet back!