At 100 per cent a new message appeared: Mutability safeguards confirmed for Financial Services Salay Group: Raba, the fourth.

Do you require regular updates? [y/n]

I clicked on No, ejected the card, rebooted the computer, read a backlog of emails and messages, dealt with those I thought should be dealt with, switched everything off, pushed the cat off my lap (but gently), and finally went to bed.

In the morning when I turned on the computer I discovered that a new software icon had appeared on my desktop: Mutability Safeguard v.2.4. The icon itself had been cleverly designed to suggest a mountain covered in snow that was trembling.

I selected it, deleted it. The icon disappeared.

When I went to the folder containing the documents of my new novel everything was untouched. The archive copies of my earlier novels were safe. Back copies of emails sent and received were the same as before. All the other work I had looked at recently, including my bank records and publishing contracts, seemed unaffected. I checked several different documents to be sure. I used the antivirus program to deep scan the computer. All was OK.

I went back to work.

The Journeying Boat

19

The Journeying Boat

Towards the end of the week I needed to go into the local town to buy groceries and the other weekly requirements. The supermarket was not crowded and the shelves were as usual well stocked. With Jo away I had decided to try cooking some different dishes. At my last birthday she had given me a new cookbook, and I thought I would practise some of the recipes.

At the checkout I handed over a credit card, but the clerk could not make the electronic till interface read it. He asked if I had another card, so I passed him my bank debit card. This read normally. The clerk said they had been struggling all day with an intermittent hardware fault. Some customers had been obliged to withdraw cash from the ATM outside the building.

I was actually low on cash myself, so after I had put the groceries into my car I used the ATM. A message appeared on the monitor, saying that no cash was available.

I left the car in the parking lot and walked across the road to where there was a branch of a bank I sometimes used. It had a cash machine outside. It accepted my card, but would not read my ID number. I tried several times. I went inside the bank and withdrew cash from the teller behind the counter. She told me a number of customers had reported problems, but the cash machines were not operated by the bank. The company had been informed of the problem, and they had promised to fix it before the next day.

I stopped at a filling station to refuel the car. When I came to pay my credit card was accepted at the first attempt. I drove home.