Help! I can't get into cyberspace

True, the solution to the food shortage was far from insurmountable - Sainsbury's is 100 yards away. What was telling was my initial inability to understand why food wasn't arriving: we - OK, my wife - order most things online from Ocado.

The fridge was the least of it. My wife works from home a couple of days a week. No internet? After wrestling with her BlackBerry she gave up and went in to work, having to take one child with her to avoid childcare meltdown.

Meanwhile, waking at 6.30am as usual, I would start to worry: what if my editor calls to ask me to look at a piece for first edition? She's hardly going read it out to me over the phone. Mercifully, she didn't; still, I felt bereft without my early-morning check of email and news.

And then there were the little things. Of course I can find a number for that restaurant - I just need to look up the number for directory enquiries first, given that I haven't called it in about three years. Yes, I can call rail enquiries for that train time - but waiting through vapid automated announcements is an irritation I'd almost forgotten. And I can just call my friend in New Zealand rather than Skyping her - but where's the fun in that?

For all its dark downsides, the internet has transfomed my daily life for the better. But it has made us increasingly impatient with the delays involved in using phones or even - imagine! - actually going and buying stuff in person. We have got used to being mobile and working flexibly in ways unimaginable 10 years ago. And when it goes, it requires a real adjustment.

At least my generation can do so without too much trouble. Last weekend my seven-year-old daughter was mystified that she couldn't access the Education City website. I'm not sure my kids really understand the difference between TV and the internet - it's just content, always there.

Last night our broadband provider fixed the problem. After 10 days, normal service had been resumed. And cyberspace never looked so good.