I had just finished another page for my Reed in Asia site a few days ago and I was going to connect to the internet and upload it, when there was a loud crack from inside my computer and it just shut down. A couple of seconds later there was an almighty crash of thunder and I thought that the electric had shut down from a lightning strike, but looking around me the electric fan was still working and nothing else seemed to be affected, just my computer had shutdown.

I was thankful that I had saved everything before it shutdown, so I thought "Okay I shall just restart it, connect to the internet and upload my files now". I restarted the computer okay and then tried to connect to the internet, but I kept getting the error message 'telephone number engaged', I tried many times with the same result, so then I went to the telephone and manually dialled the same number and I got the internet 'handshake sound', so I went back to my computer and tried again and I got 'telephone number engaged'. I then knew that I had a problem with my modem, it had obviously been fried by the lightning strike. Living in the countryside, I had to get a lift to the nearest town and went to the only computer shop in town, only to find out that they were closed for the day and that they would be open again the next day, so no internet that day for me.

I went to the computer shop again the next day and managed to get a modem, the last one in stock, the guy there told me that this happens a lot around here. I bought the modem, returned home and replaced the modem in my computer and I had my internet connection back again five minutes later. So my new resolution now is 'any sign of a storm nearby, take the telephone line out of the modem'.

Cheers for now Legless