Seat Reservations on Trains

When my alarm went off this morning I groaned, muttered and rolled over. It's bad enough having to get out of bed on weekday mornings without having to set an alarm on Saturday morning too. However I had, in a rash moment of enthusiasm, agreed to meet my cousin for lunch and theatre, so the alarm was duly set. Now, don't get me wrong, I know I shall have a thoroughly good day. We get on very well and always have a good laugh and catch-up, and I adore the theatre.  My only gripe is that, living where I do, I have to get up REALLY EARLY (i.e. 0830!) to get the train. I like my Saturday lie-in and don't usually get up till considerably later. 

However, having made the effort and got myself to the station, I was feeling very cheerful and really looking forward to the day. The weather might be miserable, but I was all good cheer. Until East Midlands trains stepped in. To be fair, it isn't really the fault of the company, but why has everybody decided to travel by the 10.02 this Saturday? The coach to which my ticket directed me was heaving with people. My assigned seat looked cramped and uncomfortable. I was dubious. Suddenly, I wondered if the whole train was this busy. There had not seemed to be that many people on the platform. I meandered through to the next compartment: there were four other people there, a quiet couple and a father with his daughter who looked about six and who asked a series of interesting and intelligent questions (e.g. "Why don't trains have seat belts?"). Sadly, the father was so softly spoken that I could not hear the answer.

So, to return to my original point, it was the train company's fault. Can anybody explain to me why they squash all their reservations into one or two coaches, leaving the rest of the train virtually empty? Does it make things easier for them, or is it just the way that the computer algorithm is set up? I must admit, it seems perverse to me. I am now contentedly watching the world go by. Or I would be, if the windows weren't so dirty that I can see virtually nothing. 

Have a good weekend everybody. 

HELP!!! Why am I so Useless with Computers?

Could it be a generation thing? It seems very likely. My brother is three and a half years younger than me, yet that was a very significant three and a half years. We both did 'O'-levels, yet he did considerably more Maths than I did, and even, I seem to remember, some computing. Now, even allowing for the differences between boys' schools and girls' schools (and they were considerable in the seventies) this must mean that they had a different syllabus to cover. The change must have come about then.

What form does my uselessness take? Well, that is a very interesting question, because I don't really know. The reality is, that no matter how many times my beloved, and very patient, brother sets things up for me, very rapidly things go downhill: back-ups don't happen properly; I lose access to my music folder; Spotify tells me that I no longer have access etc. etc. And all this without, I assure you, me having changed a single setting. I wouldn't be that foolish. Somehow, the computer recognises that it has an idiot to deal with, and promptly sets out to do mischief.

Now, before you put me down as a total fruit cake, of course I know that computers do not actually think, and that therefore this is not what is happening, but the facts are entirely as I have described them i.e. my brother sorts it out, it comes back to me, all is well for a while, then everything goes wrong for no apparent reason. Just to add to the confusion, this also happens at work, where I do not have administrator rights (well at one place anyway). The boffins there are completely mystified as to how things can go so wrong, back-ups stop happening, files going missing etc.

So, oh great computer persons out there, any ideas? I love computers. I have virtually gone paper free. I am a Mac addict, with every gismo there is (well, almost). I am not an idiot. So, what is going on? Any ideas?