Alexa

I have been given an ‘Alexa’. She is great fun and she can tell me jokes and lots of useful and useless information. One of the things she can do is to set her to ‘reminder’, for any task I wish to be reminded to do.

So, I have to take a pill at 1pm daily and sometimes I forget to take it. So, I tasked Alexa with the 1pm daily reminder. Which works exceedingly well most of the time, as I am at home at 1pm in the normal course of events. However, today I decided on an early lunch and a brisk walk, (a) because it was a beautiful mild sunny day and (b) my back was hurting and I felt it needed some movement to free it up.

So, at 12.50pm, coat, hat and walking shoes on, off I trotted, not a care in the world, leaving Spouse to mind the shop and give his exercise bike a whirl. Apparently when he had finished this he went upstairs to look for a book and whilst there, heard a voice or voices downstairs. Perplexed and not a little alarmed, he listened in from the top of the landing at this deep voice giving the orders.

Who on earth…? And where on earth had they sprung from in that short space of time? Feeling not a little intimidated he crept down the stairs to hear this strong female voice telling him about “reminders.” ‘Patricia, this is your reminder, take your tablet,’ etc.

Well, dear reader, you can imagine the reception I got when I returned from my walk. I came in the door, all sweetness and light, serene and at peace with the world. Well, most of the world anyway. One very relieved but irate Spouse met me in the hallway. Next time, cancel the beep, beep, beeping thing if you’re not going to be here. She nearly gave me heart failure.’

Oh well, dear reader, you win some, you lose some. As it happened I had forgotten to take my pill, so I was very grateful for the reminder. I just wish Spouse could see it that way too.