It's no secret that computers are a large part of our lives, a huge part. The other day, I noticed as we sat in the lounge, that my husband and I were both busy on our laptops. The television was actually on as well. A couple of years ago that would have seemed like an odd scene, but now it is the norm. My oldest son keeps on begging me for a laptop. "Mum, I will need one in middle school," he insists. Hmmm, why on earth would he need one in school? When I went to school, we just needed paper, pens, and pencils, and those were supplied by the school. "He's just working you, babe," says my husband. What he means by that is that he is using whatever he can to get whatever he wants. Clever boy. But he has to get a bit more clever to get around his mother. I've only just got a laptop myself; there's no way that I'm going to buy one for an eleven year old, especially when there is a perfectly good computer available in the house. Half the time, my laptop drives me nuts. Infact, the day that we were both working on our laptops in the lounge, my husband was also having problems. What kind of problems? Connection problems, the computer working slowly, program(mes) suddenly closing etc etc. There seems to be nothing as aggravating as a malfunctioning computer. Throw the thing out of the window, and let the dogs play with it. Of course, I would never actually do that, but it is so tempting. Grammar notes. Useful expressions: the norm, why on earth, to get around, half the time. 1. Rush, rush, rush is the norm in our household. 2. Why on earth would he put these shirts to wash when I've just washed them? 3. He's trying to get around me by being really sweet. 4. I try to nap during the day, but half the time the phone rings and wakes me up.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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