The Apple Genius Bar, and other people I couldn’t live without as a freelance

For the third time in the past 12 months, the Apple Genius Bar (Covent Garden branch) has saved my ass.

One of the disadvantages of giving up working in an office for working at home is no more tech support. No grumpy men (and occasionally woman) to ring up just because you can’t get into your email, you’ve spilled something on your keyboard or you’ve accidentally deleted a really important file. (One company I’ve freelanced for hilariously and inaccurately calls it the ‘Zen Desk’.) No one who’ll come and put missing fonts on your computer for you while you go and make a cup of tea (even though you probably could have done it yourself if they’d only show you how). And no one to pick up the pieces when your hard drive melts, your CD drive fails or you smash your iPhone screen – all of which…

#62 Crash!

It finally happened. Every homeworker’s worst nightmare. My computer has crashed, not just irritatingly crashed but irretrievably crashed. Hard drive devastated. Everything gone. Just like that.

And yet I feel strangely calm about the whole thing.