Internet connection
Today, for the first time since we have been here, our internet connection was down for almost the entire day. Evidently the whole area was affected, but for us it meant two things.

1. We couldn't work. If it had carried on much longer we would have had to find alternative means. It's quite something to think of just how much money is lost in business if the internet goes down. I wonder if it's equivalent to the whole of Brazil grinding to a halt for the World Cup matches.

2. We felt completely cut off as it meant we could not only not work, but could not receive email, research news/items of interest etc. or use Skype. It's amazing how quickly you become dependent on these things. It reminded me that we didn't have any of them when we lived here 30 years ago, when we definitely felt much more 'cut off' than we do this time - but somehow survived very well!