That other uniquely Australian word, norks is, I believe, inspired by the Northern New South Wales milk producing company, Norco. It has been an inauspicious day. The notes that I had prepared for my speaking engagement in Perth have decided to have a game of hideyboo with me. They are hidden on the hard disc of my computer as a result of my computer choosing to call Microsoft. They do this, you know.
Computers connected to the internet automatically call home.
Mine got in touch with Redmond, Washington, home of Microsoft, because it wanted a couple of bits of software, some new fashion accessory, then installed them and promptly crashed. Perhaps Microsoft, noticing that I call myself Redmond, felt that I had infringed their rights in some way and deliberately trashed my computer. Perhaps they just thought I was being a smartarse. I had printed an earlier draft of my speech. This tedious three and a half minute version is unfortunately not as good as the tedious eight minute version on the computer with which I was hoping to fulfil the contractual agreement for a onehour address.