In the late 1990s, the internet was still a novelty in Tasmania - and yet for one senior citizen it offered a life-affirming new experience.
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The late Hazel Greig, then 87, of Norwood, was a keen gardener until several knee and hip operations prevented her from enjoying her passion.
And so it was that one hobby was replaced by another.
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"I'd never even seen a computer," Mrs Greig told The Examiner reporter Mandy Smith. "I knew they were about and I was interested, I'd just never seen one."
"My son lives in Queensland and he came over for a holiday and he organised for me to buy one."
Mrs Greig was a life member of the National Trust and had tended to the gardens at Clarendon House for 29 years until gardening became too difficult for her.
""Now that I can't work in the gardens they've been encouraging me to write the history of the gardens, and I thought the best way to do that was on a computer," she said.
"I started to do it on a typewriter, but I'd get halfway through a page and remember I'd left something out.
"On a computer I can cut and paste, it's so much easier."
With face-to-face lessons and a bit of self-directed learning, Mrs Greig quickly got the hang of using her second-hand Intel 80486 PC.
She said she enjoyed looking up historic houses and cottage gardens on the internet, and had even taken an interest in the Mir space station - operated by the Soviet Union and later Russia - through surfing the web.
"I come up to the spare room, where I keep the computer, about 4pm most days and I find a few hours goes without my noticing it," Mrs Greig said.
"I have my two sons in Queensland and a granddaughter in Perth that I can send email to.
I come up to the spare room, where I keep the computer, about 4pm most days and I find a few hours goes without my noticing it.
- Hazel Greig
"I use the drawing bit, too. It's fun making all the boxes and filling them with colour. I play games on it. Mostly I play Solitaire because I'm not really interested in the other games, but I'm getting a tennis game."
Age didn't have to be a barrier to using new technology, Mrs Greig said.
"I would suggest to people of my age group not to sit down and let themselves go to seed," she said.
"I think it would be absolutely marvellous for people without family - it would make them want to live longer.
"I'm looking forward to the year 2000 - if I'm still here.
"Imagine what we'll be doing by then."
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Rob Inglis
Rob Inglis is a reporter with The Examiner, covering state and federal politics. He is based in Hobart.
Rob Inglis is a reporter with The Examiner, covering state and federal politics. He is based in Hobart.
