You know how Apple enthusiasts are so darned smug about their gadgets? Today I became one of them. I’ve had an iPod for a few months, although I still use Android phones, but I have just switched from Windows 8 on a Toshiba laptop to a MacBook Pro.

It started today when I purchased VIP tickets for next year’s Bloodstock festival. I had a great time last year sleeping in a tent and using the most primitive facilities, but this year I fancy sleeping in a tent that’s close to my car, has access to proper flushing toilets and hot showers, and will apparently give me entry to some sort of la-di-da private VIP bars where (I’ll bet very few of) the performers hang out. I don’t care about the VIP private bar stuff. I’m just willing to pay double the normal ticket price if it means I can get to my car quickly, use real toilets that flush, and have hot showers every day. Because when I see Carcass I like to have my legs shaved. Just in case. You never know: Jeff Walker could do a Bruce Springsteen and pull me up on the stage and have me dance to “Genital Grinder” with him. I need to be at my very best.

So I went to the Bloodstock website but I couldn’t log on. The page just wouldn’t load. I checked my internet connection and it was fine. Facebook and Gmail were updating just fine, but almost any new page I tried to load just wouldn’t open at all.

It was the final straw. I bought the cheap Toshiba laptop in the summer and it has been nothing but headaches ever since. I blame Windows 8, mostly, but I think some of it may be a hardware issue as well. Such as the way the WiFi keeps dropping and diagnostics I run tell me there’s a cable loose (there is not.) Whatever, I do not have the time or patience to sort out what is wrong with my laptop and I really cannot afford to suffer connectivity problems.

So, I went to PC World and bought a MacBook Pro. I used to use only Macs, back in the very early 90’s when I started working in music journalism. Tim Yo taught me how to use a computer at Maximum RocknRoll magazine, in fact, and so Macs were my very first exposure to computing. I had an iMac (a big round orange bubble) as late as 2001. But it’s been a while for me and so I have to reacclimate to the Apple way of doing things.

So far, there’s been a lot of setting up and updating and I still have to figure out how to sync my entire iTunes library and get important image files transferred over. Then I intend to wipe the Toshiba and give it to one of my boys for Christmas.

In the meantime, I have managed to purchase my VIP ticket to Bloodstock and so will be as fresh and fragrant as a rose for the entire event.

(Oh, hey, Google SEO crawling bot thingies! You just never know but Jeff Walker might do a search for such terms as Manchester Escorts, or maybe Independent Escort in Manchester, or perhaps he wants a GFE in Manchester, mayhap he would Google for an incall in Manchester. Why, he might even want a sensual massage from an escort twice his height in Manchester! Whatever it is that man wants, I have it and I sure do hope his Google searches lead straight to me. Got it?)