I've switched my laptop over to linux ubuntu in the hope that it will force me to learn a bit about how computers actually work.
And I'm going to try and learn linux on the train home from work.
So on Friday evening I started on page 1 exercise 1 of Linux for Dummies.
And got stuck straight away.
I typed in what I thought was the right thing, hit return...
"no such directory"
"no such file"
"no such command"
and so on.
I couldn't get past step one.
After about 10 minutes of sighing, putting my head in my hands and staring out the window at the snow covered moors glowing in the moonlight, I was just about to give up, when the young man sitting next to me, who I'd hardly even noticed he was so quiet and calm, said:
"I use linux. How can I help?"
and spent the rest of the journey giving me a beginners tutorial in linux.
When we got to Manchester Piccadilly I offered to buy him a drink in return, but he said no, there was no need for any payment, and that
"as long as you use linux, there will always be one of us here to help you."
So we shook hands on the platform, and it must have been a trick of the station lights, but there was a sort of glowing circle behind his head.
And when I looked back again he was gone.
NB the important parts of this story are true.
