As I left home this afternoon to walk the dogs, this is the view that greeted me.

As soon as possible this morning I took my hard drive in to some techies to give me their verdict. It wasn't good news. The drive has had a mechanical failure and they can't retrieve any of the data.

I know, I know! I should have backed all the files up onto another hard drive.


Anyway, long story short, I can either accept that I've lost all my precious memories of the past 15 years ( holidays, pets, wonderful times spent with my late husband - not in that order !) or I can send it away to a data recovery centre.

I didn't take long to make my decision. 
The company have a good success rate and they have a 'no win, no fee' policy, but I will need to find a pot of gold at the bottom of the next rainbow.

Tonight I am travelling quite a way to deliver a photo presentation with other members of my small photo group. It's been  a while since I spoke in public and I'll admit to feeling a tad apprehensive.

Perhaps I should start the evening with a heartfelt warning about the importance of backing up data :-(