And when all is fine and dandy and I am reasonably comfortable that it all makes sense I copy and paste it into the form of an e-mail and attach it to the space underneath where I say “ Gidday Ben ... here ’ s the next column .” Then I hit ‘ send ’ and it ’ s gone ... as am I , as I head to the fridge for a post-email sending drink . How things change . A decade ago the world of media began to step up its on-line presence and gradually you could start peering at the LA Times or The Guardian from the seat in front of your screen . The doors ( I probably should say windows ) began to open and today they ’ re absolutely gaping . The world of media has gone both social and on-line to the extent where print now effectively comes second . There are lots of new words for the dictionary publishers ( both on-line and print ) to consider inserting . Tweets , blogs , texts , Facebooks , websites and lots of things starting with the prefix “ i ”. Anyone , anywhere , can post a picture or an opinion on-line , and to a degree that is rather scary because the crucial ingredient of news posting , called editing , is bypassed .

So yep , the cyber bullying and cyber accusations are as much a part of life today as a poison pen letter was 40 years ago ... except that back then only the recipient of the poison pen letter got to see it . Today , about 100 million people would . While far from addicted to the on-line world , I do use it because it is easy to access and very immediate . I can read the MotoGP reports within an hour of the race finishing and I do the same with English football where I can immediately follow my beloved Southampton from match to match . And now I will be scanning the pages of KR via the screen , as can readers anywhere on the planet if they choose to take it aboard . For New Zealand motorcycling that is a huge bonus . Yep , times change , and while the traditionalists will probably arch an eyebrow and produce a shake of the head at this move to motorcycling words on screen instead of paper it is not something one should be disturbed about . Because hey ... it ’ s still the KR we ’ ve long embraced and that above everything is the most vital thing of all . Right , that ’ s now 500,740 words .

SERIES

New Zealand ’ s largest Motorcycle Series with Top International & NZ Riders 1st Round 10th December 2nd Round 17th December 3rd Round 26 December

Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park Lake Taupo

Plus go into the draw to win a Suzuki GIXXER 150 in MotoGP colours ! Go to www . cemeterycircuit . co . nz or ticketek . co . nz to win !!!

� � � � KIWI RIDER 69