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