Time, technology and taxes

Yesterday was the kind of day that when it ended I was extremely grateful.

You'd think with several laptops and a computer hanging around the place that printing would be an assumed activity. Think again.

Hewlett Packard printers... well, I can honestly say I have always owned one. But, after yesterday, I departed from the brand, perhaps forever.

After numerous attempts to download drivers (why does a printer need 350MB of space?) on two laptops, I was unsuccessful in making the machine work. I then copied the document onto a memory stick, and tried to print on someone else's machine and printer (also HP). Unsuccessful.

In frustration, I braved rain and wind to drive to the local technology-television-digital radio-iron-mobile phone-hoover selling store.

When the sales agent came to ask me if he could help, I looked at him with a desperate eye. Pulling the memory stick out from my jeans' pocket, I waved it at him and said: "I need to print a letter to the tax office, or I'm in danger of tax evasion." He must have thought he had won the lottery.

That was it. I had all the documents for the tax man ready. All I needed to do was print a document - a letter of explanation, one that itemized my request, explained the errors, included the appropriate identification information, was suitably contrite, and, most importantly, would display an original signature on the bottom of the letter.

Yes, yes, yes, I suppose I could have hand written it- and, in fact, several attempts had been made, by me, as well as someone else to carefully recreate the letter by hand. After repeated mistakes (dictation is just not what it used to be), the printing option became the only option.

The lucky sales man led me to the Hewlett Packard models. I said, "I'd much rather try something different this time." So, £110 pounds later, I am the owner of printer cartridges, a 3 year warranty, and an Epson printer/scanner/photocopier. Why does no printer come with the cable? And why do printer cartridges cost almost as much as the printer? Rhetorical questions, but I needed to ask them if only just to vent!

The drive home was quicker than the set up. After an hour of fiddling about with plastic bits, cartridges and software, I ran out of time before having to pick up daughter at station- so anti-climatic.

Another forty-five minutes later, with daughter and a take-away in hand, I arrived back at my desk, ready to try once more to cross the finish line of the printing expedition. Software loaded - check. Cables connected - check. Now where to load the paper in this new model? Paper finally loaded - check. Locate document. Locate printer. Print.

I never thought the click and swoosh of a printer could be so satisfying. It was a bottle of water on a hot beach. An RAC man in the rain. Heaven.

And so here on the desk my letter sits, printed on cream paper, both pages signed, all ready to be posted to the expectant tax man.

Now off to the post office.