Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
"Parse Error," said my laptop with a grumply bleep. "Cricketbook.abw, not well formed. Invalid token at line 236."
I blinked in confusion.
"Abiword cannot open Cricketbook.abw," it continued apace. "This is not a valid document."
'Well, that's strange,' I thought to myself. It was a valid document yesterday when I clattered through the 20,000 word barrier with an energetic and effervescent explaniation of the effect of weather conditions on wickets. It was very valid indeed. I double-clicked again.
"Parse Error," it repeated. "Cricketbook.abw, not well formed. Invalid token at line 236. Abiword cannot open Cricketbook.abw," it continued apace. "This is not a valid document."
The sweat appeared on the back of my neck. My balls rose up inside my body in terror.
Click. Parse Error. Click. Invalid. Click. Parse Error. Click. Click. Click. Bleep.
It's gone. Nine days before deadline and it's gone.
I've since been able to salvage 7,000 words from the txt file and, having stripped them of the machine code that surrounds them, they're still usable. The rest is just a memory.
Back up your files. Back them up all the time. I didn't and look at me. I'm smearing angry notes on the kitchen floor in my own excrement.
I blinked in confusion.
"Abiword cannot open Cricketbook.abw," it continued apace. "This is not a valid document."
'Well, that's strange,' I thought to myself. It was a valid document yesterday when I clattered through the 20,000 word barrier with an energetic and effervescent explaniation of the effect of weather conditions on wickets. It was very valid indeed. I double-clicked again.
"Parse Error," it repeated. "Cricketbook.abw, not well formed. Invalid token at line 236. Abiword cannot open Cricketbook.abw," it continued apace. "This is not a valid document."
The sweat appeared on the back of my neck. My balls rose up inside my body in terror.
Click. Parse Error. Click. Invalid. Click. Parse Error. Click. Click. Click. Bleep.
It's gone. Nine days before deadline and it's gone.
I've since been able to salvage 7,000 words from the txt file and, having stripped them of the machine code that surrounds them, they're still usable. The rest is just a memory.
Back up your files. Back them up all the time. I didn't and look at me. I'm smearing angry notes on the kitchen floor in my own excrement.