Living in rural Norfolk is great in so many ways, the peace and quiet, the lack of the hustle and bustle and recently the isolation from the modern world has been increased by the various utilities.

We used to have one mobile phone network that gave the village excellent coverage (Vodafone) which they have tinkered with to ensure that the signal is no longer viable. EE used to work if you had an external aerial to enhance the signal, which this week has been fiddled with to ensure that conduit to the outside is also now unavailable.

Openreach have been promising that we will have fibre in the village within five months for the last nine months also ensuring that our remoteness is complete. WiSpire cannot get through the trees; which leaves us with two tin cans and a piece of string.

The government wonders why productivity is so poor in the UK, for me it is obvious, if takes an hour to send an email, you cannot get much done in the modern world. Will the 21st century ever arrive?

ALEX HONEY

Corner Cottages

Suffield