FOR the past month I have been living in the past.

In the days before the internet took over our lives. Remember them?

(Probably only if you're over 30.)

It hasn't been by choice but it's been something of a revelation.

Stress-free. Quiet. No hassle with deliveries that never happen, food orders that don't arrive when they're supposed to, buffering when trying to catch up with the iPlayer or 4OD, or scratching my head over what on earth I made my password for eBay, Amazon, STV player, Facebook, Twitter .... the list goes on.

So why have I been without the internet for a month?

I moved house and the broadband broke down.

I could dwell on the number of exchanges I had with my broadband provider - who shall remain nameless - before they finally agreed to send an engineer out, but I'm choosing to reminisce about the positives.

I'm old enough - just! - to remember the days when a telephone was just a telephone and the internet was something at work.

And it's been a trip down memory lane over the past four weeks as I turn the key in my front door.

I'm not scrabbling for my iPad to see what someone I don't know or haven't spoken to for five years is posting about on Facebook.

Nor am I scrawling through inanities on Twitter, checking the weather app instead of looking out of the window or ordering shopping from Tesco and paying them £5 to deliver it when the nearest store is a five minute drive.

I'm not worrying about updating the Evening Times website when I'm on the late shift. Because I can't. Honest boss!

It's opened my eyes as to how much time we waste online.

I've been remembering a time when you didn't have a roomful of people, all on their phones, communicating in silence.

So forgive me if I've been a little wistful and nostalgic, but I've enjoyed my trip back in time.

And I know as soon as my broadband returns I'll be back to the future in no time.

Now, where's my list of passwords?....