Years ago when we were all young mothers with too many babies, we had a lunch with alumnae - not sure who was going to profit by it, I mean with advice, not cash. It wasn't a fund-raiser, I know that. Anyway, one of our mentors exclaimed at our young, naive, hopeful competence.

"Oh, my, you young women are so busy, I don't know how you do it all!"

One of our cohort uttered a modest disclaimer: "Oh, no," she said, "we have modern appliances to help us with our work - washers and dryers and so on." (She had four children under 5 at that point, pregnant with her fifth.)

"Oh, my dear" said the older woman, "it was so much simpler for us. We could just say to someone: Go! and wash the clothes."

I remember about the same time I found an Angela Thirkell novel and read about a little girl who fell in a mud puddle. Her mother, English, of course, with help, of course, looked at her mud-spattered child and said mildly, "Wicked one, wicked one. Go and see Nanny." (( I would have said more than that.)

And now, years later, I have lots of electronic help, computerS and e-mail, with research at my fingertips, but I am over-worked and under-staffed and frustrated beyond belief. I couldn't have done all that I have done in another age, not without amanuenses and assistants and someone to wash the clothes, too. Now I have it all, with my biddable technical staff, but oh, how I wish I had a magic wand.

Wordsworth, thou shouldst be living at this hour! (The world is too much with us.)

It is so hard to reach people you want to pitch. They have such barriers to keep them inaccessible. I have tried but if the person you want to catch is hiding behind or being protected by technical fences, it's impossible. I think it must be horrible these days for a woman to be an executive's mistress. Imagine if she tries to call him, the obstacles she'll encounter:

If you are his wife, press 1

If you are his daughter and you want to buy some new clothes, press 2; opt out of school, press 3, 4 and 5

If you are his son and have wiped out the car, press 6 1/2

If you are his mistress, press 7

If you are pregnant, press 911

What if you just want to get him to read a letter?

I want to talk to Matthew Jocelyn, artistic director/producer at Canadian Stage. Sure, he's on Facebook and Twitter and all that, but totally inaccessible. I attended the theatre last week, and I had a nice reminder note that my engagement was the next day; there was a note tucked into my seat about the coming season; and a follow-up note hoping I enjoyed the play. (I did.) As if someone cared. I wrote back and asked how to get in touch with Mr. Jocelyn. No answer.

It's a one-way street, I should say, a one-way internet highway. I'm road kill.