I got my first IPAD in 2010 shortly after I retired. It was IPAD1 with no camera and was quite heavy compared to today’s model. I loved it and used it for talking books on long car journeys, watching movies, playing Bridge online and downloading recipes from the Internet. I used it to learn Swedish , my husband’s native tongue and I spent a lot of time with my granddaughter Abby on the IPAD which she started using when she was four months old. She learnt her letters and numbers, did jigsaws, sang along, did paintings and read stories. Below is a picture of her with the old faithful IPAD1 which she still has.

In late 2012 I got an IPAD 3 which had a camera and better graphics and used this regularly until July this year. There was nothing wrong with my IPAD3. It was reliable and I had plenty of storage and was reluctant to change it. Why should I upgrade?

The IOS on IPAD3 could not be updated and several applications I had could not be updated because of this. I could not use the Mobile Banking App on it though I could use it on my husband’s IPAD Air2. Did I really need to spend the money on a new IPAD.

So what decided me to take the plunge. I subscribe to the Adobe suite of programs and have done work on Photoshop, Illustrator and Lightroom. I received promotional information from Adobe about Spark.Spark it said could be used to produce graphics for social media. It could be used to produce blogs and videos for speedy advertising. My daughter writes apps and was keen to develop social media advertising so I thought I would look at Spark but no. Having downloaded it I was told I could not use it on my IPAD as it needed a more recent IOS system.

I reluctantly logged on to the Apple Store to see what a new IPAD would cost. The latest IPAD was advertised and in the specifications it said the IPAD pencil would work on this IPAD. The IPAD pencil interested me. I had taught Business Administration and taking notes on a tablet with a stylus had been one of the things we had tried. To be able to write on the IPAD with a pencil for note taking was impressive I thought. The other thing that finally sold me a new IPAD was the gold case with a rose pink cover. This I know is not a sound reason but the Apple sales pitch worked on me. I ordered the same day and four days later my new IPAD and Apple Pencil were delivered to my door in Far North Queensland.

I have not been disappointed. The new IPAD has so many features I like and I have expanded my knowledge of software and used Spark Post, Spark Page and Spark Videos. I have uploaded videos to YouTube and learnt to capture web pages on Evernote and learnt to take notes with the pencil in Penultimate. My daughter and I are trying to expand our business presence on social media – something we are as yet not very good at. My office now looks very different.

I can use a logitech keyboard with the IPAD as well as the built in keyboard. The keyboard is five years old but connected straight away as did the apple pencil.

I have learnt so many new things in the last seven weeks and am enjoying my new toys. It keeps my brain active.

There is some irony in all this.