Got up early this morning to get on with life. Switched on computer. All humming along nicely until I tried to collect email. Two of the accounts were dead. Not a flicker of life. And they were hosted by two different companies. But a third was working so it wasn't my system or my connection, it was something 'out there'.

Next step, go to my web pages. presshere had vanished, so had brainstormsw. I forgot to check tebbo but, since that's hosted by the same provider as presshere, I assume that had gone too.

Then I went to the servers themselves or, at least I tried to. Couldn't get near them. Then went to the hosts' pages—one host was active but no reported issues, the other couldn't be reached. I checked that all my hosting bills had been paid.

I could get to my startup pages: Netvibes, Google, BBC and Facebook, so at least the world as a whole hadn't disappeared. But what if it had?

The internet is supposed to be resilient, but what if it isn't? What if we were suddenly and permanently disconnected? What impact would it have on our lives if this utility that we take for granted were taken away from us?

Call me sad, but I found the prospect utterly alarming.