I uploaded the podcast this morning and did the usual drum banging on social media before getting dressed ready for lunch at my dad’s. Once the upload was finished and the page ready I copied the podcast onto a CD to archive and then switched off the computer thinking no more about it.

After lunch I went into town to lend a hand at the Sue Ryder charity shop with sorting out the records (didn’t come across any more James Last I am sad to report) and didn’t return home until just after six o’clock. Checking the listening figures I saw that although they were fairly healthy for the first six hours, they were down on the usual numbers for this sort of time of day. Sunday is the peak day for hits so today’s figures make up the majority of the weekly total. I opened the page to see that the player wasn’t there and a grey box with a sad face was in its place. This wasn’t a huge disaster as all I had to do was go back to the Internet Archive and embed the player again as I have occasionally done before. However, the Internet Archive couldn’t be accessed and all I had was the screen you get when there’s no Internet connection. I knew that my Internet was working so I assumed it to be a fault on their end, having checked that I could access other websites. (Incidentally, am I the only person who finds it annoying when Internet access is broken and you open a tab and get Google with a collection of squares representing most visited websites? It’s a bit of a red herring because it makes you think you’re back online when you are not).

With no way of accessing the Internet Archive I knew I should come up with a plan B just in case the website had closed forever. The Internet Archive gives access and storage to podcasts, radio shows, films, scripts, out of print books, and various other treasures, so it would be terrible if they closed down. A quick Google search directed me to a workable free podcast hosting site that allowed registration with minimum fuss and more importantly allowed me to embed the player to the podcast blog. There are only 30 editions of The Sunday Alternative so although inconvenient it wouldn’t have been a huge problem to have had to upload them to a new site.

Announcements were made on the show’s Facebook and Twitter accounts that normal service would be resumed as soon as possible, while I dug out all 30 editions of the podcast in readiness for having my Sunday evening ruined with an impromptu uploading session. In an unusual display of good luck coming my way, (it’s about time I had some return on all of the ‘lucky’ pennies I pick up and put in my special tin), the Internet Archive returned to normal and with it all of the podcasts were back where they belonged on the blog. The Internet Archive must have been either having problems or undergoing maintenance, choosing to do so on a Sunday as it’s a quiet day online. Somehow it has stopped being a quiet day for me though.

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This week’s edition of The Sunday Alternative is here.