Heavenly Beverley : A Crash Course in Pokemon Go!

Callum and Bronwyn roared into our driveway yesterday in their little electric blue buzz box car. They brought half their pantry with them, my Mothers' Day present and card and secret birthday business for my auspicious event on Sunday. We reciprocated with Bron's birthday present (from May), the guest room for their relaxation and a three-day opportunity to unwind from the madness of their jobs and the Big Smoke.

Callum is a restaurant manager at the Mullaloo Beach Hotel. Bron is an early childhood teacher from a sprawling, mortgage belt northern suburbs primary school. Hence, enthusiasm, energy, and cheerful dispositions are pre-requisites for both their jobs and constant smiling goes with the territory.

They are enjoying every second off their feet, a chance to be with each other and us and not having to do anything. Having said that, we walked into town and back yesterday afternoon, visited the Gallery and the delights of Beverley's main drag. They also cooked a magnificent feast for us last night. I think they were expecting the entire "Game of Thrones" cast to join us. And they washed up. I was in Nirvana.

Having been vaguely aware of the hype surrounding the launch of Pokemon Go - Ye Gods, we're back playing Gameboy - I was relatively unsurprised that Cal was already a devotee. My twenty-seven-year-old son has huge reserves of mental and physical fuel, is quick witted and super intelligent and has grown up in a very fast world. He has embraced all forms of technology and was always champing at the bit to be the First to own a new system, a new game, a new app. This has only ever backfired on him once. Impatient, as ever, to be able to play Halo 3 on his computer, he was amongst the initial purchasers of Vista, a disastrous operating system that caused mayhem and had to be uninstalled. Yet, Cal couldn't help himself. He had to have Vista immediately upon its release. And damn the torpedoes.

And so, twenty years on from Pikachu, we have been blasted back into the world of Pokemon. Caught in Callum's infectious glee, I asked him for a quick "Pokemon Go for Idiots". It turned out to be not that hard, even though I have absolutely no desire to participate in the actual playing. Basically, catch 'em, feed 'em, train 'em. Except, being 2016, there's more to the app that that. The player has an avatar, so he or she can exist in the real and virtual worlds. As do the Pokemon themselves. So yesterday, Callum captured a Pokemon outside the Gallery, on my laptop, on their esky, and within the confines of the House that Rocks. And I have the evidence to show their presence.

Apart from my own crash course in Pokemon Go, I have been highly amused at other "crashes" indirectly caused by this app phenomena. Initially released in the US of A, New Zealand, and Australia, those in the UK were apparently left out of the equation. Which has meant that savvy Poms have hopped onto Australian servers in order to access the game. Do not ask me how that is done...

Which means our second rate internet has crashed. Spectacularly and repeatedly. I suspect there may be some very unhappy Pokemon catchers out there as this app also involves the (utterly voluntary) surrender of cold hard cash. If the system goes down, which it has, the game is reset. Money gone to Pikachu?

About five people were expected to turn up to the Sydney Opera House over the weekend to mutually worship Pokemon Go. Quite a few more than that arrived at this auspicious venue. Some of the players were probably injured on the way. There have been reports of people walking onto the road without looking, into poles and generally falling over as they were too busy watching their smartphones rather than their surroundings. There are bruises to validate these stories.

However, Pokemon Go has also been charged with increasing community interaction. And good humour. People are outside chasing Pokemon. They are forming posses with their mates. And the young and foolish are finding themselves trumped by the older generation. Pokemon Go has been actively taken up by all ages. So, there are now emerging stories of the middle-aged beating the teenagers to a Pokemon in the vicinity. And laughing at the bemused reactions they leave behind.

As of now, Pokemon Go is still unavailable for Callum to resume the chase. The system is still crashed due to the volume of smartphones all attempting to load the app. This is not entirely bad. Callum has had to temper his frustration with patience. And this is a highly unusual circumstance for my breakneck son.

PS the internet has just resumed its good health so the chase is on again!