Dear LPG,

I want to tell you a story with a moral.

I need to start by telling that I am a pensioner but rate myself as a fairly capable one. 

I bought a new vacuum cleaner recently and I just could not put it together.  There were so many hoses and things and the instructions really were not making the job any easier for me.  I spent a lot more time than I ever imagined trying to follow the directions and I was really getting frustrated with the whole thing. 

I finally had decided to send it back, but once I had got all the bits out of the box, I could not even get them back in again well enough to be able to close it properly.  I was really at the end of my tether when I decided to phone my son for some help, in the hope that he would be able to pay me a short visit after work that evening to sort it out.  When I finally got through to him he suggested that I visit ‘You Tube’ and put the name of the company that made it, and the model details into its search-bar.  I did as I was told and pressed the little magnifying-glass icon and I was surprised to find a short demonstration video which I watched.  Having seen the video I understood exactly what to do and had the thing up and running just 20 minutes later.

Since then I have succeeded in, setting up my new mobile phone, cleaning a rather nasty stain off my carpet and even learning how to make a Christmas cracker. 

The moral of my story is that You Tube is more than a place to find music videos.  I even found instructions on how to make a good cup of English tea.  So there is no need to think of You Tube as a place only to find video entertainment.   Inputting the name of a product followed by the word demo (for demonstration) or the words ‘how to’ followed by a description of what you want to learn to do, you will be shown a whole new set of possibilities (although it may be important to watch two or three offerings before you decide which is the best set of instructions to follow. 

OG, Greenwich

LPG  has a little information to offer…

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LPG would like to add that there will be instances where You Tube will show you the principles but it will be necessary to assess your ability to be able to carry out the instructions successfully.  It is important to remember that anyone can post a video on the You Tube site and though many demonstration videos are posted by the manufacturers of consumer items, many are not.  Depending on your assessment of your ability for success, and the potential consequences of what will happen if you can’t finish the job, perhaps LPG should mention that sometimes it is better to undertake a task that you have never tried to do before with the help of someone else rather than alone. 

LPG.