The other day, deadline looming and thoughts aflutter, the unthinkable happened: Google stopped working. At such moments, time stands still. You pinch yourself, wondering if that feared stroke, so prevalent in the male lineage on your father's side, has finally struck.
But no, your pulse is still there, so you have another go. Again, 'page cannot be displayed' comes up on the computer screen, and it is then that thoughts turn to brain tumours, Alzheimer's disease or just plain stupidity.
When confronted with the confounding, people do predictable things. Some get another cup of coffee, others reach for their hip flask containing something stronger, and a few do what I did - stared wide-eyed at the monitor, wondering what I ever did before Google.
How easily we forget, because it was not that long ago that we had to use other internet search engines when we wanted to find information, such as - um ...?
Well, anyway, I asked around, and someone remembered that they had used one whose name I have since forgotten. Without further fuss, I found what I needed and finished my article. Then, I took a breather to figure out just exactly why I and everyone else I know religiously use Google.
After my little emergency and the fact that when the panic had passed, everything went just as swimmingly, I have concluded that the answer is: 'because.'
Given that it is possible to get by without Google, it was with some surprise that I learned this week that the Silicon-Valley-based company is now the world's highest-valued media organisation. With a stock market value of US$80 billion, it is worth more than CNN parent Time-Warner, Disney, Viacom and anyone else you care to mention. On Tuesday, its share price on New York's Nasdaq exchange closed at a record US$293.12, with some analysts predicting that it could eventually rise to US$350. That is not bad for a company set up in September 1998, and when it went public 10 months ago, initially offered shares at US$85 apiece. As baffling is the fact that Google's sales last year totalled US$3.2 billion, while Time-Warner's were US$42 billion.