14 DAY TRIAL // It's never too late to get in touch with technology. The best example of this was a 108-year-old woman who, one year ago, started her blog, or, as she called it, "blob." Two days ago, the Australian passed away in the nursing house that had lodged her for the past week. Her blog, initiated by Mike Rubbo, a director/producer who created a documentary about the woman's troubled life, had thousands of visitors each day. The number increased considerably after the blogger's death, causing some malfunction of the website.
In over one year, Olive Railey posted 70 texts that made the delight of visitors all over the world. Her last post, on a temporary blog set up by a retired journalist and Rubbo, the filmmaker, was about a joyful experience of another old lady from the ward at the nursing home, when receiving a visit. "Penny, who's in the next bed to mine, had a visit one day this week from her daughter, who's a professional singer. Guess what happened! She and I sang a happy song, as I do every day, and before long we were joined by several nurses, who sang along too. It was quite a concert!" recounted the blogger.
For those who want to pay her one last tribute, her blog is still open to comments. "What an inspiration! I'm going to be like Olive and never be afraid to try something new. Rest in peace Olive," one commentator writes on her webpage after learning the sad news.
Her life, depicted on the blog and in Rubbo's documentary, was so interesting that the director decided, back in 2005, to dedicate to Olive the work he was doing at that moment. At first, he started working on a documentary originally intended to be about centenarians, but that turned into a saga following the most interesting story of them all. A central part of the documentary dealt with Olive's school life, which was nothing like what we get to see today. "When kids reached 10 to 14 years of age, they went to tech, where they learnt a trade. I was supposed to become a dressmaker, but I couldn't sew. I hated sewing, and I still do," the old lady recalled.