A NEW computer system has been installed in the office, changing the way we work. We all – techno-wizards and Luddites alike – had to get to grips with it, and fast.

Not everyone welcomes change. It is probably true to say that the majority of us don't like it.

Last month, when the train timetables altered, as they tend to a couple of times a year, Leeds Station swarmed with frantic-looking people rushing this way and that, staring at the information screens, shouting at the guards, grumbling at the tops of their voices. It was mayhem.

The service I catch was replaced – at a less convenient time – by an uncomfortable series of rickety carriages more suited to animal transportation.

Waiting on the platform with other commuters, we all agreed, we hated change.

It's not just in relation to logistical things like that, which if we are honest, annoy all of us. Some of us are unnerved by change of any sort, even to the TV schedules.

I once worked with a woman whose daily routine you could set your watch by.

She once broke out in a cold sweat when her favourite soap moved to a different day and panicked when our office relocated to a building 300 yards down the road.

Allergy to change affects people of all ages. My daughter is about to leave sixth form, and hopefully go to university. She has enjoyed school but is excited at the prospect of a new chapter in her life, whereas others are worried about the huge change that is about to take place.

I was bereft when my school days came to an end. I remember having to hold back tears travelling home on the school bus that last time.

It was not only because I liked sixth form, but that I realised that life would never again be the same, that my friends would go their separate ways, and that I would leave my family home, perhaps forever -– which was, in fact, how things turned out.

For some this can be terrifying: the idea of heading out to fend for yourself when, for the past 18 years, you've been enveloped by the comforts of home.

Of course the expression 'a change is as good as a rest' is very true, and holidays certainly put a spring in our steps. And many changes are definitely for the good. It's the idea of them and getting used to them that creates problems.

The new computer system at work wasn't anywhere near as scary as we'd imagined.

Compared with the old one, it's a welcome change.

But I still can't get used to the new railway timetable.