Wonderphone

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Well, I'm sitting at the Crowne Plaza in Heathrow typing on the teeny tiny keyboard on the teeny tiny machine and marveling at my little Smartphone. It is the best phone I've ever had (of course it should be, it is also the newest phone I've ever had - but I have been known to go backwards)

It can make phone calls, send sms, send mms, send email, receive active push email (like a Blackberry, but better). It has two movies and season one of Spaced on it, along with several hundred music tracks. I can browse the web, get maps, send pictures to Flickr, all kinds of stuff. In short it is pretty much everything I want in a mobile device.

As I write this it is providing a very useable Internet connection which just worked. Just worked! When I recall the grief I used to have trying to get on line with my phone I just can't believe how easy it was. Vista and Windows Mobile 6.0 really do get on well in this respect. I've had three hours of high quality music on the train on the way here too.

It is the HTC S710. And it rocks.

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Very posh hotel room desk. But Internet at eight pounds an hour? I don't think so...

Packing for Seoul

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Today I've had to start packing for my next trip. I feel a bit like Alan Whicker with all this globe trotting. Anyhoo, tomorrow I start out for the Imagine Cup World Finals in South Korea. I always pack at the last possible minute, and this time is no exception. So it was out with Ye Olde suitcase (unfortunately it is the one that likes going off on its own) and in with the contents of various draws. Of course all the big problems were with which power supplies and mains adapters to take...

I am of course taking the big camera, and the little camera, and a piece of paper and a crayon (maybe not the last one) and so there will be pictures......

Back from the smoke

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Spent today recovering from the London day trip. We got up bright and early and were in London by 9:30.

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Kings X

We drifted over to Tate Modern, had a look round and a coffee and took in the view over the river.

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St. Paul's, wobbly bridge and boat

Then we wandered down to Covent Garden

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St. Paul's rear entrance (so to speak)

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Badges and bangles

Then it was on to Harrods for coffee and donuts.

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Oh goody, they have a sale on....

And then back to Hull and a lovely sunset

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The train wot brought us home.

Bowser Man

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Bowser is not just a baddie in a Mario game, it is also a thing for delivering water. My brother in law has just lost his water supply thanks to the floods, and so we filled our car up with water (not literally - that would be stupid) and headed off to Cheltenham on the way home. We drove past bowsers on street corners, and people walking purposely to and from them. We dropped off our load of water (just a few bottles and some containers) and chatted for a while about this and that, before heading guiltily off to our house, where the taps work.

Just as we left we heard news that some parts of the area had got their water supplies back. I hope it is all sorted out soon.

Rain

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It only rained twice today. Once for four hours and once for eight. We are now in the deep south of england, where people talk funny and the beer tastes strange. The flooding here is awful, on a scale with what Hull experienced recently, but with the added twist that a water treatment station has been put out of action by the rising floods. Which means that people are surrounded by water but have nothing to drink or wash in. Truly horrid. I can't imagine life without running water, it is just one of those things that you never expect to break.

In between showers I did manage to take a few photographs though.

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Dunno what they are, but they look nice.

Breakdowns

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Headed off down south today for a family visit. I don't know about you, but I'm noticing a lot more broken down cars these days. Time was when during a long-ish journey you would see two or three people stranded forlornly at the side of the road. But until recently you hardly saw any. Nowadays they seem much more frequent. Are cars getting less reliable, or are people not having them serviced as often as they should?

Taking your memories with you

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I've been spending some time scanning old photographs and loading them up onto the computer. It helps to pass the time whilst watching dross TV and I've found some gems in amongst the albums. The thing that has impressed me most is the quality of the results though. Using a fairly modest Canon scanner and 6x4 inch prints I've been able to get some very nice looking results, even when viewed on the big screen telly.

Today I used the Vista Media Centre option to burn a whole bunch of pictures onto a DVD. This is wonderful. It gives you a lovely, ever changing slide show of pictures which works in any DVD player. I've been dishing these out to family members, who have been very impressed. Even though the images include one of me wearing shorts.

An Old Man Writes

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I'm looking at the world through eyes half a century old. I'm also hearing the world through ears half a century old. And so on. In fact all of me is fifty today. Deeply scary. I never really wanted to grow up, let alone grow old. But there you are.

Defying the weather forecast (which mentioned everything but locusts later in the afternoon) we went out to Dalby Forest for the day. After a drive through the lovely countryside we happen to have around here, we found a quiet spot and set off around the Bridestones. And I took the biggish camera, and loads of pictures.

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A walk in the woods

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The edge of a stone

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View from the top

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A "Bridestone"

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Flowers and stream

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Woods

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Geese arrivals

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Flowers of some kind

Fair Weather Friends

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Had a BBQ today to celebrate my upcoming annual event. Most surprisingly the weather was very good to me, with a break in the rain just long enough for Tim to cook some burgers and sausages, and us to sit in the garden and drink beer whilst solving the problems of the world.

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Colourful cutlery

Folks turned up with presents and cards and I was supplied with a special T shirt to wear, celebrating the fact that tomorrow I'm very old. Unfortunately no photographs were taken of this.. Good stuff and thanks to all.

A great time was had, even though I was beaten at Mario Strikers on the Wii by someone less than a seventh of my age...

Clifford Stoll Rocks

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You might not have heard of Clifford Stoll. But you should have. He wrote "The Cuckoo's Egg", one of the best books about the Internet and computers that I've ever read. He also maintains a very healthy skepticism about computers and their place in society.  He wrote a book some time back, "High Tech Heretic" which should be required reading for people in computing. It was published in 2000, but is still very relevant today. If you think that computers are the answer to everything, the way and the truth, then you should read this book.

Degrees of Heat, and a Great Joke

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Degree ceremonies today. Gosh it was hot. And humid. And they'd closed the windows of City Hall. So we all broiled gently. The best bit was the speech by  Dr John Sentamu, the present Archbishop of York. He was awarded a richly deserved honorary degree in the second ceremony. In the context of having greatness thrust upon himself, he told a really good story, which I will now steal.

A great king had a beautiful daughter. He was very concerned that only the most worthy man should be allowed to marry her. So he built a large pool outside his palace and filled it full of alligators. Then he let it be known that he would grant his daughter's hand in marriage to the first man to swim across the pool. Many people gathered at the waters edge, but all were scared when they saw what happened when some meat was tossed into the pool and the hungry alligators attacked. Then, suddenly a young man was in the pool, swimming his utmost as the alligators chased after him. With a mighty heave the young man pulled himself out of the water and lay gasping at the feet of the king.

"You have done well" said the king. "You have shown great courage and may now marry my daughter".

"I am most grateful" replied the man "But although your daughter is very beautiful I would prefer you to grant me another wish"

"Very well" said the king, surprised at this "What can I do for you instead?"

The man looked at him and said "I would like you to bring me the man who pushed me in the water, so I can put my hands around his neck..."