The robins are mating in our garden, but what has happened here?1. Thanks to Bob and Rose at backpackinglight.co.uk for sending a new rucksack liner so quickly. I wonder whether Exped will provide a refund, or has this 65 litre liner, bought for last year’s TGO Challenge, really worn out within a year? The old one, with many pinhole perforations, is in the post back to Bob. [Good value regardless – it has endured much use.]
2. It was a lovely day out yesterday with Daryl. But I can’t help thinking….
...Perhaps he should ruthlessly go through his bag and send a parcel home. The really cold weather should be at an end after this weekend.
...He has a fine pair of boots, but heavy. Are they helping or hindering his ankle injury? I might yearn for something lighter in his position…
...I questioned why (how) he could put up with a serious amount of road walking. Today his blog will answer that question most eloquently.
...Daryl certainly has his remote blogging system well sorted.
3. Now how can I do that (blog remotely without recourse to an internet cafe)? I was thinking of the Blackberry 8120 that I can get on my Orange contract, but Daryl thinks there may be a problem with word and excel documents. Do I really need those? Ho hum. And blogging from Italy in the summer using the phone looks as if it may be very expensive. Perhaps the blog will need some holidays. Any thoughts on all this will be welcome, by comment or email. They really will be welcome!
4. The psychic rattle
Strange that having rattled from new, and some 6 years down the line having developed an exacerbated form of the ‘disease’, our car somehow recognised the presence of an acoustics engineer keen to analyse the problem.
This is not a whinge (I am quite attached to our rattly old car), just an observation; why should it have run as silently as ever in its entire life when Daryl, acoustics engineer, was a passenger?
5. Blog goes on Holiday
All will be quiet for a few days as we are backpacking in the wilds of Scotland (subject to weather) and (see 3 above) still need the right equipment to blog, though I don’t recollect being able to get a phone signal from the area in question.
Back next week…
...Daryl certainly has his remote blogging system well sorted.
3. Now how can I do that (blog remotely without recourse to an internet cafe)? I was thinking of the Blackberry 8120 that I can get on my Orange contract, but Daryl thinks there may be a problem with word and excel documents. Do I really need those? Ho hum. And blogging from Italy in the summer using the phone looks as if it may be very expensive. Perhaps the blog will need some holidays. Any thoughts on all this will be welcome, by comment or email. They really will be welcome!
4. The psychic rattle
Strange that having rattled from new, and some 6 years down the line having developed an exacerbated form of the ‘disease’, our car somehow recognised the presence of an acoustics engineer keen to analyse the problem.
This is not a whinge (I am quite attached to our rattly old car), just an observation; why should it have run as silently as ever in its entire life when Daryl, acoustics engineer, was a passenger?
5. Blog goes on Holiday
All will be quiet for a few days as we are backpacking in the wilds of Scotland (subject to weather) and (see 3 above) still need the right equipment to blog, though I don’t recollect being able to get a phone signal from the area in question.
Back next week…
5 comments:
Hi Martin,
Here's a possibly-effective piece of equipment often available used on eBay for £75 - the Hewlett Packard iPaq hw6515. (Or spend more for a newer version.)
- Quadband phone, runs worldwide; find an unlock code on eBay so you can free it from any exclusive phone service if it's now tied to one;
- Windows Mobile op system is a bit maligned, but comes with Word, Excel, etc at no extra cost;
- Built-in GPS;
- Built-in GPRS for fast internet by phone;
- Built-in camera good enough for blog shots;
- Infrared transfer of files to another device;
- TWO memory cards - maybe maps on one; ever ything else on t'other;
- Numerous utilities like wake-up alarm, calendar, tasks, calendar;
- Compatible with most memory map programs . . .
But readers need to still verify all the above. I write from memory
-. . . battery life can take some help from maybe a 4-AA batrery attachment.
I am using the earlier but similar hw6510 as I write now.
Cheers,
Daryl
Thanks Daryl, I'll look into that.
Hi Martin,
I'm a blogger. I do like blogging but I refrain from it during my walks. Simply because I love being away from the Internet and all gadgets who dominate my daily life. Secondly I might feel pressured typing something daily in order to satisfy my readership. Third blogging would mean you need to search for mobile coverage (which isn't guaranteed by any means in the Alps), increased power consumption resulting in carrying more spare batteries = more weight.
My way of dealing with it is that I keep an old fashioned paper diary and after the trip I post condensed reports about the things I found interesting on my trip.
But again - each to his own. And if you decide you want to blog during your walk the Blackberry (especially their "Curve" series) from my point of view is an excellent choice in terms of usability. If tried Palm Treos, Various HP (=Windows Mobile) handhelds but the Blackberry has really been designed with someone typing a lot in mind.
Thanks Roman, my original reason for 'blogging' the HRP in 2004 was just to keep in touch and tell people where we were, and we kept (and continue to keep) a detailed trip diary. But people have enjoyed some of the daily reports and these do achieve a speedy objective(eg it would have taken me some time to do the old style web page report on last weekend's trip. So really all I need is a phone that can be used to post short updates and the odd photo. And I can get a basic Blackberry as an upgrade to my existing phone contract, so will probably go for that for the time being, given your reassuring comment. As much of a concern is the cost of emailing from mainland Europe, so the GTA trip may need a local sim pay as you go card (subject to 'unlocking' difficulty, or simply texting the UK to a webmaster (one of my children) to do the blog whilst we are away.
BTW - I've belatedly put a link to your blog on mine.
Hi Martin,
thanks for mentioning my blog on your Linklist. If you go for a pay as you go card either choose one from TIM (mobile branch of the fomer state owned telecom company) or Omnitel which is Vodafone in Italy. There are various other mobile companies like e.g. Wind but their coverage in the Alps is lousy.
But before you decide for the Blackberry test it in a shop. I can recommend it but I know that e.g. Judy Armstrong was not to happy with the keyboard.
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