Seriously...

How thick would you have to be...?

What am I bid...?

A different slant on rip-off mobile phone charges. I was very pleased to see that my old mobile phone sold on eBay. And was somewhat surprised to see what it sold for...



Of course, as it was a bog-standard mobile phone, and not one of those Vertu diamond-encrusted ones which someone tried to nick on the motorway this week, the reason it sold for so much was that someone had been a bid ham-fisted with the keyboard when making a bid and then been, quite frankly, a bit scared that both eBay and I would hold him to it...

Hi i,m a freind of *** he is efin stupid portugse he is very sorry but he f*cked up I am english and just come back from the beech can we sort this out please yours in hope ALAN P.s. my e.mail is ************@hotmail.com

Anyway, I didn't - partly because I'm kind and partly because there was no
chance of me getting that much money out of him. But for a while, it did entertain other bidders...

is there a mistake on this phone over 1000 pound email me please im in stiches

...but only ones who can't punctuate or spell. Does that count as positive feedback?

A minor explosion...

Well, I suppose it had been a long time coming, and all the tell-tale signs were there, but my computer blew up on Friday evening.

There was a bit of a high pitched schreeching sound and a smell like someone had pulled forty Christmas Crackers at once.

Then a bang and a flash and all was dark.

So, I ventured inside the computer, which was more colourful and a lot more dusty than I thought it would be and sought advice from Jon, who is a person I talk to when I have computer problems, and he assured me that it was the power pack.

As I bought the computer ages ago and it had a mere (as it turned out) 300W power supply, apparently I shouldn't have added 8 more USB ports, a DVD rewriter, a memory card reader, a second hard drive, a new sound card and bluetooth and expected it to cope...

So out came the old power pack and, thanks to speedy service Novatech, who allow you to reserve an item on their website and pick it up the following morning, even on a bank holiday weekend...


(Yes, I know there are a lot of wires. But sensible people mark where all the wires plug into before unplugging them to make life easier. Like I say, sensible people do that...)

...and in went the new one. A mammoth (possibly) 550W of power which would probably run the computer and the central heating without the risk of setting fire to the house.



And so, eventually, all the plugs were back where they were supposed to go and it works. It's even quieter than before and doesn't go blue screen quite so often. Even the wireless keyboard seems to work, and nooooooot doooooooo thiiiiiissss like it was before.

And if you think it's mending my computer which makes me a geek, wasn't Doctor Who sad last night?? :-(

Where has New Zealand gone?

I've finished posting to the New Zealand blog now I'm back, but you can still see it here, or by clicking the link on the right. I posted a few things when I got home, so you might need to catch up!