Tonight I came home to find a mysterious sealed cardboard box sitting
outside the door of my apartment. Feeling lazy, and that this would be a
good opportunity to go meet the neighbours, I went knocking on a couple of
doors to see if anyone knew when it was delivered, and to ask if anyone
could see if the box had any identifying marks. Turned out to be a good
icebreaker and my neighbours seem lovely.
I waited until I got into my flat before ripping the box open to find a
brand spanking new Daisy Player. A full hour later and I am still excited
about it! I do not really care if it does not work. I play Daisy books on
my laptop anyway. It’s just thrilling getting a new toy which feels like
getting a birthday or xmas prezzy!
I know it’s completely ridiculous! For anyone in blindness assistive
technology Daisy is not really new technology. And I have stacks of digital
text and audio books stored in my Thinkpad which is much more flexible in
almost every respect anyway. My job means I can work with Daisy reading and
authoring software for much of the day. But for some reason which I have
yet to fathom, getting a dedicated hardware Daisy player delivered to my
door filled my heart with joy!
I am off now to go stroke it some more. And marvel at how an over-sized
mono CD player, with horrible big rubber buttons, a proprietary power
adaptor and hard-wired battery which the manufacturer discourage you from
changing. How does this monument of clunkiness make me so happy? Seriously
genuinely and honestly It really truly does!
At this rate, I reckon when I get my next Smartphone, I will require a
change of underwear!!! 🙂