After making final preparations on Friday, there was not a great deal of time remaining for sleep before I boarded the 6:06AM train from Worcester to London. It was a fresh and bright morning in the west midlands, a pleasant change from the recent humidity and thunder storms. The train was pretty quiet at that time on a Saturday morning, and I made it into London on time.

Even with everything running like clockwork, it was going to be pretty tight to get from Paddington to Gatwick and check in before departure. I had some great assistance on this leg of the journey and hats off to London Underground staff who yet again proved their weight in gold. Same cannot be said for ground staff at Gatwick, it seems they were having a bad hair day. And we wasted 20 minutes hanging around at the wrong gate in spite of my protestations that we should double check the gate number. It had been changed. Nevertheless I boarded on time and we were in the air by quarter to eleven.

The flight from London to Charlotte was pretty uneventful apart from a child who appeared to have some kind of behavioural challenges and insisted on screaming at the top of his lungs every few minutes for most for the flight. So I slept in brief snatches.

Since leaving the UK, During the flight I made first use of Pocket Hal to start my travel expenses spreadsheet using Excel Mobile. More about Pocket Hal as the week goes on. While this is a pretty simple spreadsheet the the only calculations being currency conversions and totting up each day’s expenses etc, this clearly demonstrates a practical and professional application of the product. I did not have to drag out the laptop and wait for it to boot. And using my HTC Universal, a device the size of a calculator, I was able to efficiently and accurately record expense information in a form which will be straight forward for our accounts department to process.

I am now on the ground in Charlotte waiting for my connecting flight to Jacksonville. Look forward to connecting with people from Dolphin US, and catching up with some old ACB friends.

For an international airport Charlotte seems pretty limited, no where to exchange currency, and no WiFi that I have been able to detect. So I have fallen back on GPRS. Buts it is all worth it as the girl who assisted me with the baggage reclaim was lovely!

More later.

Pip pip.

I had a quiet Worcester weekend planned. Just as well Dolphin had other ideas!!!

If you want a free limited edition squishy stress busting Dolphin, and a look at the soon to be released Pocket Hal version 7, then come and find me in the exhibit hall at the 45th convention of the American Councel of the Blind starting this weekend at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville-Riverfront hotel in Florida!

See www.dolphinusa.com for more information about Pocket Hal and Dolphin products. And visit www.acb.org for more info about the ACB convention.

Political apathy and worries about the nation’s public and moral health at home, and increasing anti-American feeling abroad, are among many challenges which the US may want to face sooner rather than later.

It is not fashionable to be heard saying it in many parts, but for what it is worth, I like America and most of the Americans I have met. It is obviously the foreign policy of the Bush administration to which many foreigners and a growing number of frustrated Americans are opposed.

I have been welcome in the US on several occasions, and have made many good friends from the US. However true it may be, it is becoming a cliché to say.

“many of my friends are Americans”.

Seriously though, it is a challenge to think of a country who has in the past 50 years contributed more to the world in the way of international aid, medicine, technology and entertainment. But many seem to be asking does all this come at a price? And is this apparent generosity not without self-interest?

Who was it said, there is no such thing as altruism? Me probably after a few pints!

And many of those lambasting the US are probably happy to unwittingly buy and use a vast range of American designed products and services.

The cultural and knowledge empire of the United States extends far beyond her geographic borders. But like empires of old the end will come some day. Are we starting to see a gradual fall from grace for what was in the minds of many the most influential nation of the past century?

While millions of Americans are celebrating 230 years of independence today,. I cannot help wonder What will America be like on July 4 in the year 2236?

Happy Independence Day!

I have fond memories of visiting Goonhilly for the 1999 solar eclipse. If you are someone who is fascinated by international telecommunications, then this is a must day out. Oh and having a solar eclipse thrown into the mix made it something of a no brainer. I have some text and audio which I recorded at the time and when I have a spare month to sort out all the unpacked boxes from my move, I will post it here.

Re 100Megabyt broadband, well your connection is only as fast as the slowest link between your computer and the remote system. Although my recent upgrade by PlusNet to 5megabits is going down well. Credit where credit is due. 🙂