The Broadband has landed

I guess that it doesn't really matter at all to you guys what kind of connection I am using to write this thing but it matters a whole bunch to me. Mainly because I spend less time swearing at the computer when the connection is faster and have more time to devote to my increasingly worrying addiction to daytime TV. After a lot of cursing and wrestling with cables yesterday, we got the broadband connected at my sister's house. Which is just in time for me to get really used to a fast connection before heading off into the realm of internet cafes.

When I first went travelling internet cafes were a pretty new thing. It might even take a moment or two to find one even in a backpacker area and when you did locate one of these places hotmail was usually down. Again. Or if it was working, after a five minute wait to get into the inbox, I would find that I didn't even have any emails. But given that there is usually a minimum charge, would have to try and think of other things to look at. The internet was an emptier place back then.

When in Sydney, I would also regularly receive emails saying 'Thanks for the mail, Helen, but couldn't make out a word of it' due to my habit of sneaking out of the nightclub in the wee small hours to post home before bursting back onto the dancefloor. And several of the bars actually had PCs in them, with reduced keyboards which were really tricky to use, covered in some sort of keyboard condom to delay the corrosive effects of the alcohol and I always had to type one handed since the other hand was involved in that most important of tasks, holding the beer.

Things have got better since then. I can touch type now and fast which should save me money in internet cafes in the future. It was something that I had been meaning to do for a while but finally had to learn through necessity when I got a data entry temping a few years ago. There was a sticker on the side of the computer saying something about being careful when moving the computer during the office change. It was dated 1983. The keys were worn down shiny and clean after years of hapless temps dribbling over them. Time to learn to touch type, methinks.

It is Saturday and the week was pretty quiet so I have nothing to report really. Check out these stereotypical backpackers and see if they fit with your experience

Don't worry, there is a British one there too.

I have spent some time on the Hostel World site too, planning some accommodation on the way. I had found a great place to stay in Singapore before realising that I would only be there for fourteen hours before taking off again. I have booked my first three nights accommodation in Ho Chi Minh though. I am sure that I have paid well over the odds but at least I know where I am staying. Plus the hotel will pick me up from the airport for a small fee. Bonus. Peace Hotel, here I come. I have treated myself to a double room en-suite after a month of sleeping on my generous sister's sofa. And won't even have a cat to leap on me in the middle of the night. Nice work.

Here is a picture of a pie shop in Greenwich. I have gone a bit mental on pies, sausage rolls and various other dubious bits of meat covered in pastry. This place even does jellied eels. And we think that the Koreans eat funny.

And here is the view over the edge of England and into Wales. Just a short bridge away