3 November 2006

Exploding car, exploding PC, a BBC film crew and half a car seat lost in the ether between Venice and Stansted Airport. Just an average week in my life.

The car, to start at the beginning, which exploded spectacularly on Friday the 13th is still in pieces. Sanderson Motorhouse, from whom I bought the car, Evans Halshaw, who they asked to fix it and Pendragon warranty company have decided I am entirely responsible for the death of my 11 month old vehicle, and they won't fund the repair.

All three above named companies are the same firm by the way. But I have a plan, a good plan, a passive aggressive plan to drive their Ford Ka courtsey car everywhere in first gear. And I do 60 miles a day on the A38.

No, it won't get me back the £900 cost of repairing the car. Yes, it might make me feel better.

As for the PC. Those of you paying attention will have noticed much, er, attention has been focused on the Herald and thisisplymouth in recent days.

Our Sierra Leone head camera footage has been written about in The Guardian, Press Gazette, dozens of websites across the world inclusing in the US, France and Holland and was this week featured on BBC 6o'clock national news.

Good going eh? But it does mean my poor PC is labouring away hard trying to cope with the leap from bashing out news copy to editing and uploading audio and video. Hence the exploding bit. It's a bit like a donkey tring to pull a 747. Amusing to watch on You've Been Framed. Not so amusing when it comes to trying to work with the thing. (For you animal lovers, no donkeys were harmed in the writing of this simile).

That also explains the film crew.

As for the car seat. We took a car seat over to Venice with us to comply with all the European legislation (which we Brits stick to like glue while the Italians ignore with the same passion they do everything else)(Damn, I must have been reading oo many Trago ads).

Unfortunately only half the car seat arrived in Italy. I don't know how this is possible, but Italian airline staff can shrug with the best of them, so I don't think I'll ever have an answer.

Venice was, as my previous blog began to say, fantastic by the way. We stayed on a Crown Blue Line boat and crusied across the lagoon to the main islands of Venice. we spent three days and nights in total on the big island, the rest of the time we moored in smaller towns and villages up and down the lagoon.

One night we climbed across the narrow strip of land at the lagoon's edge to watch the sun go down on the Adriatic.

Other days we spent in Chioggia, Certosa, Murano, Malamocca and passing through places like Torcello, Portgrande, Casale, Casier and Treviso.

Drinking red wine or coffee in St Mark's square by candlelight, or Italian ice cream in glorious sunshine by the Rialto Bridge are experiences everyone should try. Get in there now before the Government hikes the cost of budget flights.

You can read all about it on Saturday, November 11 in my travel feature in the Herald, fingers crossed.

Well that about brings you up to date on my life online. Much of it has been spent learning the newly required skills of video conversion, editing, compression and uploading.

A good deal more has been spent talking to journalist about why your site is now pioneering technology and generally leading the way in the multimedia revolution.

None of my week has been spent searching online for organic custard or solutions to the onion skin/worm problem.

Yes, I realise I haven't explained any of that to you yet, but I will. I will.