Old dogs, new tricks

A few weeks ago we bought an iPod. Well, actually Pete paid for most of it, and I just put in a little bit, but he has kindly called it Pete and Deb's iPod on the computer.

So now I work to the sounds of Wouter Kellermann, Celtic Insiration, Phantom of the opera and some songs from South Pacific. Mostly because those are the songs on the iPod and I don't know how to add any more or bypass the ones I find distracting (like the songs from Phantom)I don't find the earphones comfortable, but it is quite cool to type away with music resounding in my head. The Wouter Kellermann is especially good, because the sound moves from one earphone to the other - a glissando of tubular bells from one ear to the other. The iPod clps to my clothes and I walk around the house shouting at people with the music blaring away in my head, so I don't realise how loudly I am talking.


Another new trick for this old dog is the Kindle. I would never have bought one, being besotted with books - old books, new books, big books, small books - but having won it, I am delighted with it. I can buy books in my pyjamas - and I do if I want something new to read at 11 o clock at night, or on a cold day when I don't feel like getting dressed and going to the mall. At the moment Pete is reading the last 2 books in the Earth's Children series on my Kindle and I am reading a real book again. I love the feel, but it is easier to read a kindle in bed - the pages stay flat!


And then of course, there is the Garmin. I don't always believe "Miss Garmin" as Sihle calls her, but it is comforting when you are a nervouse driver like me and you know there is "someone" who will help you find your way back home when you have driven thoughtlessly and absent-mindedly off in the wrong direction in a strange town (as I did in Pretoria last time we were there)


So where do the old dogs go to next? A new phone - Sarah says an iPhone for sure but I don't know if i can afford one, and lots of other people say a Blackberry. I will have to think hard and save hard so I make a long term decision.


It's good to know that we can keep up for the moment - and I enjoy my electronic toys. I'm sure life would be fine without them, but I do enjoy working to the strains of Wouter Kellerman's flute in my head.