Home Again

Yesterday I brought my wife home from the hospital ending what seems to have been the longest loneliest period of my life. My next task is to take us both away for a few days for a bit of pampering in a hotel by the sea. This time I have two new toys to play with. The first is a CamCorder which I haven't had before - I used to use my SLR to record videos. The second is a 3G dongle that should allow me to keep in touch with the world from my hotel room without incurring sky high charges for using the hotel's WiFi connection.

While she was in hospital, my wife used the dongle and her notebook to keep in touch with me in real time using Yahoo Messenger. It made the world of difference to how she felt and to how she was able to keep in touch with the world outside. When you are in hospital for any length of time, you crave for contact with the outside world. These dongles make it possible AND cost less than a mobile phone to run. From the other patients point of view there are no annoying ring tones or someone talking. Typing on a laptop is almost silent so it annoys no one.

I only use a fraction of what one of these dongles can do as they can easily allow you to browse the web, download and watch streamed programs, use iPlayer or spend a fortune on eBay. When I am away from home I can collect my email, check my bank accounts and talk on yahoo with anyone I need to (a friend looks after our animals while we are away and calls to reasure us that all is well).

The learning curve for the CamCorder is going to be a steep one as mine is not sophisticated with anti shake and all sorts of other twiddly bits. I'll let you know how I get on when we come home.