To kindle or not to kindle

Several people I know have been talking about their new kindles lately. It looks like it was a very popular present over the Christmas period…

It is my birthday soon and I was thinking of presents that I would like to have. The kindle came to mind and I have been pondering about it.

I am concious about the prons and cons, and I agree that the prons greatly make up for the cons. However, after really thinking seriously about it, I have decided that the kindle is not for me.

Why?

Well, the main reason is that I think that it’s a gadget for gadget’s sake, if you know what I mean.

Secondly, I don’t commute by public transport, so I don’t have the chance to take advantage of that “wasted time” by reading.

At the same time, because I don’t have that much of spare time due to the huge amount of commuting, I don’t read as much as I would like. I read about a 300page book once a month. It’s not a lot, I know.

And last, but not least, one important reason why I don’t think kindles are for me is because I feel quite connected to my books. I am not an avid reader, but the books I do read, I love. I like to touch them, open them, smell them. I write on them or underline sentences that catch my eye… I put them on my bookshelves and I like to just look at them.

One day, when I’m rich, I will have my own little library in my house, and then I won’t regret having gone digital.

Spitting distance

I haven’t been in much of a mood for updating the blog lately. I suppose I have been half lazy / half busy. With Jon’s new job, I kind of promised myself to be a bit more “housewifey”, ie, prepare lunch in the mornings, have dinner ready in the evenings, keep up with the washing up and ironing, etc. A very good idea only if I already didn’t have to work full time and commute for 2 hours every day. So, the result is that, although I am trying and kind of succeeding, I am also a bit tired in the evenings to do anything that requires from me anything more than sitting in front of the telly or lying down in bed…

Well, after this rumble, I just want to talk about something nice and pretty. I don’t want to write about anything that has to be thought about first. No clever discussions in here today, sir.

And what is that something nice and pretty? Well, something that is just a stone’s throw away from our house: The lovely countryside in Basingstoke’s outskirts.

I live just there, where the star is in this picture below. And as you can see, to the left of the picture everything is green. Fields and fields for miles and miles, with tiny lovely traditional villages on the way…

We went for a walk just a couple of weeks back (when the weather was lovely for it) and both Jon and I were humbled at the beauty that lives just at our doorstep. We have woods to the north of our estate and fields to both east and west (and kind of south too, but you’d have to skip the town first).

And we are going to enjoy all this beauty that seems to be there just for us. Definitely. Spring, here we come.

Lovely picture that I took the other day

Okay, this is cheating, because I took this photo in the spring of last year, but you can get an idea..

Build your vocabulary (Part III)

Well, first of all, Happy New Year to all my readers! It was a very short break (or at least it felt short to me) and now I am finally back to normality.

The word that I want to talk about today as part of the “Build your vocabulary” series is not actually a word, but an acronym. It’s EMEAS. It’s a slight variation on the better known EMEA. But since most of you won’t know what it means, I’ll explain.

I already told you all that there were going to be some new changes in the new year regarding work. It is now official, and I can now say that my little, family-owned, company has been bought up by a big multinational French company. They have plans for us, and part of this big plan is that we look after the EMEAS.

During the presentation that I attended, it took me a little while to realise what EMEAS meant, and I finally deduced it out of context. EMEAS little brother, EMEA, is better known around the business world and it means: Europe, Middle East and Africa. The one that we will be looking after has got an S at the end, standing for South America.

I have spoken to my boss and have asked him how my role is supposed to change with the new set up within the new company, and apparently I am going to be more customer-focused, visiting more people and doing more presentations. Well, my heart is undecided about this piece of news. I HATE talking in public. When I talk, my heart pounds in my chest so loudly that sometimes I think people are going to notice. I get all fidgety. I sweat.

On the other hand, I fancy some travelling around the world. I haven’t been to many places and I always fancy seeing new countries and meeting new people. I am aware, however, that travelling for work purposes is not the same than travelling for pleasure. But I can make some concessions, that’s okay.

But I can only wait and see what future has in store for me…