Browned Off

Why can't I bring myself to read Dan Brown's latest offering?

Last week I was heading into Harrow for my college interview and assessment, making a pit stop at Tesco I was confronted by stacks of the publication just begging to be taken home. At less than half the RRP it seemed a good deal and I popped one in the basket.

A week later and my copy is sat on the desk unread. Normally books don't last more than a day or two before I'm finishing off the final page. I've read the other four Dan Brown masterpieces and while I'm under no illusions about it being anything but pulp fiction it's certainly entertaining. The films were woefully bad but all four books were excitingly fast passed and with just enough factual flavouring to make the ridiculous portions of the plot easier to swallow.

Maybe it's other aspects of my life taking precedent over any literary longings? The past week has seen me acquire a shiny new laptop and get started at college, so I've not had as many hours free for reading.

Still I think it's an overall reluctance causing me to leave the tome unopened. After the hype that developed since I read the previous books and the disappointment of the movies it would be all to easy for the latest story to fail to live up to expectations.

The anticipation, pre-order hoopla and record breaking sales just contribute to a sense of unease and fear of being let down. I know I'll get round to reading it, I'm just not in a hurry to do so.

Wi-Fi Woes

After a few days 'breaking in' my laptop at home I thought today was time for a road-test. So I packed the 17" beauty into it's Ferrari red padded sleeve, squeezed it into my bag and headed for the bus. After completing the few errands I had to run (see my other blog) I decided to see how my new baby handled in the wild.

On my trip to Florida earlier this year I'd brought a borrowed laptop with me and made use of the abundant available free Wi-Fi. The only places I encountered that didn't offer it were the beach and the Church my friends wedding was being held in.

It seems Harrow doesn't believe in the same need for public internet access. Neither shopping centre appears to have it and the only premises I could find which advertised their internet connectivity were McDonald's and Starbucks.


Having had issues with this particular branch of McDonald's' sketchy signal before, and unwilling to put up with the noise and ruckus of rampaging teenagers for a free surfing session I passed in favour of Starbucks.

Presuming (rightly) that the BT Openzone in Starbucks was not not something you could just log on to, agree to the terms and get straight onto the web I asked the lovely young lady behind the counter if they gave free Wi-Fi access. Bearing in mind that my public Wi-Fi experience is limited I had presumed I'd receive a voucher/code thingy giving me an hour or so of surfing. The lovely young lady didn't have a clue what I was talking about, neither did either of the two lovely young men also behind the counter.

As I had come to expect from previous encounters with Starbucks over the years, there was no manager on duty, it seems they're only wheeled out for special occasions and wouldn't be found dead working on a weekend.

So I find myself sat in Starbucks, sipping my Grande Mocha (no cream, seasoned with Nutmeg) and a enjoying a tasty Cinnamon Whirl, with laptop before me. Sadly I'm reduced to typing this into OpenOffice for later upload to Blogger instead of seeing how my new portable computing beauty handles when you pop the top down, spin the wheels gun the engine and head on down the information super highway.