Thank you, Jane and Ellen

I’m always open to suggestions for good reading, so when not only one but two members of our Voyager Trivia Team recommended the same book, I just had to go with it.

The fact that they made the same enthusiastic case for this title whilst we were in Mumbai, where the story is set, sent me running, not walking, to open up Amazon on my (plugged in, partially functioning) Kindle to download it.

The Space Between Us just hit the spot with me too, being a fairly easy read with strong characters and a thought-provoking plot.  Sharing an hour or two in the company of our guide to Elephanta Island and back, who was also a Parsi, allowed us to clarify a few details and I found that the further I got into the book, the more momentum I built, racing through the final pages to a satisfying conclusion.  Many thanks Jane and Ellen for a great read.

Now I’m home, I’ve got Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance by my side, ready to begin.  I’m sensing a bit of a trend here.

Above and beyond

I haven’t seen Jane Austen in a while but have become very familiar with Virginia.  Woolf, that is.

Those of you who know me will be familiar with my inability to go anywhere without the full range of anti-boredom gizmos, which now includes my Kindle.  So, imagine the horror of arriving at Heathrow at the start of a four week adventure and finding my Kindle had decided to behave badly.

The symptoms were odd and inconsistent but the principal problem was that after just five or ten minutes, the “Critical Battery Warning” would appear and that was that.  No more reading.

I used my Hero’s Kindle to open up the help files and discovered how to reboot it, plugging it in for the eleven and a half hours to Bangkok (bless you, British Airways, for providing a power source at my feet!)

But still, it wasn’t right and from time to time it would spontaneously shut down or freeze and eventually I gave up and went to sleep.

 

Once on board the ship, I was able to access the Amazon site and seek help which was readily available but not that easy to access, because the advice was always “give us a ring” – and though we had some free telephone time, clearly we didn’t want to use that to listen to Vivaldi for hours on end.

 

Though it was frustrating, I survived the four weeks only using my Kindle whilst plugged into a power source and even then, when it “went to sleep”, it would reboot or freeze on the picture of Virginia Woolf.

Always Virginia.

Fortunately the ship had an excellent library and because so many people now use ereaders, there were plenty of books available.  So I wasn’t lost for something to read.

But I missed my lovely Kindle and couldn’t wait to get it back.

As soon as I arrived home I went online and opened the Amazon Kindle Support website.  Here’s what happened then:

Wednesday 5.00pm – I complete my contact details and offer a brief resume of what’s happened to my Kindle.  I click “call me” and as I do, the phone rings.  My hero gasps in amazement!

Wednesday 5.01pm – I speak to David, who clarifies the problem and immediately responds with the offer of a replacement.  He will email me with a confirmation but in the meantime explains that a new Kindle will be sent to me “by express delivery” and that it will be with me within 24 hours.  I’ll need to return my broken Kindle within 30 days and should arrange collection from home at my convenience with DHL on their website.

Wednesday 5.10pm – The email arrives with printable pre-paid return labels, details of how to contact DHL and reassurance that none of my books will be lost.  A second, confirmation email arrives within minutes.

Thursday 10.30am – A courier arrives with a package – my new Kindle, registered as “Gill’s 2nd Kindle”.  I load the DHL website and arrange to have the broken one collected on Friday morning and use the packaging from the replacement to pack up the original.

Thursday 11am – I receive an email containing details of how to transfer all my books to my second Kindle and within minutes have everything back, less than 24 hours from having reported a problem. I am one happy bunny.

Jane, you never looked so good.

The DHL courier arrived on Friday morning as requested and collected the broken one leaving a receipt with me.  I didn’t even need to go to the Post Office.

Amazon’s Customer Service has never let me down but on this occasion, I felt that they went above and beyond their obligations to resolve the problem and for that I think they deserve recognition.   I don’t normally play cheerleader but on this occasion, I’m there with a hearty “Bravo and Thank You!!

Returning to the map thing

I decided that, rather than scour the internet for printable maps of the areas I want to include in my holiday journal, which seemed to lead to all kinds of inadvisable and extremely dubious sites, I’d just go and buy a cheap atlas to cut up.

But do you think I can bring myself to cut it up?

So, whilst scanning and printing out the maps in question (which undoubtedly is going to cost me more in printing inks than the atlas itself), I came across this curious juxtaposition of pages.

I know, Cyprus looks so comfortable there in the Bay of Bengal, doesn’t it?

This could give a child a seriously distorted view of the world, don’t you think?

Couldn’t put it down

My Kindle, that is.

I’ve just finished my first full length novel delivered direct to it and I must say, I loved it!  I’d browsed my recommendations and having read a review of the title in a weekend paper, I’d earmarked it as my kind of thing already.  So, I hit ”buy” and within seconds it was there, ready to read.

Those recommendations were correct because from the moment I began the story of “twenty years, two people” I knew that I was going to love it.  The device of beginning each chapter on July 15th, moving forward one year at a time meant that the tale moved fast and didn’t dwell on the minutiae but rather swept along and allowed me, the reader to fill in the gaps. 

The Kindle remembered exactly where I’d left off each time and a slide of the button took me to the spot where I could start again.  Five minutes sitting on the bus was enough to enjoy another few pages, because the Kindle is small enough to fit in my bag. 

The problem?

Well, unlike a conventional book, the cover isn’t always apparent and for some reason, I simply could not remember what book it was that I was enjoying so much.  Even now, having savoured those last pages and sat back with a sigh, I can’t immediately recall the name and author!

All the imagined niggles came to nought – there’s a clear indicator of progress, it’s easy to see how far into the book I’d read and the battery life is incredible.  No worries there.  However, if I am to recommend you read the story of Em and Dex, Dex and Em, then clearly, you need to know where to look. 

Start here.

But be prepared with a hanky…

What fun, too, that David Nicholls has shared Emma’s playlist on Spotify!

Update on Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 10:46PM by Gill Thomas

Thanks to Janice, I found this.  One to watch out for (now I know the title....)

Expanding the repertoire

For a couple of weeks, our preferred late night viewing, thanks to Sky+, has been Jamie’s 30 minute Meals.  I’m not sure how we missed the start of this series and all the related media hype, but miss it we did and we came late to the party. 

Out to lunch with a good friend last week, though, she mentioned that she’d enjoyed making – and eating – one of the recipes in the book, which reminded me that at the end of every programme, my hero and I both comment that the dishes on the table look yummy and we must give it a try.  So, I ordered the book from Amazon and with the perfect opportunity yesterday to gather ingredients for one single meal, we took Jamie shopping with us.

But a pound of mince for a Sunday lunch?  This had better be good…

Whilst sitting in the cafe at the supermarket, we’d selected the recipe for Superfast Beef Hash, with Jacket Potatoes, Goddess Salad and Lovely Butter Beans and Bacon.  But no pudding!  A request was made for the Sticky Prune Sponge Puddings and there we are.  An easy shop later and we were set to go.

We followed the instructions without problem and the end result was incredibly tasty and “different” from our normal, run of the mill lunch.  Who’d have thought that a pound of mince, cooked with onion carrot, celery and Worcestershire sauce could be so tasty? The butterbean dish was delicious and something we’ll definitely do again – though I think we’ll add the whole shebang to our repertoire with some minor changes.

As you’d expect, though, cooking a whole meal in 30 minutes – or at least, attempting to – is a fairly steep learning curve and like many others who’ve tried, we learned one or two things along the way.

First lesson, these menus are carefully put together and mixing a pud from one with the main from another isn’t really  as easy as you might think.  There’s a microwave oven conflict and the food processor needs to be washed up mid-prep.  Secondly, it’s vital to read and think through the recipe before starting rather than following it through on the fly.  Vital steps are easily missed which leads to added stress and anxiety.  Third, to make it all work, the instructions really need to be followed to the letter.  No matter that we have our own way of doing something – for this occasion, it was key to do as Jamie said.  Finally, even if all goes according to plan, a 30 minute meal definitely leads to an hours clearing and washing up.  Sadly no stylists or assistants here to deal with the fallout, just my hero, who stands at the kitchen sink as I type.

But unlike many of the other reviewers of the book and the menus inside, I feel very positive about the experience and enthused to try another meal – though perhaps not with the same expectations as far as the timings go.

The 2004 Tim Adams Shiraz helped, of course ;-)