Around the world in 367 days

I'm alive, I'm alive!!! (to a background of insane laughter...)

The rumours of my demise are greatly exaggerated!! After 5 minutes of surgery I had a double battery transplant and a general clean up, followed by a short stint in ICU and am now fit and well and ready to defend my Gadget of the Year title. I'm not ready to be replaced by the iPhone just yet!!!

I'm not sure they screwed all the bolts in the side of my screen in quite tight enough though as I've become a little skittish - prone to singing to myself every time I take a picture amongst other oddities!!

Mobi

Posted by Alexander at 12:00 | Permalink | Comments

After numerous mob threats to 'swim wiv de fishies' over the years someone finally put their plan into practice. In the early hours of the morning I was bundled into the back of a truck, then loaded onto a boat, driven into the middle of the sea off the island of Koh Tao, had lead strapped to my body and then unceremoniously thrown into the sea to await my fate.

Lady luck it appears, had yet to show her hand and what a hand it was. My tormentors in their haste had not noticed the scuba tank strapped to my back. Having foiled their plan I thought I'd have a bit of a butcher's around while I was down there. I've done my fair bit recently to eat as many fish as I can and they taste great but they're pretty little buggers too!! Green ones, yellow, silver, stripy ones, spotty, thin, fat, one's with nobs on, other's with whiskers; you name it, it's down there! Highlights were the Morray eel's, Clown fish, Reef Tip Shark (though I didn't realize I'd seen it until two days later...), Blue Spotted Stingray, Barracuda (taste the best too) and just the reef itself, teeming with life and school's of fish. I also made some new friends down there in Raema, Laura, John and Claude.

Needless to say my tormentors were shocked when I returned to the surface!! Three more times they proceeded to throw me from the boat, fortune again favoring me as they had erroneously changed my scuba tank. Each time I resurfaced (hence the ability to email) so in the end they gave up and just awarded me my PADI Open Water Diver certificate instead!

Posted by Alexander at 12:00 | Permalink | Comments

It is with great sadness that I announce that Mobi, a dear friend of mine, passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of Sunday morning. I met Mobi in late 2004 in Greenwich and we soon became great and inseparable friends. We struck a chord together instantly as we both had interests in photography and music and would often speak many times each day.

Born in early 2004 in China to a Japanese father and a Swedish mother, he was christened Sony Ericcson W800i, and was very cosmopolitan and his looks meant he got attention wherever he went. Plaudits rained down on him and in 2007 he won the prestigious award of Gadget of the Financial Year on this very site. He had possibly been inline for an unprecedented back to back victory but, like Nobel prizes, this site does not make awards posthumously. Posthumourlessly perhaps!

At this point I have to admit my role in my friend's demise. Celebrations late on Saturday night led to an ill advised sprint race into the sea. My ever faithful companion stayed by my side as I raced to victory. Observers say that he lit up as I entered the water. Whether to light my way in battle or as a dying scream for help we will never know. He emerged from the water gasping for air and at first seemed fine and remained responsive. However, that evening he went to sleep and never regained consciousness.

Mobi, I will miss you and will never forget you!!! Or at least not until I get to the nearest Apple store and snap me up an iPhone - woo hoo!!!

Posted by Alexander at 06:06 | Permalink | Comments