Home, Home On The Range… where the Lilac-Breasted Rollers play

Lilac-Breasted Roller, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

For once, Dear Reader, I’m actually lost for words… not because of lack of things to say, in fact I must have nearly filled my phone and tablet having written so much whilst away (if you need any “to the minute” timings for our trip then I’m your man) but after such a hectic agenda whilst away, including our diversion to Malta, a four day trip to the Masai Mara, a day trip to Tsavo East’s Ngutuni Reserve and what seems like very little sleep my brain (what’s left of it) has can just about cope with stringing a few words together, whilst enjoying a beer but not enjoying the Portugal vs Spain football match (who says men can’t multi-task!).

I’ll be boring you all senseless about my week away in Africa when I’m more compos mentis, (which isn’t say much) – for the moment, let’s just say that I had an absolutely fantastic time – I took a few photos, which you’ll get to see and we’re already thinking about next years trip!

I’ve mentioned previously how I use Google Docs on my mobile phone, android tablet and the various PCs I own for all my documentation. Whilst there is an offline function within the application, it’s really a true cloud based application which means to access it you need an Internet connected device of some sort. This can be costly when at home, so you can imagine how expensive it could prove to be when in a foreign country – as such mobile data roaming on my phone was switched off for the whole journey. Installed on my two android devices, the phone and tablet, is an app called Catch which I’ve used before though I’ve never really explored its full functionality, something I was able to do whilst away. I now have a favourite new writing app! As well as the usual text notes, you can record voice memos (or just sounds in general, or take photos but what really got me excited was the ability to combine all three functions in one note. I know you can add graphics and sound in programs such as Word, but using my mobile phone I was able to write about something then add a photograph using the phone’s camera which was then added into the note. Similarly I added a couple of sound recordings as well, just as simply. To me this is the perfect reporting tool, and one I will be using a lot more and hopefully when I get a better phone soon, with a better integrated camera I’ll be able to produce all I need for any articles National Geographic might want me to write when they discover who I am!!!

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