Tonight, after two hours spent carefully designing an ad, my laptop suddenly turned itself off - result: all work lost as I was just about to save it but hadn't. As the laptop works with battery power, I'm busy saving files to a disc just in case. It's not the fuse, so I can only presume the charger overheated or somesuch. Not sure if temporary or permanent.Anyway, if e-mails don't get answered etc, this will be why. Normal service will be resumed, probably just after the nick of time if this is anything to go by...

So. The new passport arrived. It took a week and £72, so not too bad, I guess. This time the accompanying photograph means I don't look like a softly-spoken, writer-not-a-fighter, but more like a ninja-trained, internationally-wanted spy with amnesia problems international man of paperwork with a wry sense of humour. Which is nice.I've been reading about proposed changes to the ID systems in the UK and US and I have to admit that getting a new passport now was as much about non-conforming to the...

My social life has been sadly lacking recently - largely due to the workload between HLWW, Impact, Verbatim and the fact that as I get slightly older I seem to have less but infinitely better friends but who don't live on my doorstep (which would admittedly not be comfortable for them).However this week was a Mozapalooza. On Friday met up with a friend in Leeds who was travelling through the area for a job interview. I promised drinks and merriment (a reckless promise this being Leeds) and managed to just about deliver. The rain held off, the food was tasty (Iguana, by the Corn Exchange gets the...

America and Britian may be two countries separated by a common language, but I never really realised how much until the recent trip to the States and a chat with Mark Ryan (of Transformers/Robin of Sherwood fame.) I was telling someone today about how difficult it was for both Mark and myself (both proud Yorkshiremen) to describe a Yorkshire Pudding to the colonials in a way that made any sense and conveyed it's regional and global superiority as edible delight.Oh, sure. It's not too difficult to...

The last week's been a busy one and not just coping with the sunburn. I've gone from hugely appealing to hugely a'peeling... but maybe TMI. On the professional side we've been gearing up for October's HLWW8 event in Canada and readying the announcements of Peter Wingfield, Gillian Horvath, Donna Lettow etc to the already impressive line-up (see the event website via http://www.highlanderworldwide.com/ ). I've started work on the brochure and the proposed cover looks good - see above. Now I just...

There's no such things as 'average' weekends.Late Thursday night the boiler at the house went into overdrive for no apparent reason and we noticed that it was getting very hot very quickly just before midnight. Thankfully we managed to shut it down and a repairman gave it a safety-check so that it was possible to use it again. Part of me is tempted to think this was a last metaphysical joke on Roy's behalf.On Friday it was my grandfather's funeral and it was good that we didn't get the requisite...