More Tales from the South – part III Day 5 and 6 in Mauritius

Hello again!

How are you all keeping?

This is my third installment of my travel blog in Mauritius. It’s been a very pleasant stay so far, as you have probably read, and I have done quite a lot of different activities. So much for a relaxing break in paradise!

Wednesday April 22 2009 – the calm before the storm

This was perhaps the most tranquil day so far in on this vacation. I had to go back to Port Louis in the morning with a friend. The drive from Curepipe is quite pleasant when the traffic permits. The driving can otherwise be really harzardous with drivers tailgaiting right behind and cutting up, changing lanes rather sporadically – well this sounds just like a normal run, for those in UK, on the M25 London orbital motorway!

It’s pleasing to see such variety of vehicles on the road from Toyota, Nissan, Honda, BMW, Mercedes. Most cars are relatively new and in good shape. Others on the other hand, well the less said the better!! But it’s great to see that the country has developed well over the past few decades and that people are discovering a new wealth in vehicles.

As usual Port Louis was its roasting self. I really do advise travellers to carry a bottle of water and an umbrella to help you with the heat. The season is meant to be entering the winter period but so far I have seen very little sign of that as the mercury hits 34C+!!

On the way back from Port Louis we stopped at the Jumbo shopping centre in Phoenix for a bite to eat. I got myself a ‘Pate au poulet’ (a chicken pasty) and an ice coffee (which I must admit was very tasty and could possible kick the butt out of a Starbucks frapp!!). I really must nab a recipe off YouTube or something to use back in the UK for our ’summer months’.

We were back in Curepipe for the early afternoon and this gave a chance to visit my uncle’s tailoring shop ‘Nova‘ in Curepipe centre. It’s a family owned business established in the late 1960’s by my late great-uncle and is now run his son. The shop specialises in made-to-measure suits and other clothing for men, women and children as well as alterations and repairs. I’ve actually commissioned him to make me a couple of suits for work in London. It was great to see him and his two employees busy at the sewing machines, cutting fabric, measuring up clients for their first and second stage fittings.

My Dad happened to be in town visiting an old school friend from the black and white television days and he took me around town for a walk visiting some of the churches, the town hall and the bustling market area all whilst stopping off and trying some ‘dholl puree’ and small cooked pastry foods.

I decided to stop off at the ‘coiffeur’ (hairdresser) for a quick haircut (and by quick I mean QUICK!). The barber sat me down in the chair, made me a coffee as told him how I wanted my hair cut and set out to work with the clippers and scissors. I swear in five minutes I was out of there!! He was so quick just constantly cutting and checking with a comb that all was ok (in fact all was very good!). I was a little scared he’d miss time the scissors and end up stabbing me in the head. I walked out unscathed and for 120 Rupees to me this was a pretty good price (about £2.30) considering the average price in the UK is around £12 or so!!

Dad had a bright idea of walking up to the house (up as in up the hill towards Trou aux Cerfs an extinct (some would argue dormant…) volcano on the plateau where Curepipe is formed). I was wearing beach sandals as you do when on holiday and he wanted to walk!! Ok so we set off going through various side streets where he and his friends used to kick a football (and I guess getting chased by the police – that comment earned me a flick across the ear…! ) Just as we were making progress the rain clouds unloaded a torrent of water across the town. I only had a t-shirt and shorts on and stood no chance against a tropical downpour (oh when it rains it pours. England has seen nothing!). So back we went to the house looking like a pair of drowned rats. Luckily tea was awaiting us and so too were dinner guests, another uncle from London whom I had not seen for a while was vacationing and heading back to England shortly.

That evening was the Manchester United Vs Portsmouth game. Of course cousin, Eshan, had to watch it. I got bored of it after the first half and called it a night there.

Thursday April 23 2009 – Hit the Road Jack…

Today was going to be about travelling again. Another uncle was willing to sacrifice his day and play chaffeur. He didn’t mind as he’s a retired teacher and wants to get out and about a bit.

This was going to be quite a long road trip. From Curepipe we drove towards the University of Mauritius and headed in the direction of Rose Hill and towards ‘La Nicoliere’ mountain and resevoir. We passed by various villages and the mountain regions stopping occasionally for photographs of the landscape. At the resevoir we stopped and had a bite to eat more pate and cakes!

We watched local people fishing in the resevoir using their make shift fishing rods of bamboo sticks and string. I’m not too sure if they caught anything on this occasion but I guess one must be very patient whilst fishing, it’s something I probably wouldn’t be able to do, but I will give it try at some point! I’m always fascinated as to how people can make the most simplest of gadgets using raw materials and be quite successful. You’d probably be looked upon as crazy in the UK for such improvisation. Full credit to them!

Our next stop would be at Belle Mare beach going via Centre de Flacq another bustling market town towards the east of the island. The town was very busy with lots of traffic and pedestrians, school children coming home and villagers in town. We had to stop and ask directions for the way to Belle Mare as the main road we were meant to take was closed off whilst contruction on a bridge took place. In true Mauritian fashion there was no indication of a diversion or that the road was closed – it was just assumed that we already knew! Nonetheless back on track the diversion took as down a narrow strip of road perhaps past some private land owned by the government and then driving through the middle of sugar cane plantations. We stopped briefly to nab a cane and drink the juice inside. Pick it correctly and bite the juice out for something rather refreshing (and a liquid sugar rush!).

The road was endless and went on for miles and miles but eventually we came to a clearing and the first road signs that pointed in the direction of the beach and voila we were there. The beautiful blue seas, the white sands, the boats anchored and of course the local fisherman with their makeshift rods. This time I chose not to swim, mostly because I didn’t have my swimming shorts or a towel on me.

My Uncle drove me past some luxury resorts that included the Coco Beach hotel and the Hotel Saint Geran. Both fairly exclusive with their private villas, private beaches and golf courses. All that doesn’t actually appeal to me at all.

As we turned the car around a group of taxi drivers began pointing at the car and shouting in the local ‘creole’. We stopped and got out and saw that we had a puncture. Nice!! Fortunately we a spare in the boot and the necessary tools to change. Now this was what I call fun! I was rather proud of our efforts to make the change but very shocked to notice that the punctured tyre, and indeed the others, we bald in what would otherwise be considered extraordinarily illegal in the UK!

Because the detour at Flacq and the changing of the tyre I wanted to go to the Pamplemousse Gardens (Grapefruit gardens) to visit the giant waterlillies but as it was 4pm and we were driving via Port Louis we decided to race back to Curepipe to beat the ‘rush hour’. I guess I will go there another time and post about it here.

We had been invited to the sister of another uncle (who lives in Paris) to eat. I went with Mum, Dad and Eshan. The dinner was a lovely rice, fried beef with onions, bouillon (soup with a green stakly vegetable that I do not know!), crushed prawn puree and freshly squeezed grenadine from the garden. Delicious cuisine as ever! (I wish I had this much variety in the UK!).

I got to watch what was perhaps my first Bollywood film – Jannat – which broadly translates to ‘heaven’. It was subtitled in (rather dodgy) English. I actually enjoyed it and the morailty of the story. I think I will have to try and get more Bollywood films into me upon my return to England.

So it has been a pleasant couple of days and it certainly is a pleasure sharing these moments with you. I know some of you have contacted me expressing jealousy about my time in paradise to which I wont apologise but will keep posting on here to rub more salt into it!

Do follow me on Twitter if you would like to see my whereabouts. Feel free to comment and share with me any places I should go to during my stay on the ‘Star and key of the Indian ocean’ – Stella Clavisque Maris Indici.

Until next time my friends!

Ahmed

Tales from the South – part II – Day 3 & 4 Mauritius

Hello Friends,

I hope you have enjoyed reading my first post on my vacation in Mauritius. I have certainly been enjoying myself over the last few days meeting friends, family and visiting some lovely places. I know some of you have been asking me to add photos on here and I will in due course. My main issue is processing the photos from RAW and cataloguing all of them properly and sorting out the metadata and then uploading them onto my Flickr stream on a 504kbps connection!

That’s all work in progress. I hope to get them up ASAP; failing this I will post them as soon as I am back in the UK and onto a much faster net connection. For now I’ll leave you continue reading my post covering the past few days.

Monday April 20th 2009 – It’s just another manic Monday!!

Yes, I got paid today. Feels nice to have some money in the pocket whilst being abroad. I just have to go easy on not blasting it all at once. It’s very tempting to do so here whilst walking around the little boutiques in Curepipe and Phoenix.

So I started the day with the ritual cockerel doing his usual wake up call at the first spot of light! I headed into Port Louis, the capital city, with Mum & Dad and a family friend. The weather was so hot and the humidity quite unbearable. I guess you could fry an egg on the tarmac of the road. For such a small nation I’m very suprised at how much the weather can change from Curepipe to Port Louis (about 25 miles away), then again here we are at sea level as opposed to being 800m up and touching the clouds.

We walked around the Caudan area by the port which is a newly developped area of restaurants, bars and clubs for the younger generation and is quite animative at night. We also took a walk around the centre moving from the Chinese district to the Arab district all intertwined with corporate skyscrapers of financial institutions and colonial buildings of the British Empire. I am very much amazed at how culturally diverse this nation is yet managing to cope harmoniously side by side. It seems that every religious festival is celebrated in equality.

We later moved onto Phoenix and the new “Les Halles” shopping complex which lies on a motorway leading north/south via Port Louis. It is also placed in front of the Phoenix Beer brewery where my uncle works (but has yet invited me for production line ‘quality control tastings’. Anyway it was time for me let rip on the credit card. The shopping mall was newly opened back in Dec 08/Jan 09 and had some units still up for let. Some major French retailers were present (Andre shoe shop, Go Sport, Celio menswear) and it seemed to cover every major category of stores from sports, formal wear, electronics, etc. I managed to grab some beach wear of t-shirts and shorts from the Billabong store – here’s hoping the UK weather will be better upon my return to Blighty!

Back to Curepipe after and I was quite glad to have escaped all that heat and humidity of Port Louis. I estimate it was well over 30 degrees C in the shade and 34 in the sun. In Curepipe it was a more balmy 27 with clouds and the odd clap of rain which is pretty normal for tropical weather.

The evening was spent sitting around with my Mum, Dad, grand ma, cousin, aunty and uncle. We also endured a couple of games of ‘Carom’ which is similar to table pool or billiards using draughts pieces and using your finger as a type of ‘cue’.

My aunt and cousin seemed to play like pros and kindly partnered against each other with Mum and I. It was a lot more difficult than it appears, very tactical and strategical too using the white draught piece to pocket either your beige or black piece into the pocket. After a lot of miss-hitting I started to get a few pieces into the pockets, albeit for my adversaries!! Nevertheless, it was fun and not being one to accept defeat gallantly, I vowed to practice for an eventual replay!

Tuesday 21 April 2009 – The Englishman who went up a hill but came down a mountain

Today was  a road trip down to the south western fringe tip and along the south coast to the east then back up to Curepipe.

The weather started off very warm in Curepipe as it always does. One of my other uncles decided to come along and be tour guide for me, Mum & Dad. I would’ve thought Dad would’ve taken pride in this role but I guess from being away from ‘home’ for nearly 40 years there would have been a lot of changes to his homeland!

Our first stop of the day was Alexandra Falls. A waterfall towards Le Morne in the south west. Unfortunately the viewing area of the falls was obscured by the shrubbery so we hardly got to see the ‘real’ fall but we did get to hear very clearly the sound of falling water which is quite a peaceful sound. I could’ve stayed there all day listening to the harmony of falling water. The views from where we were on a mountain over looking the south coast were quite breathtaking (I promise I will add links to the relevant Flickr Stream shots as soon as I’ve uploaded the photos!).

Our next stop was to descend the mountain from where we were towards Le Morne and it’s rock which is where an apparent community of African slaves had set up a community on the precepice to avoid persecution of the ruling colonisers. In 1835 a party of police was sent from Port Louis to Le Morne to bring news to the community that slavery had been abolished. Upon seeing the police some of the emmancipated slaves, fearing further persecution, leapt to their death.

Our descent took us through various twists and turns as well as ear popping episodes. We stopped the car so that I could grab some shots (to share with you guys…eventually!) passing by lucious fields of arrable farmland, past the famous ‘Seven Coloured Earth’ of Chamarel and the ‘Rhumerie de Chamarel’ (Rum Factory of Chamarel).

I could feel the change in climate as we made our way down from tropical rain coupled with humidity through to scorching sun as we made it to the bottom and towards the Indian Ocean.

Having made to the coast at Le Morne and feeling that sweltering heat I had the urge to jump out the car, take off my tee-shirt and ran (Baywatch style minus red shorts and bouy) to the sea! Splash and that water was so warm (and bloody salty!). The sand below me soft and I could feel myself sinking. Heck with it, let’s swim! Eventually I had to get out and lay in that sun – and go even more golden brown!

After a quick rinse under a nearby tap we drove around the Le Morne ‘rock’ and headed south and eastwards passing by various villages off the beaten track. This was the real Mauritius I had come to see. Real village life by the coast, people in their houses, walking to school, fisherman with bamboo sticks for fishing rods. You get this everyday in the UK. I did get to a point when all that swimming and heat would catch up and I confess I dosed off at this point as we headed back to Curepipe to eat dinner and watch a very entertaining Liverpool-Arsenal game!

My cousin being a hardcore Man U fan, my Uncle a Liverpool fan and Dad and I both Gooners (well he is much more than I am – I’m more Nottingham Forest!) set the scene for quite an ambient night. Lots of cheering and shouting around!! Wow what a game!!

I hope you all stay tuned for more updates in the coming days. I have been taking photos and will link back here eventually once they are posted onto my Flickr Stream.

Keep up with me on Twitter (I Tweet very often on here) and FriendFeed

Leave your comments and if you know Mauritius and recommend places to go over the next week and bit I’d be most grateful for anything you have to share.

Take care friends.

Yours in the (tropical) sun.

Ahmed (aka Appleaddicto)

Tales from the South – Day 1-2 in Mauritius

Hello friends,

Its been a while since I last blogged. I don’t often get the time trying to juggle work, sport, and time to myself. I often seem to be here, there and everywhere.  Nonetheless for those who have been following my Tweets on Twitter you will have read that I am vacationing in the paradise island of Mauritius for the next two weeks.

Why Mauritius? Well my father is from Mauritius and I still have family based here. Both Mum and Dad have been in Mauritius for a few weeks now and will stay for another eight weeks or so (lucky gits!). This is only my third time here. My first time was in 1988 at the tender age of 5 years old and my most recent visit was last year. We’re trying to make it a more annual theme to escape to the sun and leave behind the weather and stress of the UK with my parents spending more and more time out here.

Friday Arpil 17 2009 – I’m not a celebrity but get me out of the UK!!

So my journey began on on this day at London Heathrow Airport T5. My first time at the new Terminal 5 and the experience was very smooth – I was checked in within 5 mins of arrival and through security 10 minutes later! This gave me enough time to grab a bite and a coffee and some of those duty free vices before I boarded the Boeing 747 that would jet me 12 hours south to Mauritius.

Boarding the plane I was sat in ‘World Traveller Plus’ which is one class above ‘Economy’ – so more leg room, spacious cabin, only 60 people, reclineable seats that stretch out to form a semi-bed and the most important feature – in-seat laptop power!

16:25 and we had begun to pull back from the gate on time (a first for anyone who knows about travelling via Heathrow Airport) and airborne within a matter of minutes to leave behind a grey and dull UK!

The plane food was, well, plane food. Beef lasagne, green side salad, chocolate mousse, chocolate biscuit. I managed to wash this down with some South African red wine (also to start my drifting to sleep process – i’m not the best sleeper on a plane!).

Inflight entertainment consisted of my watching the lastest episode i downloaded of ‘24′, catching up on ‘30 Rock’ and ‘Brothers and Sisters’ on the Macbook. I watched ‘Marley and Me’ on the flight entertainment system.

Getting to sleep was proving to be a challenge – my neighbour had the right idea of getting happy on more red wine, spilling it, demanding more and eventually being told he’d ‘had enough’. Luckily sleeping pills, and ear plugs came in handy but how many of you have actually succeeded in getting any decent in-flight sleep?? – please comment on this – i’d like to know your secrets!!

Saturday April 18 2009 – Arrival

After a ’smooth’ 12 hour flight, plane breakfast (consisting of microwaved ‘Full English Breakfast’ and a strong black coffee) I landed at 6:50am (GMT+4), very smoothly, on a wet, grey and humid airport runway (I guess you’re thinking ’serves you right for escaping to the ’sun’?'). Negotiated immigration (the slowest officer ever – one of those who types with one finger and goes through EVERY page of a passport!) and customs (so I got to stand aside and scrutinised but my French paid off well and the officer let me through without having to open my luggage). I finally made it out and into a wall of humidity on the arrivals lounge and I met my parents, cousin and grand mother. The usual hugs and kisses, a few tears shed from my cousin Eshan whom I haven’t seen for a year.

We then drove to Curepipe, which is situated about 800m above sea level on the ‘central plateau’ of the island, the home town of my family and the base of my vacation. The rain was coming down hard, so much for escaping Blighty, but the humidity was enough to sap energy from even the fittest of athletes. After a shower, a coffee and a two hour nap I was fresh as a daisy. 3 hour time difference isn’t too bad. By this time the rain had long past and the sun was in full beam.

I spent the afternoon chatting to my aunty, uncle, grand mother and other relatives. In the late afternoon we decided to have a barbecue for the evening, a quick trip to the local market to get some meat, a few phone calls to more relatives and we had a date. Lamb, chicken and sausages were on the menu as well as salads was on the menu. We got the food on the charcoal as the sun was beginning to set around 6pm (3pm UK).

More people for me to catch up with, eat, drink, talk, drink, eat, eat the usual recipe for a Mauritian night. The FA Cup Semi-Final was broadcast of the Arsenal-Chelsea game. Disappointed that Arsenal lost! We ended things around midnight with a game of Scrabble. I managed to hit 120 points but was behind my cousin (i blamed my long journey!).

Sunday April 19th 2009 – Blue is colour!

Woke up around 8am (5am UK) to the sound of a cockerel who had been cookadoodle-dooing for the past 2 hours!! We headed to the north of the island to Cap Malheureux on the northern coast. This is one of the most stunning views of an enclosed ‘bay’. We stayed there in the sun for most of the day, profiting well from the 30C+ heat. Here the water really isn’t deep enough to swim but ok to dip the feet into. I walked a lot with Eshan, my younger cousin Nausheen and we just talked and talked as we spotted little baby crabs running for cover into the soft sands.

In the afternoon we moved onto one of my favourite beaches ‘Mont Choisy’ with it’s deep blue shaded water. Upon arrival there was a big festival in progress and lots of young people, singing, dancing, drinking in and around the sea. I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to jump into that sea, mission accomplished – and just in time to watch the sun set into the horizon.

We made it home in time to catch the Manchester United-Everton game. I have never seen a country grind to a standstill for a football game – people were hustling for a spot infront of any tv set they could find, even gathering around radios. Everyone either supports Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool. Everyone tonight wasManchester United crazy – even Eshan. But damn they lost on the dreaded penalty shoot-out and the silence at the house was impressive. You could here a lizard crawling! It seemed that the entire country was in a state of ’shock’. Dad wasn’t particualrly bothered, he’s not a Man U fan at all.

We ended the evening finishing off the barbecued meat we cooked the previous evening washed down with some drinks.

I have taken some photos during these days. I just need time to get them uploaded onto Flickr.

Keep posted on my Twitter feed for my latest tweets and whereabouts.

Yours in the sunshine!!

Ahmed (aka Appleaddicto)

I did something amazing: I gave blood!

Hello Friends.

It’s not exactly everyday we do something that could profoundly help another person. I’m often always looking for ways to be more benevolent giving back in life what life has given me in whatever form I can.

Once every 3-4 months my chance comes to do just that in the form of blood donation. This is something I have been doing for the last four years since my uni days and I’m happy and proud to know I’m doing my bit to potentially saving someone’s life.

I have just returned from my 10th blood donation and have received a certificate and pin badge.

Donating blood is really easy, last about 1 hour and is reletively painless. Plus you get free tea and biscuits afterwards

This is an area in life a lot of people take for granted. Whenever we go to hospital and need treatment we just expect there to be an adequate supply of blood ready to use. In fact blood, once collected from a donor, must be used fairly quickly and replenished in as quick a time as it is used. Stocks do tend to dwindle according to blood group and seasons so it is important that many people get out there to donate.

If you’re UK based check out the National Blood Service website which explains everything about the donating process and provides details of your nearest and next donation session. As their motto goes: “Do something amazing give blood”. And now I feel fine over one hour since donating albeit a little thirsty but that’s normal.

My next quest to help others is a couple of 5Km runs this summer followed by a 10Km run in London. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Ciao for now!

Michael Jackson: THIS IS IT!

Hello All,

It’s been a little while since my last post. Things have been moving at a crazy pace for me since the end of Christmas at work. Lots of movers and shakers now that the UK economy is in the midst of one of the most serious financial crises to brace us since the 1930’s. My workload has gone through the roof and I’ve been up and down the country like a yo-yo visiting our various offices.

Finally I have some time to take a brief respite this weekend and look back at what to blog about rather than the usual headlines of the times: The economy, finance, RBS you catch the drift!

Finally something of a refreshing change hit the air last Thursday as the undisputed “King of Pop” Michael Jackson was in London town to ‘announce’ his ‘farewell tour’ in London this coming July at the O2. The press announcement was held at this venue and several thousand fans queued for over five hours to await the arrival of their ‘hero’. After much waiting and attempted crowd entertainment by showing previous videos of MJ in concert the ‘King’ finally appears on stage to say nothing more than a few words along the lines of “I love you” and “This is it, this is really it!”. Big deal to the crowd as this to them was a moment in a lifetime to see one of the most influential artists of the 20th century with a career spanning over 4 decades.

This is scheduled to be the concert of the year by a long shot and tickets will certainly be in high demand as they go on general sale this Friday 13th at 07h00 GMT. Fortunately I have had this date booked as annual leave from work for the past month so that comes as a relief that I’ll be logging on trying insanely hard to get hold of those much coveted front row tickets!!

I just cannot wait for Friday I hope that I’ll be able to get hold tickets either way!! (I’ll certainly update on here as to my success or failure.

Catch more info at Michael Jackson Live!

Essential gadgets I don’t leave home without (most of the time!)

French serial entrepreneur and Seesmic CEO, Loïc Le Meur was featured in the Financial Times in article titled “Gadgets for world-beaters”. Featured are some top level CEOs such as Sir Howard Stringer, CEO Sony; Bill Watkins, CEO Seagate to name but a few. It was very interesting to note how “tech-savvy” some of them were (or in some cases not!). Bearing in mind some of these Executives run multi billion dollar corporations you would think some of them would be at the forefront of modern technology, latest MP3 players, cell phones, Blackberry Storms, Bose headsets etc. It should be noted that they do not always carry around their gear all day. Most of the time they carry their tech when they jet set across different time zones. Some, it would appear are techphobic.

I love technology, having grown up with it since I was very young – I’m suprised at how much my life revolves around tech and I thought about it a little and how I really would be a bit stuck without it most of the time. As a commuter into the City of London (1 hour train + 15 min walk to the office, twice a day!) I tend to get a little ‘fidgety’ when not in possesion of a boy’s toy. I’m always armed with my Nokia N96 which carries my diary, personal email syncing, and a great 5mp camera for those impromptu shots. My Blackberry Curve is next to follow as this keeps me in touch with the office and colleagues across the UK and head office in Paris, France. I have a 2nd gen 32Gb iPod Touch with Bose in-ear headphones. I carry my entire library with me as I have a vast range of genres that I listen to. Pop, Rock, Jazz, Lounge, French, Spanish, Brazilian, Samba, Swing. I often sync downloaded episodes of Brothers & Sisters, 30 Rock and 24 to watch on the train. My iPod also syncs with my Apple PowerBook G4 (a little ancient I know! 2005 to be precise) and my Apple MobileMe account so I can sync my personal diary through ‘push technology’ similar to a Blackberry, then all i have to do is sync my N96 to get an up-to-date version. If I’m not listening to my iPod or reading emails I’ll be playing on my Sony PSP.

For my business travel on intercity trains and planes I swap the headphones for a pair of Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones this is a truly remarkable piece of kit as it erradicates most background noise which is ideal for when on a plane as the engine noise is reduced to a quiet humm leaving me in tranquility to listen to jazz beats. Unfortunately, it doesn’t entirely diminish the noise of the annoying passenger chatting away about take-off/landing fears next to you as it can only minimise ‘constant’ noise frequencies. Once I’ve got these on, I hardly notice much noise around (not brilliant for crossing busy roads! – I’ve had my fair share of close encounters). My own Apple laptop comes with me on business travel as I can stay in touch with friends and relatives easier. IM/Skype my friends in far away countries and catch up on my RSS subscriptions. I tend not to use wifi public access as it costs a fortune (£17/day at one hotel!) so I have a Mobile Broadband USB modem from 3. This gives me 1Gb free access a month for £10. Coverage is good in and around major cities (and growing) and the speed is pretty swift too at times. Totally ideal for when I’m at an airport with time to kill, fire it up and open up my Twitter account!

Down the gym, I plug in my iPod Nano strapped to my arm. For on the road photography I have my Nikon D40 DSLR and often post to my Flickr page.

Well I think i’ve covered it all. Looking at it written down like this i’m amazed at how digital my life can be. What would our forefathers be thinking of our generation? For me I live and sleep technology. I’m never ever far away from it and rely so much on it. I would be lost without it.

As the VHS ‘meets the reaper’ what about the DVD?

CBS published an article about the days of the VHS becoming numbered. This got me thinking about my own childhood and adolescence, and those black bits of plastic with a magnetic strip inside. In the world of optical media, the VHS seems a generation away with those infamous tapes that got ‘accidentally’ recorded over, borrowing a film from your friend only to find someone else’s ‘film’ on the tape, to the poor quality of degrading video held on the strips.

The DVD has changed all of that making a crisper, digital transition to our film lives thanks to more data being crammed onto one disc which means better cinema quality sound, and the additional ‘bonus’ content on the DVD often made it more worthwhile a purchase. Now with the advent of broadband streaming, Blu-Ray players and High Definition TVs are we about to see a sudden shift in purchases and viewing habits?

It is fair to say that people are changing habits of how they watch and the industry has begun to recognise this thanks in part to Broadband technology which has really taken off over the past 5 years allowing more households to access data rich online content from the likes of Apple TV, BBC iPlayer without waiting ages for downloads or worrying about 56Kbps dial-up internet costs. These services allow the user to ‘catch-up’ on TV shows often in High Definition on-demand so no waiting for a repeat on TV – or buying a DVD.

2007/08 saw a major leap in purchases for High Definition televisions. Coupled with several cable satellite services broadcasting in HD this is clearly the next step in the media revolution of the 21st Century. Could this signify a new shift in attitudes? Could it signal an early demise for the DVD? DVD is beginning to look ‘old school’ as it cannot compete with the High Definition quality of Blu-Ray discs.

The key to this winning over the DVD is the accessibility and acceptance of technology. When DVD was launched a little over 10 years ago people simply needed to buy a DVD player with little modification to there hardware setup (ie not always necessary to buy a new TV). Plug, insert disc and play! In the case of Blu-Ray, with it’s High Definition requirements a new TV is often required (HD Ready) and a Blu-Ray player is needed too. Not to mention the HDMI cable linking the Blu-Ray player to the HD TV. This can be seen as a large investment to the occasional film viewer.

The technology, to a lot of people, seems ‘new’ and a lot would be reluctant to ‘make the switch’ especially if they have recently migrated to DVD format in recent years. Perhaps the availability of films on this new medium could take a while to catch up with a similar number available on DVD. What if you managed to acquire your entire VHS collection on DVD only to find that there is a new technology available?

For the technology companies, it is a matter of waiting for the number of film releases to take a significant increase in availability. Peoples’ perception that it’s becoming ‘mainstream’ will change in similar way that DVD overtook VHS. Blu-Ray players and TV’s wont make all the profits for a company, it’s what can be produced now and in the future. The initial investment is a ‘one-off’ purchase. New content of films needs to be produced ready to be bought.

Streaming services from Apple TV (via iTunes), X-box and PlayStation 3 are also new on the scene in the past 3 years however, like the Blu-Ray format the number of films to stream is still minor and only includes fairly recent releases.

In all these cases the public will only make the switch once a significant number of releases that bares comparison to their DVD/VHS collection becomes available plus the incentive of cheaper HD TVs, Blu-Ray players and discs becomes available. I do not think we will see the ‘death’ of the DVD for another 8-10 years.

A little bit more about me…

• Working in Compliance and Operational Permanent Control at BNP Paribas Real Estate, London
• Former International Development Manager at KeepSchool.com in Paris, France
• Graduated in 2007 from the Université de Caen, France – MSc
• Graduated in 2006 from the University of Hertfordshire – BA (hons)
• 25 years old
• Enjoy language learning (I’m fluent in French and have knowledge of German, Italian, Russian, Latin, Japanese and Madarin)
• Travel – I like to visit countries far and wide
• Passions include: PlayStation gaming, technology, photography, UK and international politics, canvassing with my local MP, reading, rugby, tennis, fitness
• Films, cinema, TV series (The West Wing, Commander in Chief, Studio 60, Brothers and Sisters, House, 24, 30 Rock, to name but a few…)
• Can often be found: at the local fitness club, on the tennis court, chilling out at Starbucks, ‘browsing’ through the Apple Shops, commuting on the train to London, never far away from his laptop browsing blogs
• Be sure to follow me on here or check out my FriendFeed and Twitter Feed

Happy New Year 2009 – Introducing Ahmed Ibrahim!

Well hello there!

This is my first post on this new blog. Perhaps this is my first venture into blogging. Having experienced a bit of Web 2.0 via Facebook and Twitter I decided to move away from Facebook and to upload my thoughts online in more dynamic way. Facebook has always been an excellent tool for keeping in touch with my many friends across the globe, but that is as far as it goes. I want to go further. I want to be able to reach out to new people, new cultures and let them enter my life and find out a bit more about me.

So why have am I composing a personal blog? I could just stay with Facebook and have my friends communicate with me that way. It’s simple, I update my page with whatever is happening and my friends can keep check on me that way. This is great but Facebook is very limited to those you are friends with. In essence I am merely stretching out and reaching to a wider audience.

I still aim to update my Facebook page though my primary communication tool will be through here. I shall blog my updates and my thoughts (usually over coffee in a Starbucks somewhere!). Politics, Tech, Social Media, photography, almost anything goes. I hope you will find it interesting and I appreciate your feedback!

Happy reading!

Ahmed