I'm writing this on the Eurostar train, booking down the rails from Rome to Naples where I plan to catch a smaller train over to Pompeii to the see its splendours. Some Roman aqueducts parallel the tracks. They're cool (and some still carry water to the city).





!!#$%#%#@$#@%@#$%!&$%!#*(*&@,$@#$%#$%#!$%$@!&$!&*


That's the sound I make when my iBook dies!!!!!!!!!


Which is to say, that's what happened about 11:05 on the train. The computer completely wigged out. All kinds of weird behaviour, like not doing anything except the start-up sound when turned on; the screen going all flashy and patterny; freezing; yikes, not a good sign, people!

I've never seen it do anything like this. It was okay this morning at camp, and I have not dropped it or anything.

So how am I able to write this now (at 10:00 pm)? I'd kind of like to know too, ya know?

I really would. I'm praying right now that it's back to health, as it seems to be, except that the comma key works infrequently, for some reason. I wonder whether the keyboard has a short, but have not been able to pull it out to look right now.

If the machine dies it means no "after" shots for the site, which is a BAD THING. Plus no DVDs on the flight home, nor decent music on the ride across the country like I had planned, plus of course no working on panos until it's fixed.

So, please channel any spare good karma you can to this little machine to keep it going for a couple weeks yet.

(Could it be that the train / electric lines running along the track affected it going one way but not the other?)

I'll write more about Pompeii soon and post some of the 200+ photos I shot (yay Microdrive!). Suffice, for now, to say that it was entirely worth the day trip, and I know a certain wife who would love exploring there, which could easily take up many more than the pathetic 4.5 hours I could give it today.

The coolest thing about the place has to be seeing the body casts made of people (and animals) who died there as Vesuvius took its toll.