The Treaty of the Pyrenees which settled the border between France and Spain in 1659 caught several villages 'on the wrong side' and the deal was that they would simply change nationality (life was so simple before democracy!). However the town of Llivia, the former Roman oppidum of Julia Libica (population currently about 1600 but technically a city at the time of the Treaty due to its former status of capital of Cerdanya) retained its Spanish nationality and now exists as an exclave of Spain... << MORE >>

Not such a long drive today, just across from Castelnaudary and a few kilometres down the Mediterranean coast to Llança (pronounced Yansa). The hotel boasts free wifi on all floors and, indeed it has; the only problem seems to be that whilst I can connect in reception, on the 2nd floor and even out in the garden, the access point on the 1st floor where we have our room, will not play the game. I'm jinxed! I had wondered whether I would be able to pick up an SFR wifi signal this far from the border ... << MORE >>

Tonight's hotel allegedly has free wifi. Yes, it does! Unfortunately it also has malfunctioning DHCP service and fails to give connected devices an address on the network. Ah, well - Plan B. Off to the SFR shop in Castelnaudary to buy a prepaid 3G data card...<< MORE >>

So, off to France with the iPad. I could rely on free hotel wifi, but it isn't always free and it isn't always there; however, tonight the Novotel in Rennes is offering 6 hours wifi for free. Just type in your name and email on their webpage and it's up, up and away. Or it would be if the iPad wasn't dropping down the keypad then closing it again so fast that you could't type a single letter! I've had issues with a MacBook on hotel wifi before, but it was because I had custom DNS settings. If ... << MORE >>

Few things make my blood boil faster, or cause me greater frustration, than when an otherwise competent author has one of his characters click off the safety catch of his/her revolver. I am part-way through Stieg Larsson's 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' when on p.231: "Modig ... drew her service weapon [and] clicked off the safety catch ..[later].. she still had her service revolver in her hand".<< MORE >>

I'm not sure that I expected Radio 4 to deliver me a real slap-in-the-face experience, but it happened today. As a serious Purcell fan I listened to the current edition of 'Soul Music' and its explanation of why Dido's Lament has such strong emotional appeal.<< MORE >>

Asked why god allows disasters such as the Haiti earthquake, the BBC reports John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, as saying "I have nothing to say that makes sense of this horror - all I know is that the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus is that he is with us." Translation: "I have absolutely nothing useful to say, but if you want one, here's a platitude".<< MORE >>

I only watch a moderate amount of TV, and most of that I watch on my iPod. Until recently, in order to transfer programs to the iPod I carried out the various steps manually. Whilst this was not particularly hard work, I wondered whether it might be possible to automate the various steps. I knew that Automator, a program which can automate repetitive actions, was built in to the Mac OS and decided to take a look...<< MORE >>

Just imagine: a world with no MacDonalds, no Burger King. [Pause for thought]. My childhood was enlivened by the occasional visit to Norwich and to the burger palace of the times: the WIMPY! Fried egg, beef patty, chips and that curly frankfurter. I don't remember what it was called, but otherwise the Wimpy meal of my childhood is unforgettable. Sadly, however, the UK's Wimpy bars of yore are no longer.<< MORE >>

So you step on to the endless travelator that is international air travel. You queue up, check in, walk on, sit down and belt up. Food appears [ingest], you avoid watching a film intended offend no-one and you sleep fitfully. More foods appears [ingest], and after 11 hours aloft you disembark to face the unsmiling man in immigration and eventually step, blinking, in Joburg, into the light of Africa<< MORE >>