TPR looked so pale and I suspected that he had been crying. What had driven him to come to my office on campus in such a state? He pulled out his iPad and confessed that he had been monitoring my e-mail. The offending message was very bad news indeed. However, for once I was more interested in the medium than in the message. A full year since launch, TPR was the first to discover the iPad’s amazing hidden feature: the “shrink” function that could reduce it to the size of a postage stamp for ease of portability. I couldn’t wait to tell JM.

=====

Here I was, once again, minus half my possessions. Travelling Lothian buses unaccompanied this time were my rucksack and green handbag. As usual, my first thought was for my Mac and the half-written conference paper. My second was for TPR. His first thought would be security: of the documents in my handbag and the data on the Mac’s hard disk, if not already stolen, now lost on the number 23.

=====

It was so long since I had travelled by car that I had forgotten how difficult it is to steer from the back seat. I lost control and we swerved straight into the path of a Range Rover speeding along Ferry Road towards town. My red Peugeot 205 was now the “most wanted” vehicle in Lothian and the Borders. I ditched it in Barnton then wasted the rest of the afternoon at the edge of the marshlands. Here I watched in wonder as the pretty ponies practised their synchronised swimming routine for the next night’s performance.