We did Xmas at home with most of the family, then all migrated north to Edinburgh to be with my sister. We went up on the GNER Mallard train, which was pretty good. Comfy seats and a smooth ride. If you need it they have power sockets and wi-fi if you need them, but the internet will cost you a bit. The train ran a bit late due to frozen power lines in the borders, but I guess that's a hazard of the season.

Edinburgh had less snow than home, but still pretty cold. We didn't do the big New Year party, but we did go on the pagan torchlit procession with longboat burning vikings. The fireworks then and for new year were very good.

Edinburgh is a nice city and we hope to go up for the festival one year.

Whilst there I finally purchased myself a djembe from Drum Central. Now I just have to learn to play the thing. I think I have some natural rhythm, but I have to communicate that to my hands. There's another session with Secret Bass on Sunday, so I can try it out then.

I just got a 1GB card for my Palm. It cost half what my 256MB card cost a couple of years back. Now I can carry a bit more music with me on trips. I still don't feel the need for a multi-gigabyte player. I'm never away from a computer for that long and I like to pick and choose my listening. I'm in the process of re-ripping my CDs in Ogg Vorbis. I used to use MP3 at lower bit rates, but I feel the need for better quality and to use a more open standard. Aeroplayer seems to cope well with my needs, but did consistenly crash the Palm on one file recently. My dad just bought the Palm TX. It has more memory, a bigger screen and a faster CPU over my Zire, as well as wi-fi plus Bluetooth for about what mine cost new. That's progress. Mine will do me for now as an organiser that can also play music.