Staying Connected Is Not So Sard

I invested in one of those Vodafone mobile broadband thingummies the other week - you couldn't have missed the massive ongoing advertising campaign on every billboard near you. I'd been thinking about it for a while as a method of always having reliable internet access no matter where I am.
I'm writing this from Sardinia and my Vodafone investment is working a treat and already paying off. It allows me to get regular updates on all the Scottish press and to lap up the latest installment of the hilarious, completely unfathomable but certainly certifiable antics, of Bendy Wendy Alexander, as she self destructs in spectacular fashion. (it's been equally funny reading about Hearts heroics against those Scottish footballing giants Gretna).
But I'm not such a saddo that I shelled out for my new Voda gadget just to read online press on my hols. It was really to keep in touch with PR clients when away and to be able to reacte if something urgent is needing done. So when I got a panicky email from Claire Sheppard, commercial manager at Musselburgh Racecourse, saying there was less than 300 tickets left for the course's annual Ladies Day on 7 June and we needed to get an urgent press release out notifing punters that ticket sales were closing, 20 minutes later a release was hitting the inboxes of racing corrs and sports desks across the country. I've also been able to fire out a couple of releases for FG Burnett.
And is if on a gadget frenzy, a few days before we left Edinburgh, I took delivery of a BlackBerry Pearl. It's the dog's. I've stuck with Sony Ericsson smart phones for years but their P910i has been a crock from the day I received it and I vowed never to get another. Ok, I'm a late convert to the BlackBerry, but I can't believe how versatile it is and how easy it is to get email and to browse the web. One email received yesterday was from Scotland on Sunday hack Richard Elias inviting me to his leaving do as he flits from Barclay Towers. I'm not ready yet to swaps this golden Sardinian beach for Scotsman Publications' watering hole The Tun, but I did toast Richard's move to the The Scottish Daily Star, where he will be deputy editor to my old Evening News colleague Nick Gates, with another cold Sard beer.