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When the nice folks at Vodafone offered me a laptop with GPRS modem I had hoped to publish this column every day while I was away -- but unfortunately there simply wasn't time.

Hopefully, NZ TV viewers will get to see part of the reason for my visit to the UK sometime before the end of the year and I can't wait to see how they can condense around 30 hours of footage into just 48 minutes of programme.

Excuse me if today's column is somewhat lacking in coherency, having arrived back just 18 hours ago I'm still totally jetlagged and, as I feared, I've just had to repair the PC which is my network server.

It seems that, having been run continuously for some seven years, the shock of being turned off for over a week meant that this crucial machine would not boot up this morning.

Both hard drives failed to register during the boot sequence and I had to resort to reseating every connector and giving them a little "tap" with my trusty hammer, in order to break the stiction.

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However, all the lights are now flashing, the drives are whirring and the screens are shining here so, once my body resynchronises with Kiwi-time it should be back to normal.

Some good news - I did receive an email from Qantas who have invited me to forward any critiques, comments or suggestions I might have in respect to their services. It will be interesting to see what their response is -- I'll share it with readers.

If there are any entrepreneurial types reading, I spotted a great money-making opportunity on my flight. Anyone who buys up a bunch of nicotine patches before they jump on a long-haul flight could make a small fortune spotting the smokers going through withdrawal. I reckon that in some cases you could charge $20 a patch and get it :-)

It's interesting to note that, thanks to the power of satellite technology, Qantas has supplied a phone in each seat, even economy-class. Sounds great until you realise that their "special introductory pricing" comes to over NZ$11 per minute (or any part thereof) if you actually want to make a call -- owch!

Right now it's time for me to catch up on the headlines and get back into the groove so check tomorrow's column when "normal service will be resumed".

If any Aardvark readers have an opinion on today's column or want to add something you're also invited to chip in and have your say.

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