For the first time this year, we successfully brought together an entire side of the family on video chat using group video calling on Skype. Five video streams from across the UK and the USA all displayed on a single screen, everyone talking together, and it worked pretty well. Over the years we’ve tried all manner of services, including text, audio and video chat, but this is the first time that the infrastructure and technology has been able to offer something that allowed a quality of video and audio that’s enabled reasonably fluid conversation with everyone at once.

Getting the usability right by providing an interface that’s easy to use and that just works is essential for getting a broader audience on board who would easily be put off by technical issues. Aiding this ease of use is that fact that most people now own laptops that come with cameras and mics built-in. Suddenly we can all make video chats with no need for drivers and problems with third-party software. Our Christmas Skype chat needed no configuration aside from turning on the video and ensuring each person in the chat was a contact. Not exactly rocket science, and certainly a low level of complexity my parents could manage.

Group video calling from Skype isn’t free, but it only needs a single family member to be signed up to create the chat session. Following a hiatus from Skype of several years I’ll certainly now be looking at using it more regularly to keep in touch with the many distant family members.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Daniel and Tara at the Incovenient Mule!

And so it was, we loaded up our modest chariot, cramming what little we could in the minuscule boot and heaping the rest across the back seats. Our new SatNav app was set for Fishguard, and given this was its first outing, we were counting on it to take us at least roughly in the right direction. On to the M4 motorway, the Satnav instructs us to follow the course of the road for the next 180 miles. Nice and easy. Easy that was, until we reached the Newport tunnel just closed by a lorry fire. We ground to a halt at first, and then began to proceed at a pace that would not see snails break a sweat. Would we even make the ferry and get to see the shore of Ireland? Happily we eventually emerged out of the contraflow system and made best speed for Fishguard port, arriving shortly before check-in closed.

Just when we felt we were getting our sea legs onboard the ferry, Rosslare emerged from the sea fog and it was time to return to the car. We were on Irish soil, and my first precarious miles of driving abroad began. It’s just as well that Ireland makes for a relatively gentle introduction to hitting the road in another country. The core principles remain the same, such as driving on the left, but it throws in some unfamiliar elements to keep you on your toes, such as speed limits in km/h and the use of many curious road signs using the American yellow diamond format.

We were off to a steady start, possibly going at the right speed for the road, but are thrown into confusion by vehicles moving left into an area of the road marked by yellow dashes. There’s no mention of this in our guide book, so we adopt the when in Rome approach, and are soon overtaking these vehicles bearing over on the left, without really overtaking. It feels wrong, but seems to work. Some of the roads in Ireland are remarkably wide in fact, and with this left-hand area in use they become dual-carriageways, after a fashion. This is just as well as most roads allow very few opportunities for overtaking; without this extra room to manoeuvre it would take even longer to pass Ireland’s menagerie of slow-moving vehicles – comprising tractors, long lorries, pony traps and an odd trait by drivers of slowing to a snail’s pace when getting within a couple of miles or so of where they need to turn off.

It soon became clear that the Irish take a more relaxed, less up-tight approach to driving and parking than we were used to. In the UK, parking is rigorously enforced and is essentially a revenue making exercise where the smallest contravention from the extensive and varied parking rules will result in the car park owner gleefully slapping your vehicle with a ticket. Not so in Ireland, where parking follows necessity, and rampant parking on double-yellows in the congested coastal village of Baltimore is seemingly accepted because, well, there’s really nowhere else to park. Hurray for free parking all over the place – the jobsworth traffic wardens of home were not missed.

Nor did we miss the executive car drivers who plague the roads of England’s home counties; those self-important Audi, BMW or Merc owners who spend their time no more than a couple of  centimetres off your bumper, looking for an opportunity to roar past at an ill-chosen moment before inevitably getting stuck behind the next vehicle or set of lights. The Irish, from what we saw, seemed to favour practical cars, and held a calmer head to match. Wherever it was they were going, it always seemed they had time enough to get there, and would likely speak well of the journey on arrival, whatever had come to pass.

Irish roads are not without their challenges, however. While some roads are new and smooth, other main roads can be rough, bumpy, and occasionally fraught with rather lethal looking potholes; none of which are taken too well in our little car designed for undemanding urban roads. Turning onto local roads as we did on a few routes is also rather seat of your pants, being narrow or single-track and full of blind corners.

All said and done, I loved driving in Ireland. The roads simply seemed clear and unrushed compared to what I was used to. Driving actually became a pleasure, and despite my hitherto lack of enthusiasm for long journeys in the car, I suddenly found myself something of a convert. Of course our holiday inevitably came to an end and we had to return to the more crowded roads of England, but I’ve returned with a new passion for the road. Ireland showed me what driving can offer and now it’s time to discover great drives closer to home.

For the reasonably priced sum of £10 a month, giffgaff offers unlimited data, which prices it below even Three’s £15 PAYG offering. As a smartphone user, data is my top priority when it comes to network deals, yet finding data without paying through the nose has becoming increasingly difficult, as most networks have imposed strict 1GB or even 500Mb data caps over recent years.

Now these may sound like plenty of data for a mobile device to use over a month and yes, it’s fair to say that I don’t normally get near to this limit. The thing is, I’ve realised that I’ve learnt to curb my use of apps so I don’t risk breaching the limit, which has meant I’ve been avoiding media-rich content such as audio and video. I have in fact been failing to make full use of my smart phone because of data caps and it was time to put it right.

My phone and usage would be set free, listening to the morning’s news on the commute into work while checking Twitter, buying and updating apps when I’m out and about (regardless of their size), and generally being entertained and informed by whatever content out there takes my fancy. Great fun with no worries. Bonzer.

I’m currently trying out my giffgaff SIM with their £10 goody bag (150mins, 150 texts, unlimited data) and things are looking on track to move over from O2 and halve by monthly bill. Interestingly, giffgaff uses O2′s network, so I’m effectively getting the same service (plus more data) for half the price. Don’t mind if I do.

• Order a giffgaff SIM and receive £5 free credit

In favour of the proposal, firstly, is that I can read books without having them clutter up the flat, e.g. the Bernard Cornwell Anglo-Saxon series, that’re my equivalent of beach reading. Secondly, I think I would buy a greater variety of books if I had them on the Kindle. Buying a book at a bookshop is quite a deliberate and well-considered act, because one has to carry the book home and find somewhere for it. An instant electronic file is a less weighty decision in both respects. Thirdly, there’s the carrying around of books post-purchase. My George R. R. Martin books simply don’t fit in my bag, which started me thinking that a Kindle would fit nicely into the front of my satchel whatever I was reading. It would also make taking books on holiday extremely easy. Fourthly, I wouldn’t have to wait for delivery when I ordered a book. Finally, if I were to get the 3G version, I could sign up to fine magazines and have them sent to me even when I was on holiday.

Against the proposal stands, of all people, the mighty orator, author and bibliophile, Marcus Cicero, who said, “a room without books is like a body without a soul”. By buying an e-book reader, am I contributing to the decline of the physical book and the wonderful, physical bookshop? I’ve been organising my book collection obsessively since I was around five years old. I like them to show off my interests and be displayed for visitors or define the function of the study. Books make furniture look better. Secondly, some books will always need to be in hardcopy. If you were researching using more than one book, that would be very difficult using the Kindle, because you couldn’t compare the two side-by-side. Cook books, too, are better from the page than on the computer screen (although I use the internet for recipes too), as they’re less worrisome if they get covered in spatters of food. The pictures look nicer, too. Thirdly, an e-book reader can’t compete with the texture of a book and turning the pages oneself. I would still have to buy copies of books that I particularly liked, thereby reducing the problem, but not solving it. Following on from both points two and three, not all books are available to buy electronically anyway.

In conclusion, the obvious answer is to buy a Kindle and read certain books on it while buying physical copies of others where desirable or necessary. So, do let me know if you have an opinion on the subject. I’m very close to pressing the ‘go to checkout’ button, but it’s not yet too late…

The Jolly Cricketers is located in the affluent village of Seer Green, near Beaconsfield and Chalfont St Giles.

It’s a good looking historic pub on the outside, but it’s on the inside that it reveals its secret – serving up some truly fabulous food, and recently voted the best gastro pub in the South East.

I’ve taken this book quiet slowly over quite a number of weeks, dipping into just a few pages each evening, and progressing LMS’s life little by little. By the conclusion of Any Human Heart I found I can scarcely recall the early years, which rather accurately reflect the memories of the man himself, looking back 70 years on from his earliest journal entries. By doing this, I felt I’ve followed LMS on his journey, albeit in microcosm, allowing me some of the same reflection of LMS’s actions over the weeks I read the book as the character applies to himself over the years of his life.

Any Human Heart is probably now best known for its television adaptation, which was shown in the UK at the end of 2010 on Channel 4. Not having heard of the book at the time, I was attracted by the dramatic trailer (see below) with the brilliant musical accompaniment of Ludovico Einaudi’s Nightbook. The adaptation compressed the book into four 90 minute episodes; quite a challenge for the life time covered in the book, but pulls it off rather well in my view. I particular enjoyed Matthew Macfadyen’s portrayal of Logan at his most dynamic best during the prime of life, as well as Gillian Anderson’s truly superb portrayal of Wallis Simpson (who has become the Duchess of York by the time LMS crosses her and her husband’s path).

I’d thoroughly recommend both the book and the TV version, although if you’ve not seen the TV version, go with the book first, to fully appreciate the events without any spoilers.

Related links

• Watch all four episodes of Any Human Heart online (Channel 4 website, possibly restricted to UK viewing only)
• Superb TV trailer for Any Human Heart (Youtube)

Towards Ivinghoe Beacon

Walking in the Chilterns combines two of my loves: great countryside and indulging in the tranquility of nature. Actually I should include a third: photography, as if I’m going somewhere scenic, my camera will likely as not be coming along to capture the places, and perhaps something of the moment.

I’ve spent many days off and weekends in search of some of the best of the area’s landscapes. There are some real corkers too, such as the panoramas from atop Coombe Hill, Ivinghoe Beacon, and Whiteleaf Hill – all of which I’d be a very long time getting bored of, especially when they can be transformed entirely depending on the time of day, weather or season.

Enabling all this good walking in the Chilterns is an extensive network of footpaths, ranging from national tracks to the smallest of snickets. However all these options can make for a bewildering choice when it comes to planning a walk, as the bigger routes by no means have a monopoly on the best walking.

As I can only occasionally set aside a day for walking, I find it worthwhile to put some time into planning, to help ensure there are some good highlights on the routes I take. Happily, there’s a good range of both online and offline resources that make this easier than ever.

OS map

The most traditional of walking companions, the Ordnance Survey’s maps remain an essential tool in planning and following routes. Nothing quite compares to its accuracy and comprehensive coverage of paths and landscape around. Designed for recreational users of landscape, the maps detail the lie of the land and the points of interest upon them.

I use Chiltern Hills East from the OS Explorer series, which covers the area from Amersham in the North, Wycombe in the West, Slough in the South and Northwood to the East and Chiltern Hills North, which covers beyond Cheddington in the North, Haddenham in the West, Chesham in the South and beyond Berkhamsted in the East. Of course there are maps for other areas too, depending on your areas of choice.

Online mapping

Maps available online are opening a whole new view of the world we’ve never before had access to. Satellite, spotter plane and even street views are now freely available to explorer landscapes and routes. The best for walk and cycle route-planning are the open source Open Street Map and Open Cycle Map. I find the more well known Google Street View to be useful for checking out specific areas of a route, such as gauging whether there’s suitable pavements and crossing points on roads.

Online walking blogs

There are different opinions on what makes a good walk, however checking out walking blogs can be a great way to get a feel for a walk and some of the scenery along the way. Blogs can flag up a highlight of a walk that you may miss, or a tricky bit of navigation that’s required, or can forewarn of any dull routes that aren’t worth the effort.

One of my favourite walking blogs is Pete’s Walks, due to the sheer number of walks around the Chilterns he’s done, but also due to good descriptions, maps and photos, which accompany each walk.

Walking route leaflets

There are no shortage of walking routes that councils, walking groups or other organisations have created. Although these won’t generally indicate how interesting a walk in, they’ll generally provide decent instructions about navigating the routes. While traditionally you’d have to have bought these details in either a book form or leaflets more locally, many walks are now made available free-of-charge online.

The Walking in Buckinghamshire site has dozens of walks covering the whole county, while the Chilterns AONB site has a good number of categorised walks, shown on a nice interactive map.

Some free walking routes are also available from local tourist information offices. The Wendover TIC is particular good, offering lots of free walking and cycling leaflets in addition to the option of buying more substantial books.

Mobile apps

When setting out on walks, there are now a range of mobile phone apps that can nicely complement or possibly even replace taking a physical map on a walk (although I’d always recommend both). Mobile apps use your phone’s GPS to show where you are in relation to pathways. I use the Trails app for iPhone, which uses both the excellent Open Street Map and Open Cycle Map mapping data, which includes a great many walks. I find this particularly invaluable when faced with diverging paths, where the GPS can show which may you should be facing to take the path you want. The app also keeps a tally on the distance walked and the altitude profile of the walk. Many other apps are also available.

Don’t just stand there…

Using some or all of the above should help to ensure many good walks in and around our fantastic area. Do let me know if you recommend any other walking resources or apps out there.

You can also browse photos of some the walks I’ve taken, on Flickr

These days I’d comfortably pledge my allegiance to 6music. As a station, it speaks to me and where I am now, while indulging in shared culture I can relate to. 6music’s core audience is, I imagine, around mid-20s to mid-40s, and its presenter line-up is full of names the audience grew up with, including the likes of Adam and Joe, Marc Riley, Stuart Marconie, Mark Radcliffe, Cerys Matthews, Craig Charles, and others. The music on 6music evokes delight, surprise and serendipity, all in a way that’s somehow attuned to my musical tastes. It is the farthest cry possible from the dismal repetition of commercial radio, which I choose to avoid at all costs.

Although I struggle to define the demographic, I suspect 6music is expertly speaking to a group that I happen to neatly fit into. It’s perhaps for those who have cast aside self-consciously following the trends of the latest hot indie bands that defined our university years and have moved on to wanting new musical discoveries, but now entirely comfortable in our own musical tastes.

The strange thing is that this progression is often one that’s done unconsciously. I only realised that I’d mentally moved on from listening to Radio 1 while on car journeys where I found myself feeling entirely out of touch with the music and callers on the air. Was I ever in the position of those Radio 1 listeners with the radio on revising for some exam? At one time, yes, but it seems a far cry and thoroughly distant from my life today.

And so, without seeking to be defined, I have, I suspect, made the move from one demographic group to the next; one of several I’ll likely make during my lifetime. Yes, radio may only be background audio, but it’s someone we choose deliberately and it continues to say something about us.

WWII aircraft at RAF Halton's Charity Flying Weekend

The Queen’s official birthday is celebrated by trooping the colour and a flypast by the RAF in central London. If the idea of the tourists crowds don’t appeal, it’s happily possible to watch the flypast from the comfort and attractive surrounds of Buckinghamshire.

RAF Halton holds a Charity Flying Weekend each year to coincide with the trooping the colour flypast, and welcomes visitors to what is normally a military aerodrome.

The 2011 event was held in conjunction with the Chilterns MS Centre, who held their Summer Fete, and the Berkhamsted-based De Havilland Moth Club, who had arranged various flying displays.

We arrived shortly after midday, so in good time for the flypast at around 1pm. We were struck by just how popular it was, given that we’d only heard about it through having come across photos of the previous year’s events and looked up the 2011 dates. The parking area was filling up quickly with hundreds of cars, although still had room enough for us.

Spectactors at RAF Halton watch Battle of Britain Memorial Flight approach

We had no idea what to expect, however there was a good selection of stalls – many in military green tents that were rather in keeping with the event. Arts and crafts, traditional fete games (Tara won a coconut from the coconut shy), and the usual food and drink were all there, so everything you’d need. Many visitors had also come well prepared though with some impressive picnics, table and chairs in evidence. Well prepared to enjoy the day.

Turning towards the aircraft, the inter-war De Havilland Moths were much in evidence, with much to-ing and fro-ing. A nice selection of WWII aircraft were also on the ground. The main event was the flypast – which included most but not all of the formations seen flying down the Mall a few minutes earlier. While the Red Arrows went elsewhere, we saw the fast jets, transporters, hawker jets and the always superb Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, which gave us three fabulous passes.

We headed off shortly after the flypast, just as Captain Neville’s Flying Circus was getting underway – clearly there was much going on to provide entertainment for the whole day. Next year we may well bring a picnic and make a full day of it.

Overall it’s a great local event that piggy-backs on a national spectacle. It’s free to get in, raises money for a local charity and provides a good day’s entertainment for anyone who likes to watch magnificent men in their flying machines in action.

View more photos from the RAF Halton Charity Flying Weekend on the Mule’s Flickr channel.

Part of the Queen's Birthday flypast over RAF Halton

The good: the Chiltern cow incident

A Chiltern Railways (CR) train hit a herd of cows that had escaped on to the track at around 7.30pm on Thursday – mid evening, but still well within London’s extended rush hour. Their main line was closed but CR’s consistently excellent communications team stepped up the mark to help inform the large numbers of passengers facing disruption. CR do Twitter well – really well in fact. By day their tweets are friendly, engaging and create a real community spirit amongst commuters and travellers. However when events call for it, CR’s twitter team is in place to get vital information out and be there to respond to customers’ questions.

Communications is but one part of an overall response of course, and here, yet again, CR seemed to be very efficient and rolling out their emergency management plans. As soon as they were aware of the situation, mainline trains were diverted via the Aylesbury to allow many to still reach their destinations. Meanwhile, replacement buses were called up to provide a service to all the stations on the closed portion of the mainline. As for those onboard services, one twitter user was on a train following that affected and was only delayed by about half an hour. The following morning, CR dispatched its managers across the stations affected to speak to customers who had been affected. Brilliant, and such a contrast to the debacle on South West Trains (below) that was unfolding at the same time.

The bad: Three’s wild SIM goose chase

The week proved personally exasperating due to mobile phone company Three’s seeming inability to provide me with a simple SIM card, and sending me on a wild goose chase with apparently inaccurate information. This all stemmed from Three retail stores telling me that I couldn’t have a PAYG microSIM for my iPhone4, while Three’s tweeters consistently contradicted the store staff and repeatedly assured me that the stores could provide me with a microSIM. In the end, after several wasted lunch hours going to various Three Stores, I gave up, and in desperation I cut down their standard PAYG SIM to the microSIM size. It worked, and took a fraction of the time I’d spent going to the various Three stores.

The thing is, I should never had needed to go to such lengths to use Three’s service. For one, why is it so difficult to provide SIM cards so that people who want to use Three’s service actually can do. I wanted to be a customer, yet Three seemed unable to help me. Worst of all, though, was the complete lack of clarity or consensus by the Three tweeters or Three store staff about the process needed to provide me with a microSIM card. SIM cards are the most basic part of mobile phone use – it’s worrying that Three can’t get this right. I’m now trialling Three on the my cut down PAYG SIM card, however this lamentable experience with their customer services has shaken my confidence in taking out a contract with them.

The absent: South West Trains’ meltdown

On the same day that Chiltern Railways was contending with a herd of dead cows and a damaged train, South West Trains (SWT) was experiencing what can only be described as a meltdown of their services. Unlike Chiltern, I don’t use SWT’s services regularly, however the story was plain to see on Twitter, which was alight with incensed passengers.

Unlike Chiltern, SWT don’t have a Twitter account. Given the phenomenal number of tweets in evidence during the disruption, this would seem to be overlooking a means of easily communicating to large numbers of their customers, and practicing some much needed customer management. As it was, the tweets became ever more irate as people found themselves stuck on trains for up to three hours, while train drivers had to appeal to passengers for information as they couldn’t get any response from the SWT control room. Add to this stories of long delayed passengers being threatened with arrest by the police after leaving trains, and you’ve got a PR disaster on your hands.

In these situations, providing information to passengers, keeping them abreast with the situation and informed as to how things are progressing can make all of the difference. So often it’s the lack of information that infuriates customers. I do wonder whether passengers would still have broken out of their trains had SWT provided regular Twitter updates and an estimated time for when trains would on the move again, and in turn saving themselves from the PR hell that ensued.