Remember C64?

That's unlike me, isn't it? I go travelling, and hardly two blog posts come your way. And I was disappointed myself in their length and quality.

If you want me to tell you the truth, it's because Macs make me nervous. I don't trust them with long stints of typing, it's not natural. Plus, the keyboard was stiff in places, and instead of dust and dirt jammed underneath the perspex, there was a curiously large spider.

Anyway, I'm back in England, and filled with mixed feelings. Why? Because part of me wants to stay here, part of me wants to go back. I love England, it's a wonderful country, and it's my home. Most people I know are here, my stuff is here, I have my own room full of rubbish, it's the way I've known it. Canada is also a wonderful country, with shockingly friendly people everywhere you go. It doesn't have my stuff, but it does have some family and friends. A return flight costs nothing, and I'm seriously about going back for a couple of months before I leave.

But! There are some problems with Canada. I'm sure I already mentioned the limiting speed limit. It doesn't end there. While it doesn't have nearly the same SUV infestation that America does (I didn't see a single Hummer), it is full of pick-up trucks. Roan drives one even. But I can see the use of them. Roan carts stuff around all the time. But still, there are more than I'd like in my country. Plenty of Estate cars as well, which I just plain don't like. However, redeeming much of this, thousands of Subarus! I even drove one for the first time. It wasn't an Impreza, but it did have all wheel drive and was pretty responsive. This one belonged to Anna, Leitha's friend. They are mostly Estate or SUV crossovers, but still, Subarus, they're quality vehicles. I am dreaming of owning one still.

But what's the point of a fast car if you have speed limits that never get close to 120kmh? It would be a very restrictive time for me to live there. My patience would die out and all my savings would go straight onto speeding fines.

Anyway, it'd be fun to go there and fix up the Reliant K car, hang out with cousins more, and just get more of a feel for the place. I mean, come on, their province is bigger than my country. Plus, Roan and I are planning to fix up the cars and sell them on for profit, increasing our fixing until we can afford that Fury. While driving back from the Milford Lodge, Roan spotted a nice looking car, and instructed me to turn around and go and take a look. When we got there, we saw it was a 1968 Plymouth Fury, in alright condition. The owner saw us pull into his drive, and came to see who we were. We struck up a long conversation about the car and about music (he and Roan had played with some of the same people). The car had been sitting for a while so wouldn't start, but otherwise was in good condition. It needed some paint work and maybe even a reupholstering, but it was drivable and shockingly beautiful. He wanted $1700 for it, which I'm sure we could have argued down to $1200. Well, it became our goal. That's something to return for.

A few months ago, I bought a PSP. I haven't spoken about it much, but it's been a great thing to have. On holiday it saved me from all the times I was stuck alone. While touring Spain and France I watched most of a new anime and in Canada it brought me the rest with some Family Guy as well. I also put some albums on it, and as soon as I found out Val had wireless, I was set. While I was there, I bought GTA Vice City Stories, and boy, did that throw me back to my youth. I really am getting back into gaming in a big way, and the PSP has helped. I'm still looking for MGS3 second hand, I never got to play it back in the day, and I have to do something about that before MGS4 comes out.

I could have typed out blog posts on my PSP, it's true. It would have saved me from the Mac, but it didn't seem worth it with all the clicking and entering more than fifteen characters of text taking a while. So I used it for browsing more than writing. And while I bought a few second hand games, I also bought some new hardware. Computer hardware I tend to go for new stuff, knowing that it can wear out and fail, and leave you with nothing. The same can happen with new stuff, but it's under warranty. So I have a new DVDRW and a brand new mouse. The last mouse I had, was a expensive Microsoft Intelimouse, which cost me around £50. It was very good, but it wore out. It started double and triple clicking on left click and middle click, which is murder on tabbed browsing. I feel it should have lasted more than the four years it did, but maybe that's optimism gone too far.

I went and purchased the top end Razer mouse in Canada. It cost about $60, which is less than the £41 it is here. It has 2000dpi, which is murder in the Windows environment, but stunningly fun in the FPS environment. I had a frantic bout of Half Life 2: Episode One last night. I'm eager for Portal more than anything else to be honest. I tried out Narbacular Drop, which one could assume is the prequel, and I have had to stop myself from playing in case I ruin Portal for myself.

I am yet to install my DVDRW drive, which will replace my existing one which no longer writes or reads CDs. Which is bad because all the music I listen to in the car is CD based. Anyway, now I can take the old one and make a laser pointer out of the laser.

Before I go, I should mention, the anime I watched on my PSP was The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. It's writing and storytelling method I regard as on par with Lost. Not quite as enjoyable, but close. I'm overjoyed at the news of a second season, and I recommend anyone who is into good storytelling and anachronous plots.

But that's enough for now.