World Of Tourism

I've always been a firm believer in the power of reading, there's nothing quite like a good book, a hot chocolate and a roaring fire. I love all genres, history, romance, comedy, family sagas, the list truly is endless and that's the fantastic thing about it. When I go to the annual family gathering and give a book as a present to one of the many cousins I can see the disappointment in their face and that in itself is disappointing. The value of books and readings has declined at such a rate that everything nowadays is internet, gaming, ipods and playstations.

Reading is so important and many of us are losing sight of that. It increases vocabulary, general knowledge and takes the imagination to new heights. There is no better feeling than reading a classic and falling in love with the characters, imagining what they look like, how they move and interact with each other and enjoying the skills of a talented writer.

My dream is to be that writer, to have written the book that lies on the bedside table eagerly awaiting to be read by an inquiring mind. When I was younger I would soak up the information like the much heard of sponge and be transported to a world of stories that only the human imagination could have come up with.

While visiting a friend recently I could see that she was upset and had been crying, when I asked her what happened I was touched by her answer. Her four year old son had been given her old books, the ones she would read as a young girl, she treasured them then as much as she did in her adulthood. To her dismay, her son had decided to tear up the book and use the paper to make paper planes. Now as upset as she was, she knew he was young and didn't understand what he had done but she made it clear to him that what he had done was unacceptable and that books should be handled with respect and care.

It made me feel good to know that there are still mothers in the world that realize the importance of a good book. We should all take that lesson and apply it to our own lives as well the lives of our children. Books may be considered outdated and useless but I can assure you that that couldn't be further from the truth. There's a wealth of knowledge on those dusty shelves, get out the feather duster and give them a good clean and open your mind to infinite possibilities that only a good book can give you.

(Please see UPDATE at end)During yesterday I had intermittent problems with my broadband connection. This culminated at about 5pm when my internet connection went down completely and has not as yet been restored.Diagnosing what the real problem is has not yet reached a proper conclusion. My ISP (AOL) informed me on the telephone this morning that whilst there were some problems in my local

Some might think we are living in the age of enlightenment. Personal growth is at the top of every one's list, its all Dr Phil and Oprah's Live Your Best Life reruns and books by Eckard Tolle. Regardless of your personal opinion, we are without argument living in the age of technology too. High speed Internet and social networks have replaced loneliness with the hope that we are in fact, never alone.

Revenge doesn't seem to fit into either of these categories, its an antiquated notion that we are to forget forgiveness and repay eyes with eyes and teeth with teeth. Optometry and dentistry have never had it so good. So, with the idea of revenge categorised with other acts of pre primary evolution its rare to come across a gem like I found today.

A woman in Malaga was arrested after posting an ad on the net promising sex from her ex boyfriends new girlfriend for free! Too good to be true? Yes, unfortunately. The new girlfriend started getting calls from hopefuls and before you could say "wow, that was nasty" the old girlfriend was caught, arrested and will be charged with something like Defamation of Character. So, she's not smart - this old girlfriend but she probably got a little thrill out of it. Lets hope it was enough to keep her warm at night in a cold, lonely jail cell. Seems that mathematically, this love triangle made the victim look like a square and the perpetrator and her plan decidedly pear shaped.

Here's my advice to anyone listening...don't do that. Maybe the new girlfriend isn't your choice for the man you used to love but here's the thing - if you're capable of that, how nice a girlfriend could you have been to start off with? OK, I'll cut her some slack, no one likes a judger but if you are hell bent on revenge, keep it old school.

That's bad advice I know. So don't take my word for it, tune into Tourism Radio and keep your eyes open for a brand new product coming end April...its going to rock.

This morning there seems to be severe disruption of the internet, presumably as a result of the weather (we are having heavy snow in Nairn just at present).I can get onto a few sites sporadically, but a lot of others simply won't load - for example my email provider website appears to be down, a few blogs seem to be available, at least partially, but the whole thing is very patchy.I'll try and

A serious security flaw has been found in Microsoft's internet browser Internet Explorer (IE) affecting the latest version IE7 - apparently Microsoft are working urgently on a fix, but until this is released it is being suggested that users switch to a rival such as Firefox.I tend to use Firefox most of the time anyway (and have done so for about 3 or so years), as I've never liked IE and find it

(Please see UPDATE at end - I'm back online!)I had a trouble-free, if tiring, journey back to Scotland on Friday; I left home in Mazarron at about 2am for the drive up to Alicante for a 6am flight to East Midlands Airport, where I spent from 7.30am British time until 1pm waiting for the flight up to Inverness. East Midlands Airport, the airport for Nottingham, Leicester, Derby and someplace