Life seems to have taken up a frenetic energy of its own...

March 19-22 saw me travelling to Uganda and back to attend media training on HIV vaccines in Africa. We stayed in Entebbe, at a hotel and conference centre on the shores of an impressively large Lake Victoria.

Unfortunately all I got to see of Uganda, was on foot - 2x 90 minutes walks hot-footing it along the roads. The first walk on my own midst swarms of mosquitoes (they seemed to know to swarm on the side of the road where pedestrians would normally be avoid being hit by cars - I wonder if that is intelligence or luck) took me past the Jane Goddall foundation, the Zoo and then out on the road to the airport. The most fascinating thing for me... I'm still struck dumb by the sight ... was large numbers of Maribou Storks roosting in trees in the main roads.

Walk two was with Christina - my editor at SciDev.Net and the one who made me apply for this trip - and we headed out to Kampala... until it got dark and then turned and walked back. Scooters are THE mode of transport and we were harranged by friendly drivers offering lifts (for a fee of course).

Customs was friendly and efficient and Uganda appears to be friendly and safe, although there is a notable (but not negatively so) military presence.

The day after I got back, my new laptop got itself into a miserable security loop and refused to boot. I tried to remember my DOS days and hacked around deleting what I thought was safe, but to no avail. Of course being Easter weekend I had to wait to Tuesday - so the old, slow and cranky laptop was pulled out of retirement so that I could continue to work.

It is still going strong - as long as I remember not to open more than two programmes at a time. Said new laptop has had a DHL ride to George - but it was a closed call.

Tuesday came and I called the support desk and was told there was no alternative, but to send the machine in. I was not happy with this and was seriously contemplating the format C: option (and the unpleasant and time consuming rigmarole of reloading everything) when I had a call to say that my little back-up camera (the one that had gone belly-up before my trip to Knysna) had been repaired under warranty and was ready for collection.

That gave me the courage and confidence to send my poor baby in via DHL. Now we wait and see - and curse this poor old sluggard, even though it has been a good work horse.

Otherwise: I'm off to Cape Town on Friday, 28 March for the Land Rover media launch of the G4 Challenge - it should be lots of fun and outdoor activity, and I'm also busy with training walks for a berg trip I've organised - a traverse of the northern Drankensberg from 18-22 April - culminating on my 41st (gulp) birthday.

Went on a training walk up to 4 Palms this evening with a 7.8kg pack - slowly increasing the weight - and tried out the GPS facility on my new cell phone - actually I don't think it should be called a phone. Making calls was one of the last things I figured out how to do!! But the amount of information that is available via GPS is mind boggling - and its proving to be a distracting toy - for the first few days at least. It is 2.6km from Steers near the University to home - and PAWS and I walked at an average of about 6km an hour (give or take sniff stops and other doggy pleasures and necessities).