The week from hell

We’ve had better weeks. Having come to terms with Harri’s hernia, we’ve all since succumbed to a stomach bug, which affected poor Harriet worse of all. Incompetent parenting on my part hasn’t helped, but thankfully she’s not been sick since first thing this morning and has eaten a few scraps. She appears to have her appetite back and is doing well. Toni was bedridden for most of yesterday, and I’ve been bedridden until now.

In an ideal world I’d have not got up at all, but I’m remembering why I gave up gadget group tests for Focus all those years ago. I recently accepted an eReader roundup for MSN Tech & Gadgets UK – as it was my first piece for this web site I didn’t want to say no, but it’s like Groundhog Day. Three of the five eReaders have proved simple to source, but the last two were nigh on impossible. I’ve ended up buying one for the purposes of the group test which came to more than the fee, so the prospect of buying another doesn’t appeal for obvious reasons.

I did think I’d struck gold finally today, but the UK arm of this particular eReader forwarded my request to the States, which means I’ll have to spring for shipping, import duties and the cost of returning the device – easily £60-100. Plus it won’t arrive for another 7-10 business days, so will go beyond my original deadline (next Monday). I’m left praying that Sony may be able to dig me out of a hole by letting me borrow two models to complete the numbers. I’m not holding my breath.