Wednesday 29th September

Today is the day I lose the Kindle race. I had made a deal with K's twin that if she ordered a Kindle ebook reader from Amazon just before she went travelling, I'd take it off her hands if it didn't show up in time for K to take it with her to America this week. I hadn't really planned to get one - but I knew I wanted one, and her extended stay out of the country would have let me pay her back gradually. Imagine my disappointment, then, when the parcel (which is being delivered to K's office) turns up this morning - a fact I am alerted to when K posts a twitpic of the contents. It's got here with two days to spare, and in my disappointment I reason that tomorrow is payday and go online to order one for myself. An impulse buy, maybe, but my goodness do they look pretty.

K goes swimming tonight (women only, alas) so I do a nice dinner and leave her a plate out, before watching the final This is England 86, which I missed last night and which wraps up the four-part sequel nicely, and in typically Meadowsian harrowing fashion. Later I watch the beginning of Valencia v Man Utd, which turns out to be a drab affair with little quality on show - so little in fact that I give up on it well before the end (missing United's customary undeserved late winner) when K finally gets home.

I have a good bit of fun charging and setting up K's sister's Kindle, and while I'm sad that I don't get to keep this particular one, I'm at least pleased that it's as pretty and technically impressive as I had hope. It's unbelievably thin and light (something which appeals to me after a long time spent with troublesomely massive new hardbacks) and the screen is genuinely uncanny to look at. It doesn't look like a screen at all - the text appears to be printed on a sold surface and doesn't fade or distort depending on the angle you're looking at it from. The "e-ink" also requires no power to stay on the screen, meaning the battery life is huge and you can leave a page up for as long as you like. I download a couple of free classics, to give them a test read - and K has a little play with it too. Mine is due to dispatch on Friday - can't wait!