What a beautiful little village it is, and in what a glorious location. I have to say that the views over the loch as you come in down the road are superior to those in Lochgoilhead, because our road never gets high above the loch. There were some beautiful houses in the village (some of them were for sale as well and at very reasonable prices – so just as well that our house search didn’t get quite so far out as this) and even a bit of ‘E’ data coverage from Vodafone which was an unexpected bonus.

It was quite sad to see that a number of the shops were not tenanted and that on a fine Sunday in August there didn’t seem to be many tourists about (good for us, but not good for the area). R and I were discussing this, and we both agreed that as fast broadband makes it nearly everywhere, the few places left that don’t have it (much of rural Argyll for a start) are going to be increasingly disadvantaged, to the extent that businesses will not want to locate here and house prices start to fall off. We are supposed to be getting our rollout in Lochgoilhead next year – I will be interested to see how that goes.

In practice however the situation seems to be that outside the major cities they basically have 2G only.  I’ve just travelled by train from Dumfries (South Scotland) to Glasgow and the most signal I have had the whole way is Edge.  This was really annoying because I have my shiny new Lumia 1020 and my super fast Surface Pro 2, but without connectivity they are of limited use and basically I couldn’t do the piece of work I had planned.

So practically speaking I have the choice of 3 – where I was very satisfied with the service but don’t have any coverage at home, or Vodafone where I am not impressed at all, but I can at least make calls.  This is not a good choice and I think it is something the Scottish Government really need to address.  I don’t see how they are expecting to attract businesses into the country (particularly the Highland and Islands) when not only is the broadband inadequate, but you can’t even fall back on the 3G network because it is non-existent…..

If there was one single thing which would win my vote at the next election it would be sorting out this data access problem for once and for all.  Rant over because I knew all this before I moved to the country – but it really is annoying.  Are you listening Mr Salmond?

So 1992 – I am a junior support technician with an IT consultancy.

Business – nothing.  I am way too junior for a laptop which are still an executive preserve.  I am thinking about perhaps having a mobile phone but they are quite expensive and I certainly wouldn’t have one supplied with the job.  When I am on call I have a pager.

Pleasure – again nothing – I have a desktop PC at home and a server to practice networking – but no mobile kit.

1998 – In Server support for an insurance company.  Somewhat come up in the world because I don’t crawl around under desks any more.

Business – Nokia mobile phone – bought it myself but can charge calls to company.  Still too junior for a laptop but my boss has one.

Pleasure – The same Nokia mobile phone.

2002 – Messaging team for a multi-national Pharma

Business – IBM Thinkpad Laptop, Nokia mobile phone supplied by company.

Pleasure – The same mobile – they seem happy enough to pay for all my calls and I am not arguing about it.  I wouldn’t take the laptop because it is heavy and the internet is not that interesting.

2007 – Head of Messaging team for same Pharma Company

Business – HP laptop.  Blackberry.

Pleasure – Nokia mobile (my own because I don’t want the BB on holiday with me thanks).

2010 – Immediately before I leave corporate life – Associate Director with same Pharma

Business – Thinkpad, company IPhone (replaced BB)

Pleasure – IPhone, IPad (my own first tablet).

2011 – Starting our own company.

Business – Thinkpad, HTC Android (worst phone I have ever had for shortest period of time), iPad.

Pleasure – As above – can’t be disconnected on holiday with a new business

2012 – Company well established now

Business – Thinkpad, Lumia 800 WP7, Iconia W500 Windows tablet (my first Windows tablet with preview version of 8 on it)

Pleasure – As above but don’t actually need Thinkpad unless I need a machine with a lot of punch.

2013 – Company established and doing well

Business – Surface Pro, Surface RT, HTC 8X WP8.  I need to have both Surfaces because the RT can’t run all the software I need, and the Pro’s battery life is not great.

Pleasure – Surface RT, HTC 8X.  For pleasure trips I can get away without much desktop software as long as I have Office.

2014 – Now.

Business – Surface Pro 2.  Lumia 1020

Pleasure – Surface Pro 2, Lumia 1020

So the point of this very long post is that for many years the trend was ever upwards with kit getting ever heavier and more burdensome to carry about.  Even the advent of the IPad and other consumer type devices didn’t help that much if you were travelling on business with a need for full on content creation type software.  Then last couple of years along came Windows 8 tablets and matters were greatly improved.  But until the Surface Pro 2 I never had a single device I could travel with that fulfilled all the qualities of functionality, weight and battery life such that all I needed to go with it was a phone.  The last 20 years shows a graph where we started off carrying nothing because nothing was worth carrying, went up to a point where we were carrying tons because the tech was not very portable, and has now come right back down – to where we don’t have to carry much because a little goes a long way.