Buying (f)or simplyfying!

We went into town this morning to look around for a few things that we are hoping to get cheaper here. First thing we found was a new pair of shoes for me. I hadn't realised how worn down my old sneakers were. There is very little sole left, especially at the heel, so walking on the pavement really started to get tiring and painful. I bought a red pair of TOM's. They are really adorable and have a thick and comfy sole. They are still a bit tight though, cause they need to wear out a bit, which I hope they will soon.
We took some pics for you so you can see them in action.

We then went into an apple store to buy an iPad. Trev wants one for his birthday because he says he can make it replace one of his big music machines with lots of knobs and things on and its gonna be easier and lighter. He's trying to get everything sized down (remember the mini-keyboard) and multifunctional so it'll be easier to move and quick to set up. I think that's a good thing to do. Now that we are out and about with laptop and stuff often, I sometimes feel a bit riddiculous packing all these electronic devices plus chargers and cables... such a mess! I have my laptop, iPod, camera and phone all dangling around in my carry on bag, together with usb cables, charger plugs, adapters, headphones... just crazy! But at the moment it seems like my phone was actually a good buy to solve these issues. It does not have as much memory as the iPod, but I should be pretty ok with the amount of music I can put on it and from testing it in the past few days I must say I can't see any difference in the quality of the sound. So it seems like I can make it be my iPod and phone at the same time. On top of that - sillyness or destiny? - I left the charger for my camera at home, and of course the battery was empty the very day we arrived here. So all the pictures you've seen here lately I took with the camera of my phone. I actually don't really miss the camera features atm. I have some free and very simple photo editing apps on it that are a lot of fun and seem to do the trick for me.
I actually *like* the whole simplicity of it. It means you have to be much more careful of how you take your pictures, but also you somehow get much more room for creativity.
I am really beginning to believe that whole talk about simplicity setting you free etc. etc.

I tried to think of that very hard when we passed by a lot of stores with great, great clothes... (*big sigh*)

Oh, we didn't get the iPad because the strange people at the store made us queue in a very riddiculous way and we just couldn't be bothered to wait. And then we found out it is actually cheaper in Switzerland... oO
We did get very typical pub food at Princess Sophie's (? some princess) though.

prawns

cheese and mushroom pie

We did go to 'The crown and the greyhound' tonight to meet Trev's friend John, but although it was great seeing him again, I think the highlight of my day was the busjourney into town, with the big red bus. We got to sit at the top, right in the front which is the greatest place, you can see everything and it feels like being on a mix between a rollercoaster and an airplane!

Did you know there is a tiny little window in the front of the bus, where the driver can look up into the top floor and into a mirror so he can see all the people up there? Isn't that really cool?

The not so handy thing about the phone camera is that there is no fast way of switching it on. I have to get the keyboard lock out and then turn on the camera which can sometimes take a bit too long, for example when you realise a bus is coming up and you want to take a picture of it. But I'm quite proud of this one. I took another one that I really like of this guy who waited very patiently on his pillar for me to take the picture. :o)

If I can really stay with my phone as a camera, that would mean that I only need my phone and my laptop in the future. That would be so cool. I got a new laptop battery that was very cheap here and arrived in the mail today, and they say it will hold 9 hrs, so it will be perfect for travelling. Since we got our homeserver that I can access over the internet I don't have to worry about storing data or taking everything with me that I might need (like new music to put on the phone). As long as there's internet, everything is there. So cool!
What I need now, because I am an old clumsy, is a good sturdy case for this phone, because it is not exactly as sturdy as my old Nokia... I'm off to google that then!
Hope to see you tomorrow!