Tadley-Web
A year ago on this day, I arrived in Maumere, Flores. I wanted to write up my travels to (and including) the Komodo National Park, because it was a beautiful trip through stunning scenery and filled with interesting encounters. However, there are two problems: I can’t read my photocopied scribbles very well (most of the writing was done on ricketty buses!) and Tadley-web is down. Again.
I may not get back online until we fly off to Australia, since these things can take days to resolve while the ISP and BT pass the bug to each other (when they’re both finally done with blaming the customer—which can take an entire afternoon of automated phone calls!) Since we are no longer the only ones on Brookside Walk with a broadband connection, I could just wait for the neighbours to deal with the hassles, like I did last time. The problem is that they think the same and so it becomes a war of attrition. Which is fine, because we’re off on holiday 🙂
—In short, don’t expect to hear from me until then!
But Maumere makes me wonder. It is a small town, about the size of Tadley, at the tip of the island of Flores. This makes it about as remote as the Outer Hebrides, with the important difference that TV reception works better in Maumere. A ship calls perhaps once a week, but otherwise you’ll have to take a bemo or minibus to the next town to get anywhere. Yet, on this day last year, I stood in an internet café that was hidden in a site-street, and there were rows upon rows of gleaming computers, all with fast internet connections.
Tadley is the village opposite Britain’s Atomic Weapons Establishment. There is another, smaller nuke base nearby (as well as a helicopter base) and Greenham Common is just down the road. The village is half-way between Reading and Basingstoke and half an hour’s drive from Heathrow, but if you want to go anywhere, you have to take a bus to Reading or Basingstoke first. TV reception here is shaky (no Channel Five), DAB radio is fraught with interference, mobile phone coverage varies and every time I connect to the web, I have to cross my fingers.
Yesterday, as on so many occasions, I was unceremoniously thrown offline, and I haven’t been able to get back since.
I’ll see you again in Australia!
Tags: Australia, Tadley Times, Tag Index
Denni