Just came home from a little night out with two nice Tanzanian fellas.

But the real issue today concerns cars and phones. While I was still in the USA, my wife's father decided to buy us a car. Awfully nice of him - we have true need for our own private four-wheel vehicle at least a dozen times a year.

People who know me also know that I'm not particularly fond of telephones in general. Now these two machines - cars and phones - have joined forces in establishing a dilemma for me. In this country, handling the phone while driving is illegal, which means that everyone has three options: not to answer their phones or call anyone on the road, to answer or call in the traditional way and consequently break the law, or to use a hands-free apparatus. Our car, incidentally, has an elaborate HF system installed and ready. The only problem is that our phones are not compatible with that kit; in fact, only a few (Nokia) phones are. We have three (legal) options: to switch to compatible phones, to switch to a kit that fits our phones, or to get a less advanced and more generic HF system for our car. Since I'm planning to buy a new phone anyway, I may choose the first alternative - even though the phone models that go with the car kit we have are either old or unnecessarily fancy and expensive. There's something strange in going to these lengths to make the main product fit the accessory. At least we're not going to buy a car according to what kind of HF kit or phones we have.

Maybe I'll start buying only used cell phones from now on. That would be congruous with the modest importance I place on them. I don't need or even want advanced data connections on my phone. I have a computer for that. Sound delivery and text messages are all I want (from phones, that is). 01:36