At long last the Post Office has got around to introducing self-service posting machines that have been common if not ubiquitous in continental Europe for some years.

The one I used in St James Centre on Saturday had all the necessary bells and whistles; large/small letter gauge, weighing machine, touch sensitive screen with all the postal choices you can think of, a coin slot, a note tray, a credit card slot, a stamp printing only facility and all done in a jolly red and white livery.

The only obstacle to postal paradise was a small boy playing drums on the touch sensitive screen but I made short work of him; not in an unkind Giles Coren manner, more in the manner of a traditional ogre.

Another machine that has tickled my fancy this week is my second internet radio. I got fed up moving the first one from bedside to lounge given all the crawling under the bed to unplug it and trailing cables here and there. So I've invested in a little gadget hardly bigger than half a cucumber that sits tidily on top of my hi-fi, is permanently connected to it and brings the world to my ears.

It's currently streaming a station called Barcelona Jazz that may very well wean me away from TSF.