We won't go into the details of this trip, but a few specifics are called for in order to explain a point. We're in North America for almost four weeks before we get to my mother with whom I spoke on the phone after one week on the road. She was pleased to speak on the phone and noted that she didn't have a phone number for our next stop. And then it clicks for her: but I can send you e-mail there. (That is, of course, a logical topic for a future column.) But she's just getting the knack of e-mail while I'm enjoying being away from mine. I suppose that articles of this sort show up around the beginning of the summer in almost every city and in almost every newspaper, but I arrived in Montreal on time to catch one on the subject. The gist of the article I found is, of course, that it's nice to be able to be away from e-mail for a while. But being able to check your mail from anywhere in the world while on vacation doesn't necessarily mean being addicted to work. It can also mean extending your vacation into worktime as well.

Journal or not, however, this column is showing signs of the chronological order in which it was written. "One full week" was written when that was still a true statement. This is being added two weeks later, when a change of venue has brought about a change in e-mail habits - almost daily.

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