One thing I really enjoy about internet access is the huge number of on-line media sites. My morning standard is to check Google News Canada, which gives me an immediate take on what's hot for the news media, as news items are ranked by prevalence.

Along with the local Queen Charlotte Islands Observer, and the "back-east" Globe & Mail, I regularly check out Canada's equivalent of "Auntie Beeb", CBC. I feed my left-wing sympathies by reading The Tyee.

I don't find myself reading too many US media sites, although I do have a subscription to Salon, where, other than being a bit pretentious, my biggest complaint is that they don't have a high enough volume of fresh articles.

What I have been acquiring is a real addiction to British media, everything from the respectable to the point of ponderousness "Auntie Beeb" and The Times (yes, of London), as well as the Guardian, through to the much less serious Daily Mail, the totally light-weight and gossipy Hello! and the defiantly red-top Mirror. I am still studiously avoiding the cricket scores, although I have a weak spot for snooker.

What, you don't think I read 'em just for the sports news? 8-)