Amazon announced today that their e-reader type device, the Kindle, is available in the UK. There’s been a lot of fuss about it over in the US, and for some it’s become a much loved gadget. It can hold up to 1,500 books, and download new material over a free mobile connection.

Well, it’s kind of available in the UK. At the moment you have to buy it from Amazon.com, who will ship it to you in the UK. When you add on taxes and import duty, you’ll end up paying around £200 for it.  There’s also no Kindle material store on Amazon.co.uk at the moment, so you’ll have to buy your ebooks from Amazon.com.

It ships to the UK with a US plug and a USB cable for charging, and the experimental web browser and blog reader won’t apparently work in the UK either.

All in all, it seems like a bit of a very weird shopping experience for Kindle users in the UK. Not something you’d expect from Amazon. I love reading books, but don’t quite see the point in splashing out so much money on what is basically an electronic replacement for books. It’s kind of too specific. I think I’ll wait and see if Apple brings out their tablet next year as are the rumours – hopefully it’ll be more of a netbook than just a book reader.

A load of us are heading out on Saturday night and then on Sunday (my actual birthday) some of us are going out for lunch which I’m looking forward to. I actually feel like I haven’t been out for ages, though it’s only been two weeks.

Apart from that, I’ve been cooking loads recently – pork burger and sweet potato chips (very easy yet tasty), steak with roasted cherry tomatoes and cannelini beans, pitta bread mini pizzas with goats cheese for lunch and I even made biscuits on Sunday ‘cos I was completely bored stiff. It’s all from this book which I’d highly recommend if you like cooking.

Work is not very exciting at the moment either. Roll on next Wednesday when i’m off to Dallas for a week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my overtime from Children In Need comes through this month so I can go crazy at the shops.

Also, while I’m having a mini rant, I’m completely fed up with the rubbish weather we’re having at the moment. It makes it nearly impossible to get out of bed in the morning. I want to see the sun again!

I’m reading a great book at the moment which I thought I’d point out. It’s called “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and it’s all about a guy at high school in the US. It’s just written in a really nice way, and bits of the book (by no means all of it though!) remind me of growing up.

You can get it from Amazon here.