Last week I attended and spoke at the Chinese Software Global Summit in Shanghai.
Thanks to the oddity of a volcanic erruption in Iceland, my flight back to the UK was cancelled on Saturday, leaving me stranded in Shanghai for at least a few weeks.
I’m now working from Chicago in the US, as it has to be easier to fly back from here than China. And with a flight booked for Sunday, my fingers are tightly crossed that I get home soon.
China was an incredible experience, and I’ll be writing more of that in the coming weeks. But my situation meant (and still means) that I am more appreciative of technology than ever before.
Thanks to modern software, hardware and infastructure I have been able to see and speak with family and friends, access my email, documents and systems and work more or less as normal.
Yet I can’t help but be struck that in this age of incredible technological advancement, most of a continent has been more or less paralysed by a smoking volcano. Technology can only get us so far.
PS: My apologies if this post is less than smooth. I’ve been averaging 4.5 hours of sleep a night for the last week. Apparently I don’t handle jet lag well!
