...expressing my delight the other day when I found in my bedrooms in two new hotels in China a simple all-purpose wall socket that took the plugs of many nations - including those of the UK.

I have not previously encountered such a thing in years of travel.

It is wonderful not to have to struggle any longer with those converters that never exactly fit, or fail to have a vital hole or pin. It is normally discovered only when a shave is vital or a flat battery urgently needs a recharge to enable recordings to continue.

Oh, what pleasure to plug in my three-pin British plug the other evening in Inner Mongolia, so very far from home.