'Can I borrow your laptop tonight?'.

'Oh shit' I thought.

'I have to file my copy tomorrow morning or I get fired so I need to work through the night to get it in in time'.

'Why can't you get them to extend it?'

'I normally do but this time they have refused. The Production Director has insisted it's in or I get fired'.

I am very envious of Dan as I think he has a perfect job. He's a journalist for BIKE magazine. Once a month he sends in piece on his latest adventures. He gets enough cash to be able to live for the rest of the month. So, as long as he keeps BIKE happy, he need never stop traveling.

However, as a freelance contributor he is not in a strong position. He is only as good as his last piece. What makes him different is his that writing is on a totally different level to the rest of the magazine. Some of his pieces are positively poetic. I'm not surprised it takes him a week to produce his two thousand words.

He should be writing novels.

Titicaca Style

It was seven pm. Although I wasn't keen on lending it to him it was his livelihood and I didn't want him to get fired. His trip would be over.

In spite of riding bikes for many years Dan has never actually owned one of his own. He didn't look after his current loan bike very well so I had doubts about how well he'd look after my laptop.

It had the whole of my website on it, all my emails and addresses, hundreds of photos, all my ramblings and lots of software. If anything happened to it I wouldn't be able to download the photos from my cameras or update my website until it was fixed or replaced.

I had spent a whole week in Lima reinstalling all the software when I put in a new hard drive. If he dropped it I'd be buggered.

'If you buy me a new one within a week?'

'Ok'

We went to his hotel where I set it up, gave him my password and left him to it.

As soon as I left I thought 'the power cable goes across the floor directly on his path to the loo. If he gets up in the middle of the night and trips over it he'll pull my laptop off the table onto the floor'.

It was too late to worry now.

I tried to put myself in his position. If I had a problem later on he'd definitely be more likely to help me now that I had helped him.

I was outside his room at nine am as I wanted to update my website.

I knocked on the door

'Hi Dan'.

I was expecting him to be asleep but the door opened quickly. He was wide awake and had been working.

'I got another mail late last night. They're going to use the two thousand next month and want one thousand on something completely different. Can we go for a wander through the town and take some pictures?'

I have two digital cameras so I can update this site quickly. It also maans I don't have to change lenses anymore. When I had had one camera and two lenses inevitably I'd have the wrong one on but by the time I'd changed it the shot had usually gone.

'Ok, how about early evening when the light is good?'

'Fine'.

Dan had not had a good time over the last few days. He had caught up with me in Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca . He had dropped his digital camera crossing the border and it had died. The lens wouldn't pop out at all. He had tried loads of things but couldn't bring it back to life. Without it he couldn't take photos for his next piece. Hence the request.

Then I had a brainwave.

'Look, you really like my bike. Why don't I give you my bike, laptop and cameras and just go home?. I could get a job and send you some cash every week help you on your way.'

'Great idea' said Dan.