Driving Miss Bonnie...Sean...Jane...Ken...

I just started my new job (even though I'm still doing elements of the old one, until the project wraps up at the end of March). It kicked off on Friday, but today I had my first official meeting with my new line manager, so today felt more like the first day. I'm excited about it, because there is a lot to do, and it's a completely new role so I'll get to shape it as I go.

But one of the aspects of the job is a decent amount of driving around the region, which a lot of people in the company do. This isn't a big deal, but recently the organization decided to invest in SatNav for everyone. So I got a new TomTom last week, and took it for its first spin today.

The Mazda is getting a tune-up, so Mark and I commuted together this morning in Noddy (the Honda). We knew where we were going, but I wanted to try it out, so I plugged the TomTom into the ligher and fired it up. There was a lot of set up and we soon had to make the biggest decision of all - which voice to use.

I had a listen to each and there were a few contenders. There are a mix of accents to choose from (and languages, if I could use if I could remember any of my high school Spanish, which I don't, unfortunately). There were a couple which I just couldn't imagine listening to for more than the 10 second test message, but there were more viable options than I had expected.

There was Jane, the Brit (very BBC, nice to listen to, doesn't grate on the nerves), Bonnie, the American (not as annoying as the guy American, I don't remember his name, sentimental, reminds me of home), Ken, the Australian (although not as strong an Aussie accent as one could have hoped - I guess they were trying to avoid the "Crocodile Dundee" stereotypes) and Sean, the Irishman (Kathy, the female Irish voice was in there with a chance, but Sean had a more obvious lilt, I think).

It was a tough call, but I went with Sean in the end. There wasn't one with a Scottish accent, which I think probably would have won the day, but Sean is quite nice. I might have to give the others a spin, maybe for a change of pace, or if Sean and I have a falling out.

Tomorrow is going to be the real test, because I have a 2 and a half hour drive to Slough to do, which I'm not exactly looking forward to (you may not know where it is, but it was where the fictional company in the original British version of The Office was located, so make your own conclusions). So we'll see how we do.

It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.