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Yesterday I went to . As the name definitely does not suggest, this is an exhibition of products and services aimed at blind and visually impaired people.

It takes place in the Clarendon Suites in Birmingham and is always extremely well attended. Blind people, their canes, dogs, sighted guides or all of the above make their way slowly and deliberately around 90 different stands, picking up leaflets, testing out products, asking advice on anything from employment to independent living, from how to receive at a football match to how to work their new high-tech PDA. I was one of them. My facilitator told me that there was dog hair absolutely everywhere

What really struck me was the price of everything. I came across a talking tape measure for 40 pounds, a simple GPS device for over 400 pounds, and a little plastic brailler for taking short notes which was 125 pounds. Needless to say I bought something. A .

There were a few gadgets that caught my attention though. Cobalt launched something called the ITel, which claims to make any Ipod talk. You jus plug it in to the player, plug your earphones in to the gadget and there you have it, a talking MP3 player. I don't have an Ipod, but would nearly buy an ITel so that I can have a look through the music collections of my friends.

The other thing which grabbed me straight away was called an IPower. This consists of a little camera on a very skinny and portable tripod. You position it over a page, hit one key on the attached laptop, and a picture is taken of the text. The accompanying software processes and reads the printed material aloud almost instantly. You can scan in a whole book with this baby in a matter of minutes. And sure it only costs 16 hundred quid.

So although Sight Village is exhausting, and often a huge drain on your finances, it's more than just an exhibition. The blind world is tiny. There are literally 2 degrees of separation between one VI person and another, which makes it the top event in a blind person's social calendar. As much as it pains me to say it, I'll probably make my way there again next year, leaving the credit card at home.