There wasn't much to occupy my attention as I sped through Oman during the launch of the new Bentley Continental GT (on roads whose silken surfaces we can only dream of).
No traffic in either direction. Nothing in the rear-view mirror. No speed cameras. The sublime £140,000 car – another in a succession of recent candidates as the best Bentley ever made - was pretty much taking care of itself.
So it seemed like a good time to check my emails and texts. Instead of fiddling with my BlackBerry at 80mph+ however, I touched a symbol on the information screen.
A voice like the one you hear in department stores started speaking the words of a message from my wife, asking if I had remembered our arrangement for dinner with friends tomorrow evening. This is followed by a message from my oldest friends asking where the hell on earth I am this time.
To reply, I would have had to pull over and tap my messages into the system in text. But the day cannot be far off when you will be able to dictate your answer, saying: "Thank you for your message. Alas, I am far away, without a care in the world, and do not choose to enter into correspondence at this moment."
Voice/text is the latest development in in-car IT systems and is rapidly trickling down through the market. It was only two years ago that BMW became the first manufacturer in the world to provide email access in cars.
A voice/text facility was introduced into BMW's new 5-series this year. By this time next year, it should be available on the whole range of new mid-size Fords based on the forthcoming Focus.
Voice-activated systems (such as those to operate satellite navigation and scroll through MP3 players) are old hat, of course. The first that I remember was on a Honda Prelude in 1996.
But the latest creations are remarkable for the fact that they actually have the ability to recognise and respond to a human voice speaking in normal tones.
The superb voice-recognition system in the marvellous new Ford Mondeo is the first I have ever used which did not have to be yelled at like a deaf person from a foreign country before it would understand and execute your instructions.
"The microphones have hugely improved," laughed a Ford spokesman, "as has our understanding about where to position them."
Ford's system has been developed with Microsoft. General Motors is running refinements to its OnStar system. Bentley's works off SVOX.
In every case, it's clear that this advance is as much to be welcomed as hands-free operations for mobile phones.
