Wednesday 21 May 2014

Mobility matters


There are few things worse than trying to use someone else's phone.  Obviously there are many things worse, but reading and replying to a text from my friend's housemate as said friend tried to drive in convoy, at speed through rush hour traffic wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done.  It's quite an old phone, with at least three letters on each key.  I had to start again four times before I found the delete button, and where on earth is the full stop?   I have never sent such a badly-punctuated text.

It didn't help that calls were coming in at the same time from passengers in the other vehicles we were travelling with.  We lost the lead driver early on, as she was following her satnav and turned off unexpectedly.  "Tell them not to worry," my friend said, "I think I know the way.  Oh, and you'd better call the others so they don't panic either."  That was all very well, but my friend had dropped her phone in a pot of paint some days previously, so you have to hold it horizontally and speak into the end - but then you can't hear what the other person is saying.  It also didn't help that the other person had two very vocal lambs in the back of her vehicle and we had two dogs in ours.

At least we all had our phones switched on, unlike my beloved.  His defence?  "I wanted to save the battery, and I didn't need to speak to anyone."  My response? "That's why you nearly had nasty pizza instead of nice beef chow mien.