Status

[desperance]

Pages: one before coffee (and a long one too!), three at the Lit & Phil. This is way better than anticipated. Now, alas, we face the long barren of the afternoon, with a need for three more. I'm not confident. But still, a good start.

Glasses: fixed. Free of charge. I love my opticians. They may be an Evil Chain but I love them anyway.

Sammich: imminent. Same as yesterday, more or less, though I may toss some cherry tomatoes into the mix.

Also, it occurs to me that if I get a cabbage in the veggie bag tomorrow (which is highly likely at this time of the year), I could chunk up the remaining meatloaf and make a kind of bigos, what with the sauerkraut and all. 'Specially as I have come home via the market and with more sossidges - Landjäger this time.

Also I have minced pork, so steamed chinesey dumplings are by no means impossible.

Query: is the fact that I continue to refuse to have a mobile phone still charming & quaint, or does it just irritate people unreasonably?

Comments

[martyn44.livejournal.com]

Just plain common sense, seeing as you asked.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Not having a mobile phone means you still have a little private time in your life. That's how I see it, not having one either*. This doesn't stop frends offering to lend me one "Just to get you used to the idea." Except that I'm not a technophobe - I just don't want a mobile.

*That's not strictly true. My stepfather gave me one, and I haven't got round to giving it back. It sits forlornly, wondering why I won't use it. It wants to believe I'm a technophobe, but it knows that I just don't like it. So if you want a mobile phone with a complex.....

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I do _have_ a mobile phone. I put ten pounds-worth of credit a year oin it whether I need it or not. I don't give my number out and I doin't have reception at home. So it's purely for those woman-alone-in-car-breakdown times and possibly the 'they've only got them in blue, shall I bring them or not?' times and (just very occasionally) those 'let's all swap numbers so when we get separated accidentally we can all meet up again' times.

If you don't need it for business and you don't worry about being stuck on a country road at the dead of midnight with no petrol, then a phone is redundant as far as I'm concerned. I hate calling people on their mobiles, you catch them at the most awkward times and they haven't got brsainspace to take in what you're saying. (And how many times do you hear phone conversations drifting out of toilet cubicles? Sheesh!)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

There is no point to mobile phones. We have one, which is used only very rarely (usually when one of us is away to say 'am alive. Real phone number is xxx').
For lunch I have eaten hummus. Of course. Also blueberries and tomatoes. Not creative, but it works (unlike me. AM procrastinating in place of proofing).

[camies.livejournal.com]

I almost exclusively use my mobile phone for text messages. Which puts it closer to email than a phone.

[jemck.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say it irritates me unreasonably that you don't have one.

But if, for instance, you followed the ten-quid-a-year-pay-as-you-go notion, I could ring/text you to say, I know you're waiting on a remote railway station where I was supposed to collect you half an hour ago, and don't fret, I will be there as soon as this traffic jam on the M6 clears up.

This is me thinking back to the St Helens gig and forward to Stretford.

[coppervale.livejournal.com]

You're the wind beneath my wings, Chaz.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yes. This is precisely the kind of purpose I was thinking of. I'm almost doing enough travelling these days to make me feel that it might be a good idea. Almost...

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Mine is on silent unless I expect a call. All the advantages of a mobile phone without the annoyances.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I like owning a mobile phone. I was resistant for some time, but then I moved to a place without landline and needed to be contactable, and I haven't looked back since.

My mobile phone is _useful_. It has a calendar function to remind me of appointments, an alarm that gets me up (The Firm: Star Trekking. I laugh every time my alarm goes off. How many people can say that?), a calculator, a usable camera, an MP3 player, a mobile radio, a timepiece- all in my pocket; all of which I've used and needed and would have looked to replace otherwise. (It's been the *perfect* compromise between not wearing a watch and knowing the time at all times.)

My mobile phone allows me to sort out things when I'm out of the house and travelling - no need to look for a phone box (which are increasingly rare, and when I'm abroad I no longer have to worry about _local_ currencies. When I found myself locked out of my acommodation in Berlin last year, I had a phone in my pocket. Yes, it was expensive, but _no_ comparison to having to find a phone in the dark in an unfamiliar district etc.)

A mobile phone makes it easy for me tol receive urgent messages (which was *very* important when I owned a horse). I no longer have to plan my days around the need to receive a phone call. (Otherwise I would just have had to spend 48 hours glued to the landline, starting from this morning - _very_ important call that could have come at any point, from an agency that won't hand out _their_ number - they call you, period.)

To cut a long story short: I find mobile phones immensely useful. You do not have to call people on the train telling them that you're on the train, although when they're standing at the station and you're gonna be late by an hour, calling them seems like a good idea.) You do not have to have an annoying ringtone. You do not have to answer it in any place or at any time that you do not wish to answer it, in fact, you can switch it off.

It's your choice, but I think you're cutting yourself off from a useful tool.

[ellarien]

I hate using the phone at all, but I got the cheapest possible mobile a couple of years ago. It's very handy when I'm traveling and running late or need to meet someone; otherwise it stays in my handbag, switched off, unless I'm calling my mother with it to use up some of the excess mandatory minutes. This does not entirely stop phonespam, but it cuts down the annoyances.