Oh Bold Tigress

I am so impressed. The Tasmanian Tigress (http://tasmaniantigress.blogspot.com/) has ditched her mobile phone. Naturally she's right, we don't need them, we are infinitively contactable via a plethora of other phone lines in most instances. Only a decade ago, not only were mobiles novel but emails, blogs and all the technological wap based bits and bobs not to mention fancy ringing fridges and post box TV's never even existed and we had time to pick fresh fruit and play on haystacks (I know, getting carried away with my childhood and off the point).

Even so, ditching the mobile, I shiver.

My rational brain says 'shiver? You fool. There you are with a phone you only brought so the Indonesian boy to whom email was too formidable a prospect could send you SMS's in bursts of barely comprehensible English, and what happened?' Well, what happened was that his partner network was apparently not compatible with my partner network and the 2 (I know, just two - and you should see my phone bill, but let's move on) sms's he did send therefore ended up going to my sister's phone. Not only that but the phone I choose on the basis it had the cheapest tarif on offer at Tescos's turned out to have been advertised in a way that should but predictably hasn't yet, send me scuttling to the Advertising / Trading Standards Boards.

10p a minute it promised. No asterisks, no mention that this only kicked in after three months with twenty quid a months worth of calls. Plus the easy top up service promised fails for some reason no one at customer services (who you pay 25p to talk to every time their system fails) could fathom, imposes an arbitrary limit on my credit card. I therefore spent a large part of Sunday touring one of England's prettiest Cathedral cities in search of a newsagents that stocked the top up cards. Apparently, most don't cos 'they have this great easy text top up service love' .Quite.

I still have to look up my own number anytime anyone asks me for it, the games are crap on the phone (I loved snake but no nokia with one tel in Tescos), the phone barely rings as I have been useless at giving out the number I haven't learnt, and yet

Not have one?
Tiger Tiger Burning Bright
Will you share your courage tonight?

Actually I didn't have one in Bali. But Bali was Bali and back home, the thought seems more than alien

Just think
There would be no getting drunk and sending inappropriate texts to people I was trying to play it cool with (I am currently avoiding drink in order to stop myself falling in this pithole)
There would be no watching the unringing phone for calls from men who have recently left me bereft
There would be one less thing to worry about paying for

But I would have to impose on the already generous hospitality of those who have and will be putting me up during my stint at home, use their phones, and I plan to be moving round a bit, paying the plethora of bills would entail my friends and family asking me for money and everyone hates doing that.
Which is lucky. As I was on the verge of flushing the problematic bugger down the bog, until my brain at the last leapt on an excuse which not only makes sense, but would make me look like a selfish scrounger not to heed.

Still Tigress, I think you're amazing and when I have a base, will seriously reconsider emulating your action.