Telephones...

When I answer my phone on public transport (which is rare) my first line is 'it's a secret' because the first question on the other end is 'Hi, where are you?'

I learnt this from Ary... he pointed it out to me a few years ago when I rang him said 'Hi, where are you?' and he wouldn't tell me where he was. He later told me that he was on the bus but while you're on the bus, if you listen when people answer their phones, their first response really is 'Hi, I'm on the bus!' I'd never noticed before. So now I too say 'It's a secret' or 'I'm not telling you' just because I can! Makes me smile.

The other phone conversation that I have which makes me smile is when I phone home and my Dad answers. 'Hi Dad, it's me' I say... without fail he replies 'Who's me?' You only have one daughter, who else calls you Dad?! I dare say my Dad and I are quite alike in our sense of humour. I don't want to consider where I got my dirty mind from, if it's all the same!

After receiving a ridiculously large phone bill last month, I decided that calling my phone people today to sort out my mobile phone plan was a good idea! My phone is an Apple but my provider is another sort of fruit! I told them that I would like to investigate whether I'm on the right phone plan for my usage. Now I thought this would be a fairly straightforward conversation, given that I carry over the 400 free minutes talk time every month so surely reducing the talk time thus reducing the bill is the way forward?

Apparently not!

My main usage is text messages so I need a package that gives me unlimited texts... I have been known to send 1000 in a month so it makes sense to have the capacity to do that for free. I'd quite like some leeway for picture messages too... we all like to send those don't we?! And I need data! Being without the internet at the tip of my fingers at any given moment is like chopping off my arm.

I can remember the days of my first ever mobile phone, which incidentally I still have cause I'm a hoarder don't you know?!... if I knew where it was, I'd blip it... but it didn't fit in my pocket like my iPhone does, it required a handbag. I also remember the days of the old fashioned dialing telephone like this one that we had at home, the one that had a little silver lock on it during my teenage years... ineffective when you hide the key in the pot on the shelf above though it has to be said. When boys had to call your house number and speak to your parents before they got to you. There was none of this text bullying and all that nonsense in those days!! Yes I realise I sound totally fucking ancient but I'd thank you for not pointing it out!

I waited on hold until the nice man waded through my requests and advised me that I could keep my hotspot, (ooer) have 1000 minutes talk time - hang on, weren't you listening when I told you I don't use 400 minutes a month? - unlimited text messages and 2GB of data I wish I actually knew what the MB/GB part of it actually means which is double what I have at the moment for an extra 6 quid. Okay... does he not understand that the point of my call was after last months' bill was a pretty outrageous 75 quid?

Apparently this is what I should do so that I don't go over my data limit. Ummmm... okay then.

So on top of the plan and the VAT I pay 12 quid in insurance for my iPhone every month. That's 144 quid a year on the off chance that I might damage or lose my phone. I decided cause I'm really clever that in all the years I've owned a mobile phone which is far more than I care to count that I've never damaged okay there was the time where I threw it out of bed and it landed in my pint glass of water but that was a one off and it didn't break or lost one yet so I cancelled my insurance. Now we all know what's going to happen next don't we? I'm giving it a month! Thus saving myself 12 quid a month. This may well be an expensive lesson!!

I'd just like to say thank you to you all for your lovely comments, stars and hearts (the most ever!) on my 200th blip yesterday! You made me smile all day long! (And whoop to the one star wonder!) x