Well, I lasted just over a year without a mobile phone, but I've given up now: after several incidents recently where it would have been really helpful to be able to make an outgoing call from a random place, I've decided it is after all worth buying the cheapest PAYG handset I can find and keeping it turned off in my bag for the occasional emergency.

I hurt my hand over the weekend while loading planks of wood into my car to take them to the tip (the decorators left me a front-garden-ful of rubbish because I decided it was cheaper than paying them to take it away for me), and since it was still quite painful this morning I went in to town and took it to a doctor to make sure there wasn't anything serious wrong with it. So I thought it would be polite to call my office and let them know I'd be late in at best (or perhaps not in at all if the doctor decided it needed to go in a sling); and I decided the sensible way to do that would be to first buy a phone to call them with. Slightly silly, perhaps, but it should solve my next few similar problems as well.

The doctor prodded my hand for about fifteen seconds and said I'd just overdone it and it was nothing serious; it'll apparently hurt like hell for 7-10 days but then it'll be fine, and in the meantime ibuprofen is my friend. Irritating, but at least that means I don't need to worry about it, and also that it should be recovered in time for me to pack the contents of my home into boxes for the move.