Got my copy

[Fjgrogan]

Of course, I would keep my mobile phone in the car, but we don't have a car!!! Also I don't know my mobile phone number!! I only got it in the first place because my daughter had an upgrade and gave me her old phone. On the one occasion when I really needed it in an emergency (when I had a fall in the street) I discovered that the service had been discontinued because it was so long since I had used it, in spite of the fact that I actually had plenty of credit - needless to say it is 'pay as you go'. I think I shall stick to the kind of blackberries that I have in the freezer, which don't get discontinued through lack of use (a bit like my brain?!) and, as Neill says, go very nicely in an apple pie. (Thinks; what is this obsession with fruit in the technological world? Blackberries, Apple Macs etc?)

[J.R.]

Well, I don't own a blackberry, being at home on the computer for most of the day covers my needs.

I have TWO mobile phones.

PHONE 1. For friends/relations etc.

PHONE 2. A new chip in an old phone strictly for football matters, which is handy at matches, because if that one rings, I know the call is 'footy' related.

Two of the Clubs other Officials at DFC have blackberry's, so if I do need to check a web-site whilst at a match, there isn't a problem.

[englishangel]

I am definitely not a Luddite and will grasp any technology which would make life easier (I have been on the net since 1996). BUT I have neither Blackberry nor iPhone, nor laptop as I don't feel any of them will make my life easier. I need to make/receive calls and texts, (mainly of the "I am on the 5.57 variety") for which I have a Tesco PAYGO mobile which costs me about £8.00 a month. I have a digital camera, and a computer at work and at home. Also a satnav in the car, which warns of traffic problems rather than using it for the route. It seems to me that the more complicated something is the more likely it is to go wrong, or rather if one thing goes wrong the whole device is useless.

Husband did think of getting me an ebook thingy, but I said, until I can take it to the library and download the books I want to read in the next week, (it'll come) I'll pass. I read far too many books to buy them, well fiction books anyway, I never pass up a non-fiction bargain.

[sejintenej]

Of course, I would keep my mobile phone in the car, but we don't have a car!!! Also I don't know my mobile phone number!! I only got it in the first place because my daughter had an upgrade and gave me her old phone. On the one occasion when I really needed it in an emergency (when I had a fall in the street) I discovered that the service had been discontinued because it was so long since I had used it, in spite of the fact that I actually had plenty of credit - needless to say it is 'pay as you go'.

I've got a throw-out from my wife: it's "Pay as you go" on O2 and I phoned her so that she could tell me the number (which is now on a label on the back)..

For emergencies on the farm I rechipped it, again Pay as you Go. I put a nice hefty amount on it as well as the new customer "gift" - and after maybe 2 short calls Orange nicked every last cent on it. When I complained the shop showed me the (hidden) T & C which said that all sums unused after 30 days would be taken away. Thats a loss close to forty!

[sejintenej]

Of course, I would keep my mobile phone in the car, but we don't have a car!!! Also I don't know my mobile phone number!! I only got it in the first place because my daughter had an upgrade and gave me her old phone. On the one occasion when I really needed it in an emergency (when I had a fall in the street) I discovered that the service had been discontinued because it was so long since I had used it, in spite of the fact that I actually had plenty of credit - needless to say it is 'pay as you go'.

I've got a throw-out from my wife: it's "Pay as you go" on O2 and I phoned her so that she could tell me the number (which is now on a label on the back)..

For emergencies on the farm I rechipped it, again Pay as you Go. I put a nice hefty amount on it as well as the new customer "gift" - and after maybe 2 short calls ****** nicked every last cent on it. When I complained the shop showed me the (hidden) T & C which said that all sums unused after 30 days would be taken away. Thats a loss close to forty!

[englishangel]

The aforementioned supermarket PAYGO does not take away top-ups. If you top up £10.00 you get a free £10.00 which DOES disappear after a month. If you top up £15.00 or more you get double.

So on 10th December I topped up £15.00 and got £30.00 free and we used no other phone to wish daughter Happy Birthday (11th December) organise picking her up from Uni, organise various trips (and cancellations because of the snow), wish every one we know Happy Christmas and Happy New Year, and on 9th January I had 27p left. This disappeared but I still had the original £15.00 which will last as long as it lasts.

No I don't work for Tesco mobile, or any part of Tesco.

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

This has prompted a delicious Debate, which is great fun --- and for which, this Forum was designed (Eng A please note the grammer !)

I am, also bewildered by modern Motorcycles, which seem to be a mass of Electronics, and our cars, which, when anything goes wrong is a case of --- sharp intake of breath -- "I'm afraid it's the Computer Sir !"

When I bought my Triumph Tiger 500cc Twin in 1948, I could, if necessary, strip it down and carry out repairs -- today I raise the Bonnet of my Mondeo Zetec and call my local Garage !

I try NOT to drive TBA's Yaris -- which seems to me, to be designed for Dwarfs !!

[Fjgrogan]

.......... and then of course there are iPods and MP3 players, whatever they are!?

[englishangel]

don't have those either, would not add to the sum of my happiness. do have a digital radio though.

[Angela Woodford]

I think all these gadgets are absolutely wonderful.

I tell myself that if other people can learn to use them, then I can too; although I have no natural technological abilities. I love the camera function on my mobile, which is extremely useful. It was a happy, happy day when I received the certificates from a Business Skills Update course which pronounced me competent in various computer skills which were previously a complete mystery. (However, now I think I'd need to update all over again, if I needed to know more).

I find that people are amazingly helpful when it comes to learning new stuff. I was astonished when I left CH, where I was told so many times that I was a useless waste of everybody's time (thanks for that, DR) that in fact I wasn't that incompetent at all, and no future teachers or tutors were going to crush my morale as mercilessly, or ignore me as a hopeless case.

Last summer at the Cathedral, I learned to use a complicated modern till - under pressure! - it looked terrifying until I used all its functions again and again and found it wasn't quite so tricky after all....

But I love books too much to find the e-book thingy appealing!

[jhopgood]

I think all these gadgets are absolutely wonderful.

I tell myself that if other people can learn to use them, then I can too; although I have no natural technological abilities.

I was astonished when I left CH, where I was told so many times that I was a useless waste of everybody's time (thanks for that, DR) that in fact I wasn't that incompetent at all, and no future teachers or tutors were going to crush my morale as mercilessly, or ignore me as a hopeless case.

But I love books too much to find the e-book thingy appealing!

IMHO, if CH helped in any way, it was precisely that that if other people can learn to use them, then I can too. At least it has been my way through the maze.

Headmistresses/masters were never much good at giving good appraisals. CMES wrote something detrimental on a reference that I had requested. It was read out to me at the interview, but I identified the referee and gave my thoughts on the matter. I got the job.
I, too, have difficulty seeing e-books replacing books in the near future, as I can't see myself curling up in bed with an e-book. I can see them being of use for newspapers, magazines, technical papers and books etc, where you want to read the article but not the whole book in one sitting.

[Fjgrogan]

Re; curling up in bed with an e-book - I bet it will hurt more when you fall asleep and drop it on your head!

[Jo]

I know people who swear by them for travelling and holidays, because lots of books don't weigh any more than one book.

[kerrensimmonds]

I agree with Jo re holidays and travelling (you can get a Lot of Books on an eBook weighing virtually nothing). I believe that the flip side is that there is no VAT on hard copy books, but there is on those you download onto an eBook.....
I am reading 'Wolf Hall' by Hilary Mantel at the moment - and it's HUGE. I only ever read novels in bed - before sleep, or when sleepless in the night - and it is heavy to hold! If only I had a much lighter eBook..... but maybe Wolf Hall is too new to have been saved for eReading.

[sejintenej]

Headmistresses/masters were never much good at giving good appraisals. CMES wrote something detrimental on a reference that I had requested. It was read out to me at the interview, but I identified the referee and gave my thoughts on the matter. I got the job.
.

IMHO that concept is crazy. I for one never met CMES until I left (which was just long enough to read The Charge and I am sure that he had no idea who I was. I suspect that the same applied to almost every other pupil that he didn't teach personally or give a beating to. There seems no way that he was qualified to give any opinion outside the fact that you had attended the school and that you had not been expelled.