A RECENT survey found the average person checks their mobile phone 110 times a day.

 

Unbelievable, I thought to myself while frantically pulling my house apart searching for my missing mobile.

Somehow it had mysteriously disappeared.

I rummaged through my handbags and coat pockets.

I looked on top of the bed and under the bed, and I even crawled on all fours on the floor feeling my way around the black bedroom carpet.

After 20 minutes of sheer frustration, I decided to sit down, relax and try to track my movements since getting up that morning.

So, lying on my couch staring at the ceiling, I hoped for a flash of inspiration or a clue as to where my missing phone could be.

I stared and stared at the white ceiling for what seemed like ages until sheer boredom got the better of me and I jumped to my feet.

However, my mind was just as blank as it had been before I started.

If only someone would call or text, I thought.

Then I could hear it ringing and easily track it down.

So, in the hope that someone would call or text, I turned down the volume on the TV and listened intently as I continued with my never ending housework.

An hour later, and with the lack of my usual ring tone getting on my nerves, I reluctantly left the house without it.

Shaking my head at my own carelessness, I wondered how on earth I had managed before I had a mobile.

I would never have given it a second thought if I missed a call on my house phone.

After all, if I'd left the house, I'd have been none the wiser.

But nowadays, it's just not that simple.

I, like millions of others, dare not leave the sanctity of my home without a mobile phone. After all, what if?

What if what? I asked myself.

What if I my car breaks down?

What if my daughter or my mum tries to call me?

What if I can't find where I'm going and get lost?

What if? What if?

How did I survive all these apparent 'what ifs' before I had a mobile?

Well, if I'd broken down for instance, I would have walked to the nearest shop or garage.

If I was lost, I would have stopped and asked for directions.

But the likelihood is that before I had set off I would have taken a lot more notice of where I was going because I knew I wouldn't have had the option of calling someone.

But there was always the chance you could rummage for a 10p coin and find a phone box, although it was just pot-luck if whoever you were calling was at home.

So there were millions of 'what ifs' in days gone by. But somehow we all managed.

And now we find ourselves relying on a small mobile device to assist with our busy day-to-day lives.

Which is brilliant of course, until it's nowhere to be found.

Later that evening, I met up with friends for a drink and immediately apologised for not replying to their apparent unanswered calls and text messages.

"I can't remember where I left my phone", I explained, "and I've run out of places to look."

"Oh, don't worry," Christine assured me, "it'll turn up."

"I lost mine for two days," laughed Mae, "and I found it in the washing basket."

"Mine's been through a full washing cycle," admitted another of my pals.

I shook my head at my idiotic friends as they laughed at their endless list of bizarre places where they had somehow mislaid their mobile phones.

However, the following morning as I was about to make breakfast I opened the fridge, and lo and behold, sitting right between the eggs and the butter glistened my very cold, but still functioning mobile phone.

And to this day, the mystery of how it got there remains unsolved.

But the problem now is that having found my phone in the fridge, does that mean that the next time it mysteriously disappears I'll be wondering what if it's in the fridge ... or the oven ... or the microwave ... or the freezer ... or the dishwasher ...