I had a particularly manic day yesterday so this post has had time both to fester and to heal.

My morning started reasonably well, even though all Eastbound service on both the District and Circle lines was suspended, because it gave me a chance to walk along Victoria Embankment and get some fresh air first thing in the morning. Oh yes, it helps that I was wearing trainers and the weather was pleasant – I doubt I’d have been quite so grateful for the walk if I’d been hobbling around in pouring rain and high heels.

Anyway, shortly before 10.00am, disaster struck as the battery on my phone dug its heels in and refused to play ball. Although I fairly distinctly remember the time before mobile phones, it’s safe to say that I am now too far along the addiction process to return to that simpler time.

Fortunately, thanks to an office clear-out some weeks ago, I had a spare mobile in my desk drawer. However, it is a Panasonic and it is pink. I have not the words.

On the plus side, my phone packing it in yesterday allowed me to demonstrate a valuable point to those who haven’t worked out why the Apple iPhone (www.apple.com/iphone) is not a practical purchase. Price point aside (because I don’t think pricing significantly impacts brand-loyal purchases), surely anyone can see that bundling all your communication and entertainment devices into one, admittedly pretty, package is just disaster waiting to happen when the battery fails.

Although it took me a while to jump on that particular wagon, most people know how addicted I now am to my iPod. Apart from my Nokia mobile phone it is my most valued possession (and sadly I don’t own anything that cost more than them) but I cannot help thinking how lost I’d be if I had both of them packaged together and then had the battery blow on both simultaneously.

On a tangential note, for those who might be interested: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/contentlookup.cfm?CFID=6369840&CFTOKEN=37764706&ucidparam=20060825113025&MenuPoint=D-C - I like to mix it up, keep it fresh, you know, keep the body guessing when it comes to where my brand loyalties lie on the conscience scale…