I tried to buy a simple mobile phone to replace the one I keep in the glove compartment of my car and use for emergencies.
It is the size of a modest brick and weighs a ton. Give me a small one with no camera, no space invader games -- just a basic mobile phone, I said to the man in the shop.
It was if I had asked him for the Crown Jewels.
"No camera?" he queried.
"No camera," I repeated.
"No games facility?"
"No thank you."
Realising I must have recently arrived from the Planet Zog, he went on to explain how these machines had progressed. Surely I wanted to keep up with fashion?
The last word lit the fuse paper. Fashion -- that's what these phones have become. A fashion accessory.
I left. The brick is still in service.
Charles Conrad
Windwill Road
Headington
Oxford
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