Mum was having trouble with her Non Smart mobile phone.  Two visits to a phone shop haven’t solved the problem and life without a mobile device is almost impossible even for the over 80’s.  I sympathised with mum for whenever my ipad, phone or PC plays up I feel as though my life is at an end and my heart races and my stomach flips.  Pathetic but there it is.  My so called “Smart phone” managed to delete most of my telephone contacts this week and I had to email friends and family to supply them again.  Next I have to programme them into said device and that is a job for tomorrow or the next day or maybe the day after that!  So I set off for London, post rush hour, took mum to a tech shop in Finchley where we were able to use her disabled badge and park right outside.  One nil to us.  Then the owner fixed dad’s phone and sent me next door to the shop that sold top up cards.  Then we all thought he had sorted mum’s sim card but on returning home it was back to square one and I think the phone is past repair and mum will have to use dad’s device.  I took a very deep plunge and left my ipad (yes, it contains most of my life) with said owner and begged him to repair the button as soon as possible, replacing the screen if that is what is required.  I left the shop feeling nervous and slightly excited at being appleless (but of course I still have my crazy phone minus the phone numbers).  Mum and I then had a bagel lunch in a local bakery and spent an hour sorting out old photo albums and rearranging them on the shelves.  I found a lovely photo of my dad when he was a child and several souvenir booklets of myself and my brother as babies and toddlers.  I left in time to get back to The Gables for Sheep Tea time and I am thinking of making some pear chutney before  University Challenge later this evening.