it's payback time...

We’ve all seen the advert – slim, sleek and totally mesmerising.  You’d be forgiven for thinking I’m talking about a woman here but I am, in fact, talking about a phone!  I’ve never been a ‘techno junkie’ but as time goes on  I am finding that these shiny and incredible gadgets are making my eyebrows raise just a little…So when I saw the commercial for the new; all singing, all dancing Samsung Galaxy Note I think it’s fair to say my mouth was watering.  Despite already owning a smart phone that was just 12 months old I wanted this mobile more than anything in the world and at all costs.  Reading this back, thinking about the dilemma that followed - the phone was and is NOT worth it.

Having contacted my provider and being told that my upgrade was not due for another 12 months my mind raced…how was I going to get this phone?  There was no way I could pay for it outright at a whopping £600, so it had to be some form of monthly payment.  So to cut a long story short I committed the cardinal sin of purchasing an additional contract.  I don’t care to recall how many arguments this caused and yes I know that this is a silly thing to do just for a bloody phone.

There was light at the end of the tunnel, or so I thought.  I sold my previous phone back to the provider for the tidy sum of £100 and made a promise that this money was going to one side to help pay for the monthly bills so naturally I was on the high street, green in hand, faster than a turd down a ‘U’ bend!  New handbag, new shoes and two bobby-dazzling fake tan mitts later I had serious buyer’s remorse.

To return the old mobile I had to restore it to its factory settings and so before sending it back, thinking I was being ‘tech savvy’ I transferred all my contacts and files onto an external hard drive.  When it came to relocating them, at the click of a button, I thought it was done. Good times.  All the music files went across nice and bonnie, but wait, where are the contacts?  No contacts.  It would seem that I am not that ‘tech savvy’ after all.  But no worries, I have a back up – it’s called an address book.  I know, who has an address book these days, but I was grateful for this small mercy.  Onto the pictures, approximately 3,500 images; Daisy’s baby pictures, wedding photo’s, parties, holidays and nights out, all my favourite memories securely bundled together with a big digital bow.   They say a Librarians job is being interrupted, never a truer word said.  After dealing with several matters in the work place, returning to my desk it appears my files have transferred smoothly and the remaining files can be deleted…‘ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO DELETE THESE FILES?’…DELETE…

I know you know what’s coming.  The files did NOT transfer smoothly, in fact they didn’t transfer at all and almost 7 years of blood, sweat and tears were evaporated into the ether. Perhaps a woman’s multi-tasking abilities are over estimated (on occasions!).  Is this ‘God paying me back’ for being a selfish, spoilt brat? It sure feels that way. Bad times.

Having had the phone now for over a week I do think it is ‘totes amaze balls’, or so my daughter tells me, I can’t get a look-in. But it’s certainly not been worth losing all those pictorial records of my baby growing up or my marriage blossoming.  The moral of the story I suppose (unfortunately the old ones are the best) is don’t put all your eggs in one basket and one for all you 21^st Century folk, back up and back up the back up!

Hugs and kisses

Miss Piggy x