Dan Gowar on a Friday...
Published 27 Jan 2012 13:00
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I have a friend who had one of the early mobile phones back in the 1980s.
His business prospered because he could be contacted in an emergency when rivals were outwith the office.
He made a serious amount of money by always being available on the phone, regardless of his being miles away or, as he was partial to a refreshment, in the public house 500 yards from his marital home.
My friend recently recalled his first mobile was not something one could slip into a shirt pocket.
It was the size of two household bricks upended side by side, with the handset on top.
What's more, it cost around £2,500, which would have bought a very decent second-hand car at that time.
Indeed, many users had vehicles valued at less than their phone.
Despite my pal profiting by having a mobile phone, I refused to have one for many years, even after the price came down to the equivalent of buying a meal for the General Manager and yours truly.
Having purchased my first mobile phone, I decided to keep it switched on all the time, aside from when in prohibited areas.
I was aware the GM would attempt to track me down when I was outwith Gowar Towers.
If suspecting my dearly beloved was on the other end of the phone, in the early days I answered these calls in a voice that would hopefully make her believe the phone company had mistakenly connected her with a gentleman in Japan who happened to be eating a toffee at the time.
The GM would invariably say: "Dan, will you be good enough to ask your Japanese friend to get off the line and finish eating his toffee somewhere else.
"Where exactly are you and when are you planning to come home?"
I was tempted to keep the phone switched off when out and about.
I eventually decided against this action, even if it required my being honest with you-know-who.
That is why I get angry with anyone stating, 'You can get me on my mobile', but it's invariably switched off.
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 27 Jan 12
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