Mobile phones probably top the list as the one gadget none of us could live without, indeed my battered Samsung D600 is my trusty companion, totally replacing the need for a land line, and on the odd day when I leave it at home accidentally I feel strangely naked. There is a problem with mobiles though, and that would be other people. While I don’t object to others using their phone, I intensely dislike hearing a one sided loud conversation, and when people text message without turning their mobile onto silent I have to grit my teeth at the annoying beeps. I know I’m guilty of the same offence, but that doesn’t really make it any better. Then there’s those times you try to talk and text, which inevitably mean you bump into people/lampposts/ fall over, which can be quite disconcerting.

At least one is assured a modicum of peace when one enters the sauna of the tube on the long commute home, but not any more! A trial project starts in 2008 that will allow people to conduct conversations whilst underground! I have mixed feelings about this service.