OK. You can call now.
We were in the main shed at the Farmers Markets between 12 and 12.30 when I had the first inkling that maybe I didn’t know where my phone was. I usually have it with me, either in a jacket pocket or, on this particular day, in my manbag (so practical… and not in any way effeminate) but I looked in it for some reason and realised the phone wasn’t there.
Maybe it’s in the car,’ I said to myself. But although that sounded logical and quite feasible, I didn’t really believe me.
Turns out I had been right to doubt myself.
It was probably a good 20 minutes from the time I discovered it gone till the time I got C’s phone and tried to call mine, and maybe another 20 between the time I lost it and the time I realised it was gone. I explained that a bit backwards just now but the thief, as I prefer to refer to my phone’s finder, had plenty of time to do whatever they did with it and had already turned it off and most likely taken out the SIM by the time I called myself (or him/her).
It was later at home that I had it canceled with my provider. And I was furious that the guy told me the phone’s IMEI number couldn’t be blocked unless whoever stole it tried to use it with my SIM in there. I found out later when I did my research here, that it’s a load of toss. When I went into the shop to buy a new SIM on Monday, I spoke to a guy who said as much.
I kept checking in and by Tuesday morning, the phone was coming up as being blocked. I also went to the police and reported it lost, giving both the IMEI and serial numbers. So if it does show up, or if someone tries to sell it at a pawn shop, alarm bells should ring. There’s the off chance I might get it back.
Either way, whoever stole it now has a worthless brick. At least I hope they now have a worthless brick – they may still be able to use the Walkman function on it; I’m still not sure. When you start the phone, you get a ‘flight-mode’ option, meaning you can just listen to your tunes but the phone doesn’t operate. But then, they got the phone, not the headphones, or the USB cable, or the memory stick adapter, so they’d be stuck listening to my collection of Saint Etienne, Wilco and some Radio National Lingua Franca, and Learnfrenchbypodcast podcasts through a ½-inch speaker.
Lucky them.
The other reason I was so pissed off about it was that it pretty much showed up Karma as being a big load of shit.
I’ve had a phone destroyed while saving a child from drowning. I’ve also found a phone in the gutter and contacted the owner and returned it to them. I think I was due a bit of good luck on this one but I got nothing back from the universe.
I did, however, have a damaged backup that I have managed to repair and now seems to be working fine, though it’s still a bit sporadic. I’ve used my backup files to repopulate the address book and stuff, have also upgraded the firmware and hopefully that’s ironed out the bugs.
I’ll stick with it for now and consider upgrading when my contract is up in a couple of months.
But I’m open for business again and have re-loaded Wilco and LFBP. In French, it’s called un portable.
