Handle with care

As we're approaching the end of the year, it's time to look back upon the pleasant and not so pleasant events of 2005. Not forgetting the most embarassing ones! Have you ever heard about the dumb blonde(-ish) Austrian who washed her mobile phone in the washing mashine? No? Well, now you have. I can even give you the exact date: July 7, 2005. I remember the date so distinctly because it was the day before I left for a mini-break in Manchester.

It was one of the very few hot days of this so-called summer and I'd taken my swim-stuff to the office with me, rushing to an open-air swimming pool right after work. When I got home later that night, I thought I'd better throw the filthy grey bag de jour into the washing maschine because I wanted to take it to Manchester. One of the bag's practical features is a mobile phone pocket. A rather hidden one. I meticulously emptied every single pocket apart from the one containing my phone (a Sony Ericsson T600, for the record). Or should I say, ex-phone. I put it into the washing machine with some other textile bags, set it to 40° and pressed "start".

Half an hour later I reached for my mobile which I assumed to be on the coffee table. Except it wasn't. I tried to call myself from the landline and listened to a recorded message informing me that the number I was trying to reach was currently unavailable. Oh-oh. It slowly dawned on me that I couldn't actually remember taking my phone out of the snazzy little zippered pocket of my bag. The bag which was already immerged in soap-suds. I immediately stopped the machine and had it pump out all water. Once I'd retrieved the dripping phone, noticed its fogged-up display and taken out the SIM-card, I took the baby to a shocked Turkish Delight. He gave me a look as if I'd just deliberately drowned a whole litter of cute kittens. Men and gadgets, need I say more?

To cut a long story short, the SIM card survived the aquatic adventure holiday, the phone didn't. It was incredibly clean, though and ended up as toy for TD's little nephew. If I were American, I'd probably consider class action against Hedgren bags for failing to alert me to the fact that I'd neglected to take out my phone (I mean, they could introduce a beeping sound like the one in your car when you forget to switch off your lights) or alternatively against Gorenje, the manufacturers of my washing machine...

Lunch-break-purchases: Among a whole lot of other useless memberships, I am a cardholding member of Nivea club. I'm actually not actually that impressed by their boring quarterly magazine and occasional freebies, but I just somehow never got around to cancel my subscription. In the latest edition of the boring mag I read that as a kind of symbolic advent calendar they were to offer gifts or discounts in their "club center" every day in December, today's bonus being a free bag when you purchase goods for €10 or more. I duly went to the 10th district and bought an eyeliner and shimmering powder I didn't need in order to claim my (beach-style, not bad) bag.