Thank God For Handphones...

I've had to send my HTC handphone back to the dealer for another round of repair after my most recent discovery of another problem with the phone. And mind you, i had just got back the phone from the dealer for a couple days for a different problem when that happened. They had detained the phone for 2 weeks then, and i was told it would take another 2 weeks for them to sort this recent problem now. Ridiculous! Until that time, i would just have to be content with my dad's old nokia phone. For all it's bulky and less than stylish appearance, it has at least survived the years and now serving me, albeit temporarily, very well so far.

After i was told that my phone had to be detained again yesterday, i had unwittingly forgot to bring an extra phone as cover. And to make matters more exciting, i was supposed to meet up with my mum and wifey at the shopping mall at a yet to be determined place. They had gone to get the groceries, and we had planned to go for lunch together. And for the first time in many years, i found myself in a now increasingly unfamiliar situation of having to find a pay phone to make a phone call.

I remember the days when hand phones were not yet such a common feature in our lives and pay phone was pretty much your mode of getting in contact whenever you're outside and need to call someone. Even then, you had to make sure the person you're calling is within reach of a fixed phone line. Those days seems like aeons ago now and you can't really imagine the restless feeling of not being able to reach someone just because someone is out of their house or out of the office. Heck, these days you can even get someone on his handphone when he's doing his most intimate business in the toilet, if he chooses to answer your call that is. My point is, the evolution of the phone (and technology in general) has now made it easier for people to get in touch with each other, wherever we may be.

So, here i was in distress looking for a way to get in contact with wifey in this big shopping mall. For a moment i felt a great sense of helplessness, a common anxiety that you get nowadays when you get separated from your handphone. I browsed around the 2 storey shopping mall looking for a pay phone, with little success for over 15 minutes. I even checked the building directory - there were indications of where the toilets and baby changing room were - but there were no signs of any pay phones in the building. I even asked around the patrons of the mall if they had seen and pay phones around, and all i got were stares like i had been Michael J. Fox from the year 1985 in the movie Back To The Future; no one seemed to know what or where the pay phones were. I was about to give up, and approach the mall's information counter to lodge a missing husband / father report when with great relief, i spotted ONE pay phone on the wall near the info counter.

An extinct thing indeed.

I approached the phone with some trepidation - how many pay phones do you usually have to try out before you find one that actually works? - lifted the speaker up, and listened. There was a dialing tone. As luck would have it, i had only 10 cents in coin to have an only chance of contact with wifey. It was either make or break. Never had i felt that 10 cents could have so much value.

I dialed my wife's number and she picked up.

Wifey: Hello?
Me: hi dear. It's me, abang. Where are you now?
Wifey: (with exasperation) where have you been? I've been trying to call you all day!

The pay phone beeped alarmingly, indicating more change is needed for the conversation to continue. Time was running out fast for me. I had to act fast.

Me: sayang, quick tell me where you are..
Wifey: we are at the food court just about to... *beep*... And the line got cut off.

I then made my way to the mall's only food court with such great relief.

Thank god for handphones...

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