NOW, as we have probably all come to realise, the mobile phone is quite an innovation. It certainly has its uses. And, I have to admit, I actually own one of these gadgets. But it rarely gets used, and to this day I still do not know the number – so don t

NOW, as we have probably all come to realise, the mobile phone is quite an innovation.

It certainly has its uses.

And, I have to admit, I actually own one of these gadgets.

But it rarely gets used, and to this day I still do not know the number - so don't attempt calling.

Indeed, there was one mobile phone that I owned once that was so rarely used, that when I went to see whether I could get a top-up I was told that the company supplying the service no longer existed. The phone, therefore, had become redundant.

So much for the progress of technology.

In such a situation there was nothing left other than to indulge in buying a new model.

This, itself, proved to be quite an adventure into the world of technology, when I was offered a phone that could take a photograph, receive an e-mail, and connect to the internet.

All this, and the ability to make a phone call.

I could certainly sense the disappointment of the salesman when I decided to purchase not just the cheapest model, but one that would allow me to do just one thing.

In the year or two that I've had possession of the phone, I think I've used it on half-a-dozen occasions.

These days, whenever it is needed there is an immediate search high-and-low to discover where it has actually been left.

It did ring once. In fact, I ignored the call because I thought it could not be mine and, besides, I had not actually ever heard the ring-tone.

It was only when everyone began looking at me that I realised it was my phone.

And to make matters worse, it was a wrong number.

Now all this talk about mobile phones gets me around to the point I was meaning to make earlier.

I can see the reason for people having a mobile phone, but do we all need to be included in all the aspects of their private lives while they talk in an unnaturally loud voice.

Sitting on the train at the weekend I learned all about the cheap places to visit in Paris, and the planning of a holiday in France, while in another conversation I knew that the night before a certain young woman had been, I believe, on what sounded like a pub crawl.

We are told these days about identity theft and protecting our personal details.

Well, it seems, we give away most of our secrets to the rest of the world on nothing more sinister than a train journey.