Wrong number

One of my pet peeves is when people have only a mobile phone, no land line. I suppose I can understand that if the person concerned is renting a bed-sit - sorry, studio apartment - for just six months. The cost of installing the land line would be prohibitive. Even transferring an existing line to a new subscriber (and new number) probably costs money. I don't understand the fixation that younger generations seem to have with mobile phones to the extent that they upgrade them every other month. I have one myself, but it is only the second mobile phone I have ever owned. No, that's not true. The first mobile was owned by the company I worked for rather than me so this is the first mobile I have ever owned, and I have owned this one for about ten years now. It doesn't have a built-in camera; I can't check the weather forecast or surf the net. I am pretty sure I could send texts - if I only knew how. I do at least know how to switch the apparatus on and how to make a call - not that I do either very often. And I certainly don't expect to receive calls on the machine. I only carry it in case of an emergency such as the car breaking down, or to use when I am in France. And then it is generally only to make a reservation at a restaurant.

So why do I get peeved by people not having a land line? Well, it's because I am a miserly old git. I have a telephone/broadband package that allows me free calls to geographic numbers in the UK (and, I believe, 35 other countries) but not to 08 numbers or mobile phones. So calling those costs me money, which upsets my miserly instincts.