Friday

I love an interactive world. OK, sometimes it's a bit unnerving, watching a movie and someone hits send on an important'' email seconds before my phone buzzes to inform me I have a new email. Or when someone breaks into a car onscreen just as a car alarm goes off outside my window. But I like it when, just as I'm thinking of how to solve a problem, the world conspires to supply the solution from an unlikely source. I was thinking about this earlier when I came across a list of 'lifehacks' online. Most of these lists have a hit rate of, oh, I dunno, one in three, i.e. for every 'lifehack' I read and think 'that's clever, I'll use that', there are two others that not only won't I use, I can't conceive of anyone finding them useful. But this list had a couple of dozen very useful tips. And then someone called me on the phone and half way through the call, one of us lost signal and the call ended. So, of course, I called them back... to get their voicemail because they were, inevitably, calling me back. So, how's this for a suggestion to make people's lives easier? A new rule: if you're on a telephone conversation and lose the signal, the person who orginally made the first call... calls again. Simple solution. Also takes account of what happens when you call someone who's got not credit left on their phone - if you lose the signal, you know that you've got to call them again, and if they've got no credit, then they know you'll be calling them back. Done. Next problem?