I’m not sure if I have mentioned before that I have a recurring nightmare before I travel that I will get to the airport and find I have left my passport at home and there is no time to go back for it. Because of this, the first thing I do as I am packing is to put my passport into my handbag.

Like most modern females, my mobile phone is more or less grafted to my hand. So it might surprise my friends and family that when I got to the airport I discovered it was not in anything I was carrying. I had left it at home.

You don’t realise how much of your life is rolled up in such a small electronic device until you are faced with 5 weeks of not having it close to hand. Since I had been planning to eventually upgrade I suppose this was a sign but then it gets complicated. I keep realising that this or that app that I use all the time needs to be downloaded and reconfigured.

My worst, ongoing problem is the tie between Citibank and my Aussie phone number. My holiday savings are in a Citibank account which I only access when I am … well, on holiday. Trouble is to do ANYTHING you have to enter a special PIN that they text to your phone. That phone is in Sydney with all of those text messages piling up uselessly while I am frittering away the money that should be left alone to pay my bills.

So much for being financially organised.

I have tried emailing them but I haven’t had any response except the usual automatic receipt. If anyone on our Helpdesk was that careless of a customer we would be explaining to the boss from a standing position.

I wonder if leaving my phone at home has broken my recurring passport nightmare or if it has just added another thing to worry about next year.