Bm@il

Every week BARBARA FISHER looks at issues that affect us all – the issues that get you talking. You can join in by emailing bmailbarbara@gmail.com

I AM often ridiculed for still having a diary.

Yes, a proper leather-bound diary with paper pages, on which I enter appointments in pen, using real writing. Even though it’s a tiny diary that fits in my handbag it seems I am regarded as a relic of the Victorian era.

Apparently, it’s naff these days not to record your appointments on your phone. Oh. Ho ho hee hee, they say. You STILL have a diary? Pass the smelling salts.

As they smugly fiddle with their online data on state-of-the-art gadgets I refuse to be cowed.

Taking out my tiny Filofax (yes, I’m that much of a dinosaur) I ignore the raised eyebrows, and turn to the correct page with a flourish. If I had a pencil, I would lick the end. As I use a pen, an ink well and blotting paper would be handy to keep my critics waiting.

I do have Internet on my phone, and I love it. Before I wrote this column, I checked text, email and social network so I am not immune to the wonders of modern technology.

But my phone sits in a snazzy turquoise cover (present from Mr F) with a wallet that also contains my essentials. These include my emergency credit card, a fully stamped coffee bar loyalty card ready for a caffeine crisis, driving licence, press card and an emergency fiver.

There’s no way I’m adding my diary to the mix. It needs to be separate. My diary declared independence a long time ago.

It would freak me out that if I lost my phone, I’d have lost half my life – including the chance of a free coffee (Nero) or emergency glass of wine (the fiver). I’ll be damned if I’m going to risk losing all my future appointments too.

Without my diary I’d be a clueless zombie, wandering the streets of Uxbridge wondering whether I should be giving a talk, travelling to the theatre, lunching with friends, or having treatment at the dentist.

So, titter ye not. No one puts my diary in the corner (reference Dirty Dancing). Or drops it down the toilet where many a phone has ended up.

■ Stop press: I’ve just heard about an important development for North Uxbridge residents about the proposal for the Halford/Wickes site. Visit http://planning.hillingdon.gov.uk/OcellaWeb/planning Details?reference=16299/APP/2018/1849&from=planningSearch.

Comments on the new revised plans – 267 units with only nine parking spaces (still) – to Hillingdon Council no later than Friday (11) in writing, on-line or email. Mr F has just submitted his objections.

Now – where is my quill pen?