Can we live without a phone?

I forgot my mobile on the way to work this morning and realised only a few minutes into my journey. I thought about turning back for a few seconds and wondered did I really need my phone today, I had no plans for the evening and there are so many other ways I can communicate with people....

- email
- facebook
- msn
- skype
- send letter by pigeon mail
- talk face to face

Thought better of it and quickly turned round and picked it up. Subsequently the following happened:

- call from colleague 1, had been in hospital all night with her Mum but was on her way in
- call from colleague 2, was stuck in jam, would be late
- call from colleague 3, had got cramp in her leg at office lobby, needed someone to come down and help her, was crying(?!)
- I called colleague 4 for assistance, who was stuck in jam and not in office
- I called colleague 5, who was in office and said would go to meet colleague 3
- colleague 1 called, jam in KL was bad, would be later than she thought
- call from NB to see where i am, advised was stuck in same jam as colleague 4 and 1

AIYA! What did we all do before we had mobiles? If we were late for work, would we pull over and call from a pay phone or did we just rock up when we wanted? If there was an emergency, how did we get help? did we carry our "phonebook" around with us in a filofax (I hasten to add that I still do for emergency back up - haha).

Needless to say, I'm glad I went back to get my phone. Now we are all in the office, nice and calm, getting on with our day.