Of the numerous calls I made to cancel my cards the other day, none was stressful and every operator was polite. Egg (I think) had a particular hip’n’trendy patter, which included “Is it OK to call you Will today?” which amused me for no good reason.

I went to the bank today to sort out a new card and withdraw some cash for the weekend. The chap there was also very helpful and switched me to a better version of my account which comes with insurance for my mobile phone.

Flashback: Thursday, December 16, 2004

Met up with friends in London to go to see Gene’s final gig (at the Astoria), almost a year to the day after I was at the penultimate Suede gig. We were drinking in the Montague Pyke on Charing Cross Road (where went to the US election party) and I took the opportunity to take some photos with my camera phone so that I could add thumbnails of my friends to my phonebook. As my phone was being passed around so that everyone could share in the joy of my photographic skills, it found its way into a pint of beer. When I finally trackde down a company prepared to repair liquid damage (and not just the beer – I’d, erm, washed it out with water afterwards) they were only able to save the phone numbers. Nokia 6600 the First, RIP.

Gene were very good despite the phone incident (perhaps they didn’t hear about it, or just didn’t care). Had a good singalong. During the gig, Martin Rossiter tippexed the word “Gene” on the bass drum to read “Gone” and not long afterwards they were.

Not only do I have phone insurance. From the list of account benefits I noticed that I am entitled to card protection insurance (as recommended by Ian in the comments). Indeed I had it already but hadn’t set it up. D’oh. I shall be setting this up as soon as my numerous bits of plastic have arrived.