[Varley]

Email is fine but my surgery seems not exactly slick in its usage - they may have given up faxing scripts to the pharmacist but, if so, only recently. the modus operandi is in the 'mail' portion of the abbreviation. I open my Email application (run email programme) much as I open my physical mail box to 'do my correspondence'. A routine or routines timed to suit me. I attend to every message as it deserves (and stress-out if the service is unavailable) and having both snail and electronic mail seems already rather extravagant, why try to employ further applications in the same capacity especially when they are not on the same target? I do not expect my postman to run after me around town hurling deliveries at me as soon as they are sorted whether they are junk, important or social?

SMS and the mobile voice calls themselves I would like only to be either alerting me to time critical issues (which hopefully would not include medical bulletins about the subscriber) or redirections from my landline (which has barring features my mobile service, as yet, omits (one being that I can bar all would-be callers hiding their CLI - as do drug dealers, pirates, money launderers, phishers and other rogues). When the annoyingly persistent fish for my mobile number I get to the point where I tell them that I keep the instrument to 'phone my tradesmen, not so that my tradesmen may call me.

Think Telegraph boy. if telegrams could have been delivered to the addressee whether at home or 'abroad' - that is my idea of the value of SMS. One would not have sent party invitations or argued the plumbers bill by telegram (and SMS cost per message Email does not. Rather supporting the analogy).

When 'in post' I engineered that the SSAS chosen fleetwide was Purplefinder with all of us with operational responsibilities alerted by Email and SMS. SMS receipt still stimulates adrenalin production - something I understand might counter the BP medication.

But I am not suggesting that this discipline suites everyhone but with the insane proliferation of computerware which can 'do communications' at least I should be allowed to choose which is perpetrated on me. (I do cheat. Lichess for one recreational medium allows 'chat' which I use).