My Samsung Galaxy S20+ phone lives inside an impact-resistant clear plastic case, which leaves the screen uncovered. To protect that screen, I slip phone and case fully inside a black leather sleeve that I made back in 2017 for my Samsung Galaxy S8. The sleeve still fits, even though the S20+ is just a little larger.
Why a leather sleeve? Well, it offers excellent protection. Leather naturally cushions any accidental impacts. The phone can easily be slid out for use, and the same sleeve can act as a soft, non-slip pad to place the phone on.
Mind you, I'm clearly in a very small minority. Most people go for some kind of fancy manufactured wallet for their phone, the most popular being the 'book' type, where you open the wallet like a book, revealing the phone on one side and various plastic cards on the other. To my mind, this is a clumsy option. A book shape is not easy to hold, and the weight distribution is lop-sided. And I read somewhere that if a book-shaped case slips from your grasp, and falls onto something hard, tests have shown that it flops wide open, and always exposes the phone's screen to face-down contact with the concrete, or whatever unyielding surface it encounters. With, of course, unwelcome cosmetic consequences.
But the book type of phone case prevails. I suppose that if you want to carry phone and credit cards in one compact, pocketable package - and maybe dispense with a bag - then it's a good idea. Although personally I would never carry phone and credit cards together in the same case. What if you mislaid the case? Or somebody picked your pocket? Or bag? Or somebody spiked your drink, and took everything while you were woozy or out for the count? (Apparently the latest type of criminal theft this Christmas)
I'm sticking to a leather sleeve. But I've now had to make it eye-catching, not for the sake of fashion, but to stop me putting my phone down on some dark surface and unintentionally leaving it there.
I had a fright three days ago, when I nearly got onto a train, having accidentally left my phone on a seat in the station ticket office.
I should explain that currently my car Fiona is confined to short shopping trips to the nearest Waitrose. Six days ago, when on a country drive, she impaled a rear wheel on a sliver of flint that must have been shaped like an arrow-head. Indeed, for all I know it was in fact a neolithic arrow-head. Ancient or modern, it cut a big hole in the tyre, writing it off. Even if somehow repairable, I wouldn't feel safe going caravanning with a patched-up tyre. The car and caravan together weigh three tons, and that demands very good tyres that haven't been compromised in any way.
For the first time in five years, I called out Britannia Rescue, the road-rescue organisation liked with the Civil Service Motoring Association, who nowadays call themselves by the snappier name of Boundless. I have to say, it was the quickest rescue I've ever had. The cavalry arrived in little more than half and hour. I barely had enough time to empty the boot, fetch out the spare wheel, and buy a coffee at the adjacent pub (The Noah's Ark) on the village green I'd reached (the village was Lurgashall). The guy who came was very pleasant. In short order the wounded wheel was off and the spare installed. No paperwork; all done by electronic means. He merely noted my current mileage. He advised me to drive home very carefully, and not exceed 50mph.
The spare tyre was the space-saving sort - a little smaller than a regular tyre, and much narrower. Not at all substantial. Not a tyre I'd want to stress. Apparently, they have only a thin tread. You have to inflate them to a scary 60psi. I have visions of the thing exploding if the car becomes too heavy. So I haven't been doing any unnecessary motoring. It's been my turn to cadge lifts off my local friends!
I've ordered four brand-new tyres at the Volvo dealer - I don't trust the local tyre people. They are special tyres (Michelin Cross-Climates) that I need for caravanning, as they give me excellent traction on wet grass. They will cost a lot, but last for ages. The fatally damaged tyre had done 25,000 miles, and would probably have been good for another 10,000 miles at least. I had planned to replace both rear tyres anyway by the end of 2022; they will now be fitted nine or ten months sooner than expected. But still 10,000 miles of use wasted. Tsk.
I've decided to replace the front tyres also. They were scheduled to be fitted before my next MOT in March. Bringing this forward isn't nearly so annoying.
I'm looking at a total tyre bill of around £800, but it's budgeted for, simply coming sooner than intended. Meanwhile, I'm effectively grounded as regards leisure use of my car, but still able to get to a station and go somewhere. That's why I was buying a return ticket to Crawley, paying by phone. And that's why Prudence (my phone) was out of my bag, and got overlooked when hurriedly repacking my bag on a seat in the waiting room-cum-ticket office.
Fortunately they quickly made a platform announcement, and I discovered to my horror, after checking my bag, that they were talking about me. I scurried back. The ticket office girl was waiting with a smile. I'd flashed my Senior Railcard when paying, and she must have thought 'Poor old dear, so scatter-brained'. I didn't mind what she might be thinking. I was so grateful to be reunited with Prudence so easily. And gutted to think what the loss of my phone would have meant.
The train came along soon after. As I sat in it, I wondered how I could have been so careless. I'm never prone to losing things. It was as if Prudence, snug inside her black leather sleeve, had momentarily become invisible as I stuffed Railcard, tickets and receipt inside my bag. Well, in a sense she had. The sitting surface of the seat was some dark material, and the leather sleeve had blended in with it. If the sleeve had been a colour other than black, I'd have noticed it and not rushed away without my phone.
I promised myself that I would make a new and brighter leather sleeve. I had a red and yellow leather offcuts at home. A priority job, then! ASAP!
Yesterday evening I set to. Cutting a strip of red leather to size was a doddle. I was going to add a yellow patch, to make the sleeve even more stand-out. Think of colourful buoys at harbour mouths. Or traffic signs. The colours had to catch my attention in difficult lighting, or on dark backgrounds.
The second photo was taken in different ambient light, which has made the red leather look rather brown. It's the same strip though. I was going to hand-sew the thing together. I had three proper leather needles.
It didn't however go to plan. The red leather was quite thick, and I had to push the needle through very firmly indeed. Inevitably, I broke two of them, and had to abandon the job before I broke yet another. Unthwarted, I then decided to reuse the original black leather sleeve from 2017, adding yellow and red patches to it, this time sticking them on with glue.
It worked.
Now that does catch the eye! I don't think I could overlook the black sleeve now. The yellow and red patches are on the business side of the sleeve, and the red arrow points to the right end for sliding the phone out. So I can do it by touch, and with bleary eyes. Useful for when I wake up in the morning - without my glasses on, of course - and need to extract Prudence to stop the wake-up alarm. And then re-insert her into the sleeve, before she drops from my barely-awake grasp.
Ah, you might say. What if you put that sleeve face-down on a dark surface? So that the yellow and red patches don't show? Wouldn't this foil your scheme, as you are a scatter-brained old dear?
Well, as it happens, two of my friends said the same thing. So I've now stuck blue and yellow patches on the other side of the sleeve, so that even if I put it down on the 'wrong' side on a dark background, I'll notice it. And of course I can tell from the colours showing which is the side for sliding the phone out screen-up.
