As I mentioned I my last post, today I am without my mobile phone. It feels very strange.

I am so used to being able to get touch with people, and because my phone is a smartphone, I can pick up my emails while on the move. When using it's Bluetooth connection, I can connect my Pocket PC to the Internet pretty much anywhere. I can phone people up or text them, and should I find something interesting, I can take a picture of it. I can even update my blog using it.

But that little pouch on my belt is empty - and I feel disconnected.

We often have problems with mobile phones in the ambulance service - we often find ourselves trying to talk to a patient, while they are more intent on talking to their friend/mum/cousin/dealer on the phone.

I've had to pull people out of the way of incoming traffic because they are so focused on photographing the damage to their car with their mobile phone, that they neglect to realise that they are standing in the middle of a busy dual carriageway.

I've been trying to resuscitate dead patients when their mobile phone has rung - I look at the screen and see that the person trying to call them is "MUM".

I've been in the middle of what can best be described as a 'public order situation', and while trying to deal with the injured (and prevent any more injuries), half the crowd are on the phone telling their 'posse' to get to that location as quickly as they can.

I've even had a patient and a relative fistfighting in the back of my ambulance over an overheard phone call, made while the patient was pretending to be unconscious.

But I still miss my mobile.