The Phone and the Addled Brain

I received a call-back from my doctor's office but promptly and mistakenly cut the call off when I was trying to answer it.

You see, I work some things on the iPhone quite well, but I seldom use the phone part of the phone, and even more seldom get a call. I text, listen to podcasts, listen to books, play music, take pictures, and so on and so forth, but seldom really use the actual phone. Odd, I know.

It got worse. I called the office back to apologize, got the answering machine, left my message, but had a heck of a time ending the call. I kept trying to turn the phone off, but then I would get another message about leaving the message.

Then, in case they called back, I left the phone with Sue while I headed into the shower. They did, but Sue said that my phone didn't ring. She only knew that they were phoning because she heard my iPad ringing in the other room. I realized that I had also, initially, only heard the iPad.

I had Sue call me to confirm the lack of ringing. Sure enough.

Now to fix it, but I couldn't find it in Settings, so I said "Hey Siri!", but Siri was not hearing me.

Eventually, I found the Siri settings, but she still wasn't answering me. It was Sue who reminded me that one had to press the Home button to activate Siri. A direct "Hey Siri!" only works if the phone is plugged in at the time.

Of course. I then remembered that I once knew this.

I've had the phone for more than a year now, but I don't really use Siri. If I want to set an alarm or search for something, I type it in.

So, I'm hoping that serves as an excuse for my lack of memory.

But there was still one more issue to resolve: how to make the phone ring. I must have had it on Mute, but as I studied the menus, I couldn't solve the problem of turning the ringer back on.

Back to Google went I, and was reminded that there is a recessed mute switch on the upper left side.

Ah yes! This was familiar too but something that I hadn't used for ages, so I required a reminder.

I swear that I am not all that senile, and I do remember knowing about these things once my memory is jogged. Really, your Honour! I mean to say that if one doesn't use things for months at a time, surely it's understandable. Surely. Right?

At least I remembered about the Mute switch once I was reminded. However, it seemed to be brand new information to Sue.

We'll be good company, Sue and I, as we slip further into our respective dotages. As long as each can remember whom the other person sharing the domicile really is.