It’s the Easter Long Weekend, and in my usual long weekend tradition I’ve woken up with the flu. It was stalking me last week, but yesterday it arrived – without so much as an Easter Egg – to be unwelcome weekend holiday guest.

Thursday night I was betrayed in the most superficial, yet horrific of manners. While walking to the train station after having had a fantastic night with friends someone bumped into me. Seconds later I went to put my phone in my bag – the battery had died – and I realised the phone was no longer in my pocket.

There was nothing in the phone but a few text messages and a some random photos of my cats. But it meant yesterday was spent changing every single password I have on every app on the damn thing, and having the SIM card suspended. Besides that, it left me feeling violated.

I know this is very much a First World Problem. There are people out there who can’t afford food, or don’t have a roof over their head. When it comes down to it, I can go to Optus or Telstra on Tuesday and replace it. But the sheer shock of having had someone take it while it was in my pocket is shattering. After I calmed down – well, realised being angry and afraid would do nothing constructive – I thought how lucky I was they went for that pocket and not the other one, my wallet was in the other pocket. The wallet was empty – there’s a surprise – but it did contain my ID and Medicare card etc, they would have been a bugger to replace.

It’s left me feeling slightly disorientated to be honest. I rarely if ever get phone calls, or text messages, but that’s neither here nor there. The fact that someone just took it out of my pocket and moved on their way leaves me feeling restless. And annoyed.

The oddest part was, I didn’t even see who it was. It was just a person. I don’t know if they were male or female, black, white or purple. All I know is that someone bumped into me and in the process took my phone. I don’t know what they needed it for. It’s not like a 2 year old phone has much resale value. Particularly not one that was bumped and battered. The screen was still unbroken so that’s a bonus, but the rest of it, a couple of years of bag life has left it looking worn and tired.

I have no idea why people take what doesn’t belong to them. I was brought up to believe the only way to get anything is to earn it. To work hard, save your pennies and buy it when you can afford it. Or put it on your credit card and pay it off over time. The very concept of taking what belongs to someone else is alien to me.

So Tuesday I get a new phone, and until then I live a life without it. As I said, it’s not really all that earth shattering, it’s definitely a First World Problem, and over all it’s not really going to turn my life into a downward spiral, but it is annoying, and to a degree, it reinforces my belief that you can’t trust most people as far as you could spit a piano.

Upside, I guess I don’t need to worry about drunk texting if I drink on the weekend.

I hope whoever took it gets what they needed for it. Whether it was for booze, or drugs, for food, or just to see if they could. For me, I’m going to take a cold and flu tablet and curse the Long Weekend House Guest I really could have done without seeing, and make sure I’ve changed all the passwords like I think I have.