I have a very heart-warming story. Four weeks ago my wife and I returned from a holiday in Poole, which went very well apart from two days when it rained non-stop!

The edge was taken off the week, however, by the fact that I lost my mobile phone a couple of days before we headed North.

Imagine my surprise when we arrived home to find a message on our home answerphone saying it had been found and was safe and to ring a number.

I thought I’d send the gentleman the postage and a reward as it was obviously worth having back. Imagine my greater surprise to discover he had already called my friend and posted it to him!

Well I thanked him and said I intended to reward him and I would let him know when the phone was in my possession, which it was in a day or two.

I rang Nick, – that’s all he would tell me – but he was abroad on holiday by then.

So I promised to write to the local press to offer my thanks in public. What a gent!

Where had I left it? On a pay machine in a multistorey.

Peter Chapman, address supplied