The mobile phone may be harder to give up for Lent than chocolate or alcohol especially when it’s your diary, sat nav and camera - but some moments are best savoured alone

What did you give up for Lent? I’ve always thought that a healthy dose of self-control is a good idea. Mind over matter. But then I have also found that abstinence can make the heart grow fonder. Like going on a diet and thinking about food all the time. So if I was going to deny myself something that I would find hard to do without, what would it be? Chocolate? Alcohol? No, for me there is one thing that, if taken away, would give me palpitations and sweaty palms and would have me pacing the room like a caged tiger - my mobile phone.

I still have my very first mobile. It’s about the size of a small brick. I bought it for one reason only. Should I be driving in my car, alone, late at night and the engine grinds to a halt on a dark country road, I would be able to pull out my trusty mobile phone and call for help (that’s if I could get a signal.) And for the ten plus years I don’t think I have ever used it for that purpose, not once.

These days we use our mobile phones for everything. Mine acts as a sat nav, a diary, I even use it to record interviews for Wessex FM, so I can send them straight back to the studio to be played out on air. During the recent storms on Portland the huge number of pictures and video footage people took on their phones and sent to us was amazing.

One of the most striking images was of the giant wave which engulfed The Cove House Inn. But the 18th century pub took this incredible force of nature in its stride, just like it did when it got a visit from Prime Minister David Cameron who visited Portland to see how the locals were coping.

Armed with a camera phone we can all be reporters, recording every moment in our lives. But are we in danger of becoming too caught up in capturing the moment instead of actually enjoying what is happening at the time?

I love this time of year. Nature is bursting back into life. And sometimes there is this strange bright object up in the sky that seems to make everything feel better. So the other day, when the sun was shining, I decided that instead of hitting the shops I would go for a walk. I’m really lucky to live near Radipole Lake, in Weymouth, so on my way home I took a route through Radipole Park Gardens.

I was glad I did because I was met by the sight of hundreds of radiant spring flowers. Wordsworth would have been impressed. I reached into my pocket for my phone to take a picture, and then I stopped. You don’t always have to share every moment with everybody else. This one was just for me.