My phone allows me to monitor my daughter’s late night journey home. But is that a good thing?
It was 2am and the Uber was trundling across London. Not that I was in it. I was merely watching it on a phone screen as I lay in bed tracking the girl’s progress home from a late-night work shift. I had not intended to do this. The girl, as I shall doubtless always think of her, is a 20-year-old woman who, for much of the year, lives in another town. But I had quite clearly not intended not to do it since I had put the mobile phone next to my bed, which is not my normal habit.
I had turned off the ringer but, as agreed, she had texted the link to her Uber ride, the sole safety provision one can make as a lone taxi passenger and, unusually, I had woken with the buzz.
Then it buzzed again as, inevitably, the driver cancelled and then a third time, with a new driver. Having checked the messages and link, I naturally managed not to get back to sleep, and so spent 35 minutes intermittently checking the car’s progress from east London till I heard the front door.
What madness is this? What would I have done if the car had veered off-course? I suppose I could have called either the girl or the driver. Perhaps I could have contacted the police, but I’m not sure if abduction is one of those crimes the Met still prioritises. A sane parent would either have left their phone downstairs or at least rolled over and gone back to sleep. Theoretically, the pooch might have woken us when she came in, but she’s an old dog and doesn’t like to work nights.