I WAS reading a story about things that will disappear in the next 20 years – it includes (they claim) glasses (good), keys (not so sure) and pencils (really?).

It took my mind back many years to the case of the disappearing geologist. We were living in Jakarta, Indonesia, where I worked for an exploration company. Due to the awful traffic, we all had drivers and the usual process was you would be dropped off at the front door of the building and the driver would park in an underground car park.

When you wanted to leave, there was a desk where you would say your driver’s name. This was relayed via a loudspeaker system and the driver would appear a few minutes later. All good, till one day one of our geologists, Jon, had a meeting at a big hotel and took the office driver, Budiono. Of the staff of about 50, Budiono was alone as being regarded by all as generally in his own world, so it was common to have to repeat the call many times and be the last person standing there waiting for a car. This happened again, with Jon getting more frustrated, until Budiono suddenly came screaming round the corner on two wheels.

Jon was talking to some people and opened the rear door of the car, put his bag inside and turned to say goodbye to his friends. On hearing the door close and without looking, Budiono shot off.

Jon, who is 6ft4in, so very noticeable, called the office to try to locate the missing Budiono. All to no avail.

Budiono got to the office, pulled up and waited for Jon to get out. No sound, so he turned round to see no Jon and just his bag.

He was pretty perplexed, so he did the obvious thing and phoned the office manager to report: "Jon's fallen out of the car."

This was perfectly logical – he’d heard him get in and now he was gone.

In an effort to avoid an international incident, another driver was dispatched to collect Jon who had done the sensible thing and gone to the bar.