Dear Contributors,
Well it's not often that someone is able to say this but i think everybody was correct in what they said.
No, Telstra did not offer me a phone. I was given 2 options over the phone: Pay off my contract in one hit and receive a new phone or pay off monthly until the contract runs out. When I visited the telstra shop they asked why I just didn't buy a new phone, which I did but at Dick Smith because the Telstra shop didn't have any.
The good side is that on Tuesday the Principal of the school offered to pay for the phone if I was prepared to 'give' it to the school when my contract ran out. He also put a nice comment in the school newsletter.
No the kid's parents didn't do anything (perhaps they didn't hear about it). I know what I would be doing if someone pulled one of my kids out of the water.
As far as trying to rescue the phone, i tried everything except 'nihilism's' metho treatment. The sim card survived.
The hearing aids survived despite one laying on the bottom of the pool for a few minutes. I did the drying out thing with those crystals in a jar.
Problem with the whole setup was that the school trusted the 2 lifeguards supplied by the pool. The rescuing is usually the responsibility of 2 teachers. The 2 guards were 25metres away and probably thinking about their girlfriends. Ultimately the school (Principal) is responsible and it is a real pity that you can't trust anybody these days. One of the lifeguards disappeared later and when we found him he was testing the quality of the water. Didn't see the need to be there at the pool!
Thanks everyone for the comments and the encouragement.
Graham