Thank you NeilC I'll study your comment in detail later today. I might just encrypt my phone, I've often thought about it but never attempted the procedure.
In my case, if I take on work, which I still do from time to time, it's all about trust, reputation, and me judged as being squeaky clean, 'nothing up my sleeves!'. The idea of me losing information about another person could perhaps stop me from earning in my tracks? Mind you I obviously got away with it when I was working full time, the worry of what might happen never actually happened but the possibility of information loss even then always worried me.
And it always worried me in particular when I was hiking alone. I know it may sound simple and silly but, just one example, I'm on top of a mountain in France talking to a civil servant about someones claim for benefits or about their appeal and having to have certain key information to hand, e.g. National Insurance numbers, dates of birth and so on. I definitely didn't want that information to be written down on any piece of paper or jotted down in my little notebook.
I took other precautions like for example, I always wear my phone and cards around my neck in a zipped pouch and only take it off when I shower, making sure I know exactly where it is at all times. I sleep with it around my neck as well. Some might say I'm just being cautious, others might suggest I'm just being neurotic?