Phonetalk

Today I are been mostly making phonecalls, some business and some not, including one to lodge an insurance claim on James's Video iPod, now deceased, as you'd be if you'd been dropped from a considerable height onto your top. I was eventually put through to Norman somewhere in Queensland, where the heat makes 'em sluggish. "What's... a... video... iPod?" Norm drawled at one point: "Use 'em... Under the desks... At school... I expect. Hur... hur," he observed, once he'd got his head round the concept.

What was striking was how un-phone he was. We all now know how to be on the phone, and we certainly know what to expect from a commercial phone interaction. Not our Norm, who must surely do a lot of this.