Last evening, I had the longest telephone chat I've ever had in my life - probably even beating the times when I was away from Senora O'Blene!
Three hours on the dog/blower/trumpet!
I was chatting with one of my oldest friends, from way back, when I started in business, and thereon, we became great buddies, usually laughing, always tincturing, and now just remembering the good days, when business could get going under Margaret Thatcher, and the situation was rosy!
It's a bit sad that a hundred miles or so is a bridge too far to drive now for a face-to-face visit, especially with the price of fuel rocketing, and also little/big houndess would be more than concerned at my prolonged absence, so the WhatsApp it is!
As I recently signed up with BT, (and have regretted doing so immediately - tossers), those three hours were cost-free, and now the world has been put to rights, but what does one do after a Saturday evening, and the curtains weren't even drawn around 'The Turrets', when I surfaced this morning?
Answer - One sits with a mug of Bovril, and starts chuckling again!
A friend and his family emigrated to Australia but returned some years later for a holiday and visit. By then we were both in our late fifties so when he arrived we spent the first two hours swapping medical histories . . .
ReplyDeleteThey were indeed such days, Penseivat! I still remember the fear and hatred I had for 'The Mekon', and even today when I see the word 'silicone', I recall a childhood shudder, as this was an avalanche of foul white muck, about to consume the universe back then! I think I remember The Mekon escaping in the right-hand corner, through some sort of trapdoor, and was troubled thereon about his return! I must read that one again now!
ReplyDeleteThe yarns about illness are allowed just the first five minutes at the start of my Old Gentemen's Lunches, The J, and thereafter, all mentions of sickness and health are banned! It's bad enough being a bit poorly, but nowadays, even if things look a bit bleak, I try and make a conscious decision not to make my friend feel bad as well, as we'd all get morbid and over-order pints of the strong Harvey's Ale...
ReplyDeleteIt dosn't always work, but if you remember the immortal Giles cartoons, there was an aged aunt depicted, who was always discussing ailments, and eating aspirins!
In the Seventies international phone calls from the UK were very expensive. My brother was in the USA and I calculated that if I wanted a six hour conversation with him it would be cheaper to fly over and meet him.
ReplyDeleteHow about video calls as a substitute for that 100 mile journey?
ReplyDeleteOr we could email.
ReplyDeleteI'm always open to a video call, AK and James - Daughter and I regularly take pics and videos of 'whatever', and indeed, a lovely chum from another well-known British site and regularly chat, as again, the hundred mile gap is in the way more than somewhat...
ReplyDeleteEmails to the former are usually disgusting and hilarious, while those to the lovely chum are roughly the same, but as a gentleman, are only just a little muted, so you can see the sort of sordid life I'm leading just now..;0)
I've had a fabulous evening, visiting another daughter with her 'big' birthday present, seeing the grand-daughters, (plus two hamsters and a cat), and also chatting with my other daughter for ages!
And tomorrow, it's a session of table-tennis with about twenty like-minded scoundrels - and that's just the girls...
And, to top all this, my chum is visiting me on Easter Monday, and I'm sure the Harvey's will flow - er - interminably!
ReplyDeleteWhat a day to look forward too!