Communication

Is our modern need to communicate with one another all the time a basic human need or just another distraction?

Because I still don't know why this fancy phone went wrong, it seemed sensible to buy a cheap French mobile in to keep in touch in case I have more problems.

Buying a mobile here is more like opening a bank account in England - needs all sorts of proofs of identity, including address. And it can't be an English address, but must show where one has been in France in last 3 months! A 40 mile round trip from Saumur to Lasse and back produced a piece of paper which the young man in the shop reluctantly accepted. So I came away with a nice new phone - trouble is, it will only allow me to call numbers in France, so I'm not much further forward! What is this EU that people keep talking about?!

When I travelled with my family as a child, it was impossible to phone home, and we usually got back before the post-cards, but that never seemed to worry anyone. Now that we are able to communicate all the time, we lose our security if we can't. I suppose I should be grateful that I can still go to the supermarket without the urge to ring Roger and ask what he wants for supper!