~ I have to talk to the helpdesk of the bank where we hold our UK sterling account. The perky young English woman with the Estuary accent tells me they are in fact in Malta. She says she envies our being in France, and we chat briefly about the weather, the relative merits of our two adoptive resident countries, the problem of living on an island against a larger land mass, and other related matters. It seems to me from experience that people on these services are often quite eager to make this kind of conversation; I really don't think this is only PR, or even boredom, but a genuine need to break through the impersonal and displaced character of the relations they have with you, and to see each other as living real lives in a real place.
~ A line from
White Egrets: 'Swifts practised their archery...'
~
~ A trio of corvids, two jays and a magpie, in the eucalyptus. I am not sure how the balance of power lay; with corvids there almost always has to be one.
6 comments:
Despite evidence to the contrary, I suspect people do have a natural tendency to 'connect' in some way with others. I'm glad the electronic world hasn't killed 'real' conversation.
This reminds me of the time, when I was in Atlanta, Georgia, that I got quite friendly with a nice fellow in Bombay, India, as we had numerous conversations about my suitcases that Delta Airlines had ready for delivery (after briefly misplacing them). The suitcases were only about 15 miles from where I was.
Is that not rather a dead eucalyptus?
Lovely birds, Lucy. I've never seen a jay like yours - so different from those here in the States.
Thanks people.
I once had a chap at a French call centre in North Africa about our Orange internet connection. When he found out I was English he was off: did he not speak good English, he loved speaking it but he would be in trouble if anyone knew he was doing so at work, he wanted to go and live in America etc etc. I was glad when the problem was resolved before he asked me to marry him!
Apparently in the early days of overseas call centres they used to have clocks set to the time of the callers' countries, weather maps and all kinds of info so that the operators could make conversation as if they were in England instead of Bangalore, or wherever.
Isabelle - that tree is not dead, it is a seasoned old survivor! Not many leaves it's true, which means you can see the birds in it better.
Crow - our jays are not as impressive as your blue ones!
Maybe it's just that you bring it out in them. Although I have on rare occasions had side conversations with call folks from our current insurance co.
I did not know that about corvids. Interesting.
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