I am just reading back over the past few days' posts, and the interesting discussion about the use of phones.
I must admit I text practically all the time now, as do almost all of my friends. I like texts because they
don't intrude - you can read them when you like and respond if/when you wish. It is not that I don't want to speak to people - a large number of my texts are used for arranging to meet friends for lunch, etc - but I have always hated the way the phone puts you on the spot. At home we have call display and I only answer if I see a name I recognise and actually want to speak to. I do
not feel obliged to return all calls.
Sally - I laughed when I read about your unintended photo - that is exactly what happens to me, I hate it when I suddenly see myself (usually just got out of bed, hair on end and every line showing) appearing on the screen. My husband has just taken it upon himself (with no instructions or agreement from me - "I thought it would help") to change the settings on my laptop so that it does things if you so much as hover your little finger over the keyboard (or at least that's how it feels
, so I am ending up with all sorts of stuff I didn't want. Just this morning I have been screaming at the screen because I couldn't even put an address in my address book without it all going wrong. Elder daughter came to the rescue, and then i feel (i) stupid and (ii) self-centered, when I think of all the people
really suffering in Japan, Libya, etc.
Barb - wood floors are also very fashionable here - we don't have the termite problem, but I still think they should be viewed with caution. Some people put them in in upstairs bedrooms or in upper flats - the poor people underneath can hear every footstep. My husband insisted on getting them put in in our last house before we had even moved the furniture in, and I always regretted it - it was only downstairs, but I felt that the sitting room in particular was never "cosy". In the end we bought a Turkish carpet, which I love and which covered up most of it.
Another fashion thing that we have noticed in the zillions of houses we have viewed lately is the"feature wall" - ie one wall of, say, the living room papered in a loud print or very bright colour. This has apparently been suggested on all these awful makeover shows. In 99% of cases it looks
terrible, and if we ever bought any of these houses we would strip it right off.
I would much rather have bookcases any time - every time we view a property we have to ask ourselves where the books would go; they and the piano are both real issues in many houses. I suppose if I do get a Kindle, many of the paperbacks could go, but I would still have masses of old books that I wouldn't want to part with.
Rosemary
