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| Mark Budgen |
It seems that in this 21st century what is happening was observed by my prescient and now gone English friend Mark Budgen.
Back in that other century one day when I called him he told me, “I cannot talk to you know as I am monitoring a fax”
I remember when we first arrived in Vancouver in 1975 my daughters would play at the house of a girl called Moira. As soon as she was going to have dinner Ale and Hilary were sent home. When Moira was in our house we always asked her to stay for supper.
One day at about that year I told Rosemary, “We have been invited for after-dinner drinks. What’s that?” She did not know any better than I did.
A friend (no more) about 15 years ago every time I called
her (be it 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the evening would tell me, “Alex we are about to
have supper.” I got the message.
I can make a list of 10 phone numbers of friends and when I call (I make sure I use my landline so they know it is me calling) I get:
1. Few answer.
2. Some don’t have answering machines.
3. “Alex I am on my way to North Van. I’ll call you later.” They don’t.
4. I am having supper now.
5. I am about to have supper.
6. I called a long time friend (no more) at 9 in the evening. “You woke me up. I was sleeping.”
7.The mailbox is full.
8. When I text few will answer the texts.
What is shocking to me is that in the days of the black dial phones when you called and nobody answered it could be that they were not home or simply did not want to answer. You never knew. Now, especially with WhatsApp folks deny your call. That hurts.
My feeling is that the most original excuse was Mark Budgens’s.
I used to tell some people when I would call back, “I did not answer because
I was having sex with Rosemary.”
