Hello Kitten

[kitten]

I'm much wordier on the forum than I am in person.  Probably because I can consider my answers instead of blurting out something totally inane.

[Gopher]

So am I!  Strange isn't it, because what one writes down can be held against one, whereas what one says usually passes straight through the listener's head and there's no fear of any comback at all.

  Incidentally, how would you feel if you suddenly learned that two of your neighbours were avid readers of your contributions to DS?

[kitten]

Indifferent, actually.  I don't associate with them, so it wouldn't matter if they did.  Has this happened to you?  If so, how did you feel about it?

[Gopher]

No it's never happened to me.Originally I thought I would be embarrassed, but on second thoughts I listened to the advice of my very young years and decided that I wouldn't give a damn. I would, operhaops, do a little self-censoring... whatever, I wouldn't feel quite as free to write in my usual manner.

[kitten]

I don't think I would be recognized by any of my neighbours.  In speaking with them, I'm pretty well constrained to use two-syllable words at the most.

[Gopher]

I don't over socialise either, just a polite word or two about the weather - and to judiciously chosen people, either a moan or rant about the government.

[kitten]

My neighbours do understand weather, as in "Hot enough for you?" and "Cold enough for you?".  Government comments are a bit too intellectual.

[Gopher]

They sound like mine. I moan and rant to no avail, it go right over their heads - but at any rate it gives me a chance to let off steam. Are your neighbours, like mine, far more concerned with local matters than what's going on in the world? The only time I hear of any reaction to world news is when it concerns some sex scandal or the royal family (or both).

[kitten]

My neighbours are mostly concerned about who isn't there at the time so they can gossip about them.  When they try to pry any information from me,  I just tell them that I only give that sort of information to friends.

[Gopher]

In our road we have a lot of coffee mornings (very stiff and correct), the same people go to them all, they eat the same thing in every house, drink the same coffee, sup the same thimbles of whisky and NOBODY ever misses, simply because the people who are present only go to them in the hopes that someone will be absent and thus give a whole point to the silly affair.

[kitten]

There is a coffee klatch every morning at ten, and I made a point of never showing up.  That way they might try to gossip about me, but they have nothing to base any gossip on.  I've heard some strange rumours about myself, but there ruth to any of it so I just laughed it off.

[Gopher]

As one of my friends always says, "I don't care what anyone says about me when I'm dead, as long as it's not the truth".

  For no reason at all, this inspires me to tell you of ine of the most decorous euphemisms I recently heard re. going to the bathroom. Lady: "If you'll excuse me, I'll just go and make a lady of myself". I wonder what she considered herself before?

[Sportsdude]

I'm doing fine Gopher. My house was one of the lucky ones. 78% of my area code is out of power except us. The main road down here that everyone travels on has been completely dark at night. Really freaky. No lights, no building lit up, not even street lights. You wouldn't even know that a million cars travel on it everyday.

[kitten]

The possibilities are endless.  She could be absent for quite a while while you were speculating on alternatives.  

[Gopher]

S.D. I've been wondering whether or not your variety of interests could find you future employement (although doing what I don't know) under the auspices of some organisation like National Geographic?

I've also thought of your desire for travel. Easiest way to finance it would be to do a diploma course in Teaching English as A Foreign Language and then make use of it whilst abroad. The pay is usually pretty good (I did it for a while when I was younger).