Friends, Relations and Staying in Touch...

Hi,
Every so often, I get a niggle of discomfort or even a few and I wonder if anyone else has the same problem: I'm finding it harder and harder to have a chat with family and friends on the telephone. I want to see faces and expressions; to watch the body language; to hear the inflection and emphasis. In other words, I want to know that as we talk, we're focused on each other's conversation and not distracted by anything including the computer.
I'm using the phone for the business conversation; the impersonal chat; the connection with family members that doesn't last more than two minutes, but anything personal & I steer clear. It's as easy to have the spoken word interpreted incorrectly as the written especially in social media.
Now I know that there's another computer programme I need to work on: Skype or something similar, but I need time. Time to sit down and learn a lot more about it and in peace and quiet.
This morning, I had my plans made: the last piece of Caherbeg Free Range Dry Cure Ham to be delivered for a New Year celebration; a quick delivery to one of our biggest customers in Cork city; take my mother-in-law home; visit a friend and my mother. I'm up in plenty of time to leave at 9am & here is the fun of a family business: I'm going nowhere until my van is washed! No, I can't take another van - they all have to be washed this morning & so it'll be at least 10 before I can go anywhere. It can be so frustrating, but c'est la vie.
Meanwhile, I won't be idle. There's always work in the office.
Until next time
Happy New Year
Avril

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