1184. The many uses of a mobile phone (1)

Overheard on the train

Lady 1: Well I ask you – young people these days…

Lady 2: So how did it come about exactly?

Lady 1: My nephew in New Zealand rang to wish me a happy birthday – there’s a 13 hour difference so it was midday for me and one in the morning tomorrow over there, if you know what I mean.

Lady 2: With difficulty… but carry on.

Lady 1: …And just as we had started speaking I hear his mobile ring and he’s saying to someone “can you take this, I’m on the phone to Aunty Sue in England…” He comes back to me and says “sorry about that Aunty, it was Emma, but we’ll call her back”.

Lady 2: Isn’t that his teenage daughter? What’s she doing ringing at 1 a.m.?

Lady1: I’m getting there. I thought it best to ignore, and we carry on chatting for about 10 minutes, and when the call is winding to a close I say “You’d better ring Emma back”. Well, I could hardly believe what he said next.

Lady 2 (breathlessly): what? What???

Lady 1: He sounded embarrassed and well he might be. “Thing is, Aunty”, he says, “this is quite a big house and as we all have mobile phones, when we want to communicate we often ring each other. When food’s on the table, when we want to know what they want for a take-away – that sort of thing.” Well, I said laughing, she wouldn’t want a take-away at 1 in the morning, would she?? “Er no,” he says – all hesitant – “actually she was in the toilet and she’d run out of toilet paper and wanted me to take her up a new roll…”

Lady 2: Lucky her – I could sit there all day and I still wouldn’t get a spare roll…

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