Reluctant phone user seeks likeminded service provider

I just ran through a little wizard thingy on the BT web site, aimed at price-comparing their services with some of their rivals. Their argument being, you'll be surprised how competitive we really are.

Ha ha. They turned out to be cheaper than just one other provider on their list, which they presumably chose very carefully from the most expensive competitors.

See the problem begins when they ask you how many calls you make a week. For me, the correct wording is, how many calls do you make a month? The fact is, I make as many calls in a year as many people make in a day. I will phone my dad every few months if my wife holds a gun to my head, and one occasionally needs to deal with call centres if one absolutely has to, but other than that, the phone is about as useful to me as an electric butter knife.

Incoming calls are as rare. And my phone at work has been trained not to ring much. Anyone calls, I tell them it's not my department. My mobile goes two-charges-per-single-use, on average.

My wife hardly ever uses it. She speaks to her parents in France once a week, but that's because they phone her. She'll occasionally get involved in a long call with a gassy colleague or former colleague, but she's not particularly gassy herself.

It's funny how, for years, we all had the option of mail order shopping over the phone, but it was only when it got nice and impersonal with the internet that we all went mad for it.

I actually just wish I could go back to writing letters to people. That was fun.

Communication is all about habit. Blogging is a habit. Conversation is another. I miss conversation. The only person I ever really talk to at length is Roy(dog), and I only see him about twice a year. If off peak rail fares rise by as much as they say, it might not even be that often. I might as well sew my mouth shut.