Liam Stranger showed up on my doorstep yesterday afternoon. It was just the thing; I had descended into listening to Test Match Special and playing computer games and instead I spent the day talking and throwing some ball in the park with beer and cigarettes like all the other bums (except I catch one handed and throw like a demon; Liam has a weakness under the high ball and surprisingly poor hand-eye coordination for a master martial artist).
It was good to talk; I don't really talk to anyone much and have got quite out of practice, which seems strange to say, but you have to think pretty quick to form complete sentences, especially when you're trying to express thoughts any more complex than the simple requests and questions which form the bulk of my communication with the outside world.
I have been thinking about trying to strike up meaningful vocal congress with a guy at work called Charles, who seems to bring two different books to work each day and in the awful 'breaking the ice' bit of the introduction, where we were required to draw pictures of things we liked, he drew T.S. Elliot and Nabokov high-fiving, which has to count for something. But I've never liked talking to people, and besides he seems a bit crazy ~ all right; the only reason I say that is because he holds the phone to his ear with his shoulder which may not seem strange ~ the thing is, we're wearing headsets.
Sure I could visit Bird more often, but I never know when would be bad or good because they work strange hours and there always seem to be something and then there's the hill which wipes me out by the time I get up there. I do talk to Scarlett plenty, but our forms of expression are frequently littered with short-cuts other's can't understand and long soliloquies others don't have the time for. And I don't have a phone. (zero phone ~ none).
Talking more might make me happier, but it could also lead to unwanted friendships and awkward silences. Thales, the Greek philosopher, refused to marry and have children because he couldn't bear the idea of caring for someone so much. I should stop making excuses and just do it.
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