Introverts, extroverts and noises in the night

With the family gone and life getting back to normal, I consulted my list. There were at least three or four phone calls to be made, calls I’d delayed on the first couple of days of the new year giving myself the excuse that my brain hadn’t started work yet. But two of them were invites to a social evening next weekend. I’d promised I’d try to rearrange my Neighbour Do and I couldn’t delay asking any longer. Fortunately, I’d caught some of the potential guests at the drinks gathering on New Year’s Eve. I would so much rather talk to people in the flesh – or write to them. What is it about the phone that is so off-putting. True, I do talk to my children regularly on the phone, but then I know them. I don’t need visual signals in the same way that I do with people I don’t know too well. I think it’s the mark of an introvert that they/we prefer writing things down to picking up the phone.

I gritted my teeth and did it all in one go – rather like taking a whole batch of pills with one swallow. I spoke to two answerphones – how pleased I was with that – no social interaction, just a message – and one of them has already replied. Another of the calls was to one of the judges of the Winchester Writing Festival. She had contacted me in response to my request to use her words when Tainted Tree is published next May. She said she was emailing me, and the email didn’t arrive. I was able to leave a message there too. Having done so well, I rang the hairdresser too and booked a trim for next week. My hair has been hopeless – both floppy and fluffy - since I last went. Don’t know if it’s the weather, the shampoo, or my age.

M had an appointment with another doctor and I went with him to make sure he didn’t forget anything. While I was trying hard to get over and receive information, M seemed determine to ramble on with anecdotes. I got the impression that he thought it was up to him to entertain the doctor. Maybe he’s even worse than normal when I am with him, on the basis that he has an audience of two. M has not a grain of introversion in him. If a thought pops into his head, he has to let it out. There have been times at the social gatherings recently, when I have been inclined to say to him, ‘Too much information.’ Yesterday, there were moments when I felt like saying that to the doctor too. But then that’s job.

The Son&Heir telephoned a couple of days ago. He was worried about a noise in his house, which he thought might be running water. M discussed this with him at length, suggesting finally that he should access the boxed-in stopcock and turn the water off. The S&H rang again last night. He had done this and it hadn’t made any difference. The noise went on and on, and he couldn’t trace it. When they all went to bed, the noise disturbed GD1 and she couldn’t sleep and had to swap beds with S&H. He woke up at five in the morning as the sound was still going on. He called a plumber who was due to come this morning. Finally D-i-l conducted a search of every room, trying to locate the sound – and yesterday evening, she found it. The source of the non-stop high pitched sound, which had probably attracted all the dogs in the neighbourhood was GD3’s (obviously neglected) tamagotchi.