sideline: mobiles.

On the flip side, Londoners seem to adore their mobile phones. For years now, every American has had one clutched in their grubby little palm, but the trend has just recently skyrocketed in England. Adding to the attractiveness is text messaging, which is big in the US for certain people, but is big here to everyone. Because texting is considerably cheaper than calling, people are going at it all the time. Phones lie sprawled out on the table at a social gathering and little beeps and vibrations are heard throughout the talking. People here can text message faster than they can type WPM on a keyboard. And guess what else? Adults can do it. They know not only how to use mobile phones (teachers here give us their mobile phone numbers), they tell us that they can text us, or that we can send them a text. The fact that everybody is huddled over their phones here, even on the tube where there is no reception, is not something I feel nauseous over like I do in the states, but something of a little wonder, something sort of quaint and amusing about it. While Americans rely on their phones and just assume they need them, phones here are still sort of a treasure. They hold them preciously - it's just a little different.

Still, doesn't excuse the girl sitting next to me in the movie last night who was texting throughout. That little blue screen, toots, is about as annoying as people holding up video cameras in Disneyland attractions or people holding digital cameras high above their heads at concerts - just really sickingly distracting.