"Who's there?" She asked.
"It's me", I answered.
"But I cancelled because my daughter's ill," she said.
The conversation continued and she said that she'd sent me a text a little earlier, but for some reason I hadn't received it. The result for me was a wasted journey, lost time and discontentment. For her, sending the text to notify me was sufficient and she hadn't considered it necessary to receive a text from me as confirmation.
These days, with the proliferation of instant messaging, we tend to think that everyone has the ability to communicate immediately. The attitude is that if it's sent, it's not my responsibility that you haven't received it.
I admit that I'm not the most tech-savvy, person. I have a mobile, but it's not a smart-phone and doesn't have internet; so no WhatsApp or other social media, either. I do have two computers; a tower and an iPad with Wifi, which is getting more and more attention as I realise how useful it is. Before I had it, I used to check emails once a day; now, I hear the sound of an incoming email and read it as soon as possible. I hope it's not becoming an obsession, but doubt if I could only check my emails once a day in future.
I also doubt if I could be as addicted to WhatsApp as some of my friends are. It seems that they send inane messages to their contact groups and everyone else must reply with equally trivial words and emoticons. (Sorry if that's offended any of my friends!). Is there a need to feel popular, to keep in the loop in fear of missing something? It's not for me.
Furthermore, I've never felt the desire to join Facebook and Twitter. I'll communicate with friends, but not on a media site. And when I see that the Prime Minister has tweeted to express his thoughts, I groan. Does he think he's hip and has street cred by being on Twitter?
Ok, the days of letter writing and phone calls may have been superceded; emails, texts and instant messaging are now a way of life. We've moved forward and have new methods of communicating, although let's realise that not everyone has access to all these options. Wouldn’t it be sensible to check that the recipient has received an important message?
So, my meeting was cancelled and I've spent half an hour writing this. Not a complete waste of time for me, after all, and I'm now over my irritation. But I still haven't seen that text!