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mourning the death of salutations
Recently on Twitter I made the following observation: I wish people wouldn’t forget salutations. So many emails & IMs burst at me with information, without a polite Dear; Hello; or Good Morning. And I followed it up with It’s like someone rushing into your house and firing a question at you, without first saying hello. I find it disconcerting. I understand why this has happened. Text messages and IMs have much to do with it. Text messages are limited to 140 characters so dropping even an economical ‘Hi’ makes sense. Most people have smartphones containing all the names and photos of their contacts now, so the majority of the time…
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the kindness of strangers
It’s the last Sunday before December 25th so Galway city was thrumming with people and vendors earlier. The above picture was taken of the Galway market by St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church with an almost-full moon adding illumination. Smoke from a wood-burning stove lends atmosphere to the shot. The mood in the city was upbeat, if a bit manic in some of the shops. I’ve finished my holiday preparations, and now it depends on the whims of the weather if I can make it to my parents’ house for Christmas. When I’m out and about I tend to attract oddball characters who decide to befriend me. Today, as I was slowly…