Inane Babble

When I was persuaded by the weather to take the train into work on Monday, I sat behind some drama students going to Bexhill College (I think). I couldn't help overhearing their conversations, thanks to the volume of their voices.

Inane babble. That's the simplest way to explain it. If their "conversation" was anything to go by; all these people do is get drunk, sleep around, and live on MySpace, Facebook, or their mobile phones. And while one person is reading out the texts they sent to their ex-significant other, all proud and aloof; a member of their "audience" will butt in complaining that ohmygod I, like, missed a braid in my hair this morning - can you see it? Ohmygod its so annoyin'. And then, of course, you have the complementary ohmygod I love this song, followed by have I told you how much I love this song, and ohmygod, at which point the mobile phone's speakers are turned up to the loudest they can get and the entire carriage has to put up with the bilge they listen to.

Unfortunately, the rant does not end there. This morning, again due to the foul inclement weather we have been having, a colleague gave me a lift into work in his leaky Land Rover for which I am very grateful. However, Radio 1 (which I avoid like the plague and will, in future, avoid like two plagues) was playing on the 'Rover's radio. The quality of conversation was comparable to the one I overheard on the train.

A listener had called in and was telling the presenters about her trip up Kilimanjaro. A fascinating subject, surely. But instead of asking interesting questions or expanding on the information they were receiving, the presenters proceeded to make fun of the caller, imitating her voice in ridiculous falsetto and repeating the same lines over and over. In particular, they picked up on the fact that you have to chop up your chocolate bars (required for quick-release energy) because they freeze once you get to a certain altitude and you can't eat them if they're still whole. If someone told me that for the first time in a conversation, I'd be genuinely interested and ask if there were any other similar practises that are carried out before embarking on mountain expeditions.

Right. Raging rant over. Move along, nothing to see!