distance to here

In the time of email and portable telephones communication is getting easier and easier on a daily basis and simultaneously distances keep getting shorter. This change has become extremely evident to me in the last days and weeks.

My mum has a habit of phoning all her kids when she is left alone in the house. In this case if I don’t answer she leaves me a message saying “hi this is mum. I really have no reason to phone you, but..” or alternatively, if I do pick up she tells me that she is phoning because she can’t get hold of my sis or my bro. She also phoned to ask me about the snow in Paris and whether I am ok. I tried to convince her that there was no snow in Paris but she did not believe me as the news in Finland had told her otherwise. Afterwards she phoned my sister to make sure I really was ok.

The other day my sister phoned me from the grocery shop: “Where can I find the yeast from here?” I know the shop she was at (the shop is in Helsinki and I still live in Paris) but somehow the exact location of yeast had slipped my mind. But obviously, as I had tried to get hold of her earlier, she phoned me back asap and as that happened to be the time when she was in the store, asking me seemed logical to her.

My dad on the other hand has not yet jumped into the mode of excess communication. I have soon lived five years abroad and I can count the number of emails I have received from him with the fingers in my right hand (or left, it doesn’t really make much difference). Last time he managed to type two lines he was so excited that he phoned me to tell me that I had an email waiting for me and what it said.

My brother on the other hand sometimes leaves the webcam on, even if he is too busy to talk to me on msn. It is almost like he was somewhere in the room, when I am studying. Even if I can’t hear them or talk to them it is like they were very close.

I can’t say I am any better. Only this morning I phoned my mum from the laundrette to find out what to do with a stupid stain on my shirt. Then I phoned my dad as my fridge stopped working. This was after I had asked my friend what to do and he had kindly given advice to the technically challenged confused little me. This same friend has also helped me to install programmes on to my computer with msn and helped me to choose an outfit and told me to go to bed because I sound exhausted. I, on a regular basis, phone my sister when I am shopping to make sure I am choosing the right thing, weather it is long or short running pants or a green or black bag. Or to find out what to do with a blocked drain.

And the best thing is that if I ever say “no, I am not ok” – they’ll be on the next flight over.