Is anybody out there?

Just had a Skype conversation with our two best friends. Unfortunately they don't have a webcam or a microphone on their computer (I assume it's one of those BBC computers that we used at school) - so while they could see and
hear us, they could only respond using Skype instant messaging. It was very unnerving, like using a ouija board - we asked questions, and a few seconds later we'd see the written answer appear on the screen.

Yesterday I went for my first solo dinner since getting married. It used to be a weekly tradition in London - I would select a nice local restaurant of my choosing and, armed with a good book, spend a contented hour or so enjoying my own company. To be honest, it's just an excuse to have a big old chocolate pudding without anyone there to judge me - apart form the staff and the other diners of course. But now even they can't judge me, because I wear a wedding ring. Now, as I sit in Chilli's mexican restaurant in a Doha shopping mall, I imagine people think to themselves 'look at that independent woman wearing a wedding ring and eating a big chocolate pudding all on her own, she's cool'. That's what I reckon they're thinking anyway.