Eavesdropping

What fun it is to listen in to other people's conversations! Recently while on a few days' break we enjoyed our cooked breakfast and then sat by the fire to read the paper in the lounge area - and even played a game or two of pool. Four women came in and sat drinking coffee. After a casual greeting we went on about our activities and they chatted. Well, I heard about whether the laundry cupboard were the place for sheets and towels or whether they should be nearer the bathroom, about the right colours for a new house, about throwing out junk and decluttering and there was even a serious discussion about the difference between baked and roast potatoes. The authority on the  matter declared that roast spuds were peeled and cooked in fat whereas  baked had no oil and had their skins on. I was so tempted to tell her that a light wiping over with oil makes baked potatoes so yummy and crisp.
Of course the advent of mobile phones has made eavesdropping so much easier. People seem to feel free to speak loudly in public while on their phone. I was walking down the main street one day when someone loudly said, "Hi Gorgeous" so I turned round and said hello only to discover I wasn't the gorgeous he was speaking to!
I consider it poor form to speak loudly on the phone while at the table in a restaurant and feel that if someone speaks so I can hear then I should feel free to join in.
Recently we were eating in a pub dining room and the man at the nearby table could be heard asking someone if they had been raped and saying it had happened to him three times. Oh my goodness! I glared at him. Was he joking (and rape is no joke) or was he talking to someone who had just come out of prison and....  I don't know because he moved away, thank goodness.
Please let's bring back telephone boxes. But then again I might miss out on hearing where to store the towels.

[ In case  you were wondering an eavesdropper is someone who stands at the eavesdrop (where the water drops next to the house) in order to hear what is said within.]