Idle leisure with friends

Driving on the A9 tonight I passed under a road bridge atop which a few teenagers were sitting together safely. I greatly envied them: it has been so long since I was at any risk of spending a pleasant summer evening just hanging out with friends. I lived maybe fifteen miles from my high school which was hardly conducive to a social life outside class but at least at university I had some great evenings and nights with friends.

I realized that wanting such times doesn't seem to be asking for much. I don't let my age define my behavior but I noticed a couple of other ways in which I may be lacking. First, moving around so much has left me short of local friends: those I've felt closest to, most at ease with, are not even in Scotland. I don't put much effort into friend-making here because adjusting my career seems higher priority and I do not plan to remain long-term anyway.

Second, my life is full of things I have to do to or things that I at least feel as if I should do. If I am at a loose end it is because I feel too tired and just want to turn off and watch television or whatever. Though, hanging out with close friends might be recuperative rather than taxing.

I have given some thought to how to get to know people in a new community. Over a few years it isn't too hard near a larger American city even if one avoids church and suchlike. We met one friend just by taking shelter in the same grocery store during heavy rain and we even started getting to know our mortgage broker before we left the state. However, the other piece might be trying to live a modest enough life, especially in ambition, to leave enough breathing space for just hanging out with people outside more organized activities like book clubs or whatever.

Trivago advertisements

I took GCSE Media Studies and found it interesting. Since then, as a consumer of mass media I try to notice small related things. In recent years I have been noticing the Trivago advertisements on television.

First, they score a great victory: I actually recall that they are for Trivago. Many advertisements manage to attract and hold my attention but tack their brand on as such an afterthought that I do not remember the connection^*. Trivago actually gets mentioned throughout the script which itself is neatly packaged efficiency: one can see why each line is there.

Second, I keep watching. For example, the lady (Gabrielle Miller) not only does various things in each one but her hair and clothes keep changing and I always wonder how she will be this time around. Here in the UK I never see the guy (Tim Williams) and I don't recall enough from US television to say if he is similarly variable, let alone if he is as directly engaging in addressing us. I shall have to look when I am back there next month, if he still appears.

^*For example, which brand brings the memorable Captain Obvious (Brandon Moynihan) to us? I forget but it is another in that same market space. Next time I see him I shall try to notice what explains that difference.