19/11/17: Mobile in Totteridge

In Totteridge, at the start of my local four-miler, an American woman wearing a fake fur coat and riding a bicycle stopped me and asked if I could make a phone call for her. After much confusion about the number, which she had scribbled on a tiny scrap of paper, I dialled and handed her my mobile. No answer. Tried again and handed it to her, saying – only slightly joking – that I hoped she wouldn't run off with it. She said she wouldn't, then dialled again. When her friend answered, she entered into a lengthy chat about social arrangements with no urgency whatsoever. She should really have prefaced it with "I've borrowed someone's phone so I have to keep this short", but instead was chatting away happily. It was cold standing there in the street and I said "Listen, I really need to go." She wound up the call, gave back the phone and we said goodbye. I walked away, then she started cycling after me, offering to pay for the call. I said there was no need, then she wheeled off happily to meet her friend.