June 30

Sian's phone is not working so she has to use mine.  This means that I receive a lot of messages from her friends written in text language.

What tym cn u cm over?

Hv u got e notes?

R u comin ovr?

Did u tlk bout it?

BTW, u 4got yr bag.

C u l8er.

The worst one is hbu - how 'bout you?  I am sure it takes longer to decipher these than it would to write them out properly. I could blame the youth of today, but unfortunately many adults write like this as well.

Sian knows better than to reply in a similar way.  She knows she would never hear the end of it.  I often ask the girls to write messages for me when I am driving or when I just can't be bothered to write them myself. Sian gets irritated me because I type messages with one finger. She despairs because it takes me much longer than using two thumbs, but I have yet to master this art.  

Sian is not good with punctuation though and often I read what she has written on my behalf with a sense of horror, watching as each sentence merges into another. I now get her to read the message back to me, with punctuation, before she sends anything.

Ellie is better at punctuation and it is quite funny to see her read something that Sian has written, shake her head solemnly and declare: 'You can tell Sian has written this.  No punctuation at all.'

I always say you will know that I have been kidnapped if I ever send a message in text language and the same is probably true of  punctuation.