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Just stop talking - please

 Have you noticed that some people only have mouths and no ears?  Or so it seems.  Interviewers do it.  They ask a question then talk right over the  person trying to answer it.  Politicians do it but that is more a method of not  answering a question.  Some people just talk for the sake of talking, rarely listen to anyone else, never achieve anything and destroy all  chance  of conversation.  I had two  such encounters this week.  One, a French lady who as soon as another person opens their mouth to speak, jumps in and gabbles away nineteen to the dozen until everyone glazes over and all chance of any conversation or discussion is dead.  One brave soul said 'I am speaking, please wait until I have finished.'  She did but you could see the agony on her face at having to wait thirty seconds.  During that time her ears didn't function at all because she jumped in again with something totally irrelevant.

The second was also a lady, English this time, who is an adult support worker for people  with learning disabilities.  After an hour and a half of her talking about her dog, her husband, her banking and heavens knows what else, I was exhausted.  I tried raising my hand to stop her interrupting but it isn't all that effective on zoom.  I tried asking direct questions to the others in the meeting but she leapt in every time.  Later I asked my son and daughter in law, who both have learning disabilities, how they get on with her.  They just looked at me blankly and said they never know what she is talking about.  Even her boss, who was present in the  zoom meeting only managed about five words, even though he was sitting right next to her.  How did she even get through her job interview?  Verbal diarrhoea has taken on a whole different meaning this week.

In the meantime the diplomats are talking and probably listening but I doubt whether Putin is.  He doesn't talk much either, just gives orders to destroy people's lives.

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