Talking to yourself

I suppose I'm getting old - well, I am getting old - but I cannot get used to people walking the streets apparently talking to themselves. When I was young, if you saw someone doing this, you quickly and unobtrusively put as much space between you as possible. Nowadays everyone is doing it, and only in some cases can you see that they are holding a phone.

There was a young chap sitting opposite me on the train this evening and he was mumbling away. He had all sorts of wires draped about his person, as most young people do, and I assumed he was on a hands-free phone. But after a little while I began to wonder, as whoever was on the other end didn't seem to be saying much. I still don't know whether he was talking to himself or not, but he seemed fairly tranquil.