I have just realised that I never travel alone anymore. I’m never out of coverage, and therefore always able to turn around and talk to someone on Twitter, a discussion board, email, even World of Warcraft. I’ve known it intellectually for a while, of course, but it sank in a bit this evening when I saw one man in a train carriage staring out the window, and everyone else tapping away on a phone. He was travelling alone; nobody else was.

But it’s just a long way off, and it may be some time before it gets here.