Just now I saw a woman struggling to pay a taxi driver, get out of the taxi with a bulky package - it looked like a painting or possibly its frame - and close the cab door, all the while talking into the mobile phone that was firmly clamped to her ear. Was her call so all-fired important that she couldn't ask the other person to hold on for a minute, or even ring back? It probably took her twice as long to carry out those simple tasks as it would have normally, not to mention her rudeness to the cabbie.