One thing about leaving the country is that it brings home to you just how many loose ends there are to tie up. It's only when you begin to uproot yourself that you realise quite how far those roots have spread, in the form of the various accounts and services that we accrue over the years. Phone accounts, insurance policies, utility suppliers, broadband connections. All those terms and conditions we pretend we've read that bind us to our thoroughly modern lives.
Having had some long and tedious experiences trying to extricate myself from these individually in the past, the thought of pulling the whole lot up by the roots filled me with trepidation. I'd been putting the chore off for a while, unable to face the pleading of the various 'customer retention' departments. I was pleasantly surprised, then, to find that the task was quite painless, and actually rather pleasant. When these people ask for the reason you're attempting to close your account, "I'm leaving the country" gives them scarce opportunity for argument. There's a palpable sense of relief from their end - for once, they don't have to go through the futile script designed to try and make you stay, like the desperate, deluded pleadings of a jilted lover. Or in some cases, the call provides some light relief in an otherwise bleak day - the nice lady from the pet insurance company seemed positively delighted to not, for once, be talking to someone who's beloved furry friend has just died.
Once this tension had been lifted, the conversations became rather jovial, in a way that's become quite familiar now. Throughout this process, I've been at first surprised and consistently delighted by how much people, even complete strangers, are somehow behind us. 'Oh', they say, on hearing our plans, 'how exciting!'. They relate their anecdotes of the time they went to Thailand themselves. They tell you how much they wish they could do the same thing. Somehow, the sheer romance of two people forming a team and setting off on an expedition into the wider world generates a buoyant wave of goodwill that's helped to carry us along this far. It's heartening to experience such generosity of spirit from complete strangers, even in so simple a form as a call-centre worker sincerely wishing us well on our adventures. It's a rare treat in this age to sense a smile at the other end of the phone.
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