This might be because my upbringing, influenced by a famous northern city of rain-soaked humour, is all about ironic affection, cruel kindness and a natural suspicion of small talk.
Libya's rebel leadership was in turmoil last night following the death of its military chief, who had been arrested on the suspicion of holding secret talks with Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
"Zhivago" isn't on the Tolstoy/Chekhov level, but there are wonderful passages, including one that I thought spoke to the gruffness you often encounter in Cubans, the excessive suspicion of introductory small talk they sometimes demonstrate.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the 69-year-old was arrested on suspicion of planning a coup and talking to the opposition because he has qualms about Iran, Assad's most loyal ally.
One CHW commented: "Management used to go overboard - they didn't realize that the job wasn't everything in my life...We were looked at with suspicion whenever we talked to anyone outside the scope of work.
Normally, they'll stick their necks out and say one side "won" or "lost," but my sneaking suspicion is that a lot of the talking heads just don't have the attention span to sit through seven hours of politicians talking.
The contemporary reality of a marginalised parliament, the substitution of sound-bites for speeches, a social life bereft of brilliant talk, and a suspicion of young politicians shading into resentment, is far less attractive.
Instead they want to talk about her arrest on suspicion of domestic assault last summer, though the charges were dropped.
Tell your friend to talk to the lawyer for any suspicion of an illegal search.
In similar circumstances to Telegram, Line and Kakao Talk were blocked in China last year on suspicion of helping "spread information linked to terrorists activities".
