Last night as we were getting ready to go to dinner my cell phone rang. Mind you, not very many people have my cell number, and I like it that way. So I was very surprised when it turned out to be a reporter from the Greenville News. This was the same woman who plastered my picture on the front page several weeks ago. I thought this would once again be about the flooding in our neighborhood, but I was wrong.
Apparently she must think I sound authoritative, or that I give good quotes, or something. This time she was asking me about my reactions to the announcement that Piedmont Gas would raise their rates by 42%. I wasn’t sure how to respond. I babble a few things about closing off parts of the house and using timed thermostats, which we would be doing anyway. I was caught off guard mentally, sitting in an idling car (wasting more fuel, by the way), and not really in the mood to elaborate. Nevertheless, this morning’s Greenville News had a quote from me right there on the front page, once again. And, once again, she played fast and loose with my actual quote, adding bits about wearing sweaters, etc. Oh well, at least it didn’t do any harm this time.
The interesting thing is that Wes Walker, one of my neighbors and another outspoken critic of the flooding in our neighborhood, was also quoted. I guess the reporter went down her list of contacts from our neighborhood meetings and picked us as homeowners.