The Mystery of Ms Rachel.

I had another email from Rachel tonight. Remember Rachel? She was the friendly customer service assistant at my energy supplier who picked up my last few email enquiries.

I don’t know how she’s always the one to pick up my messages, or how I can be so lucky as to keep picking her out of the bran tub. She always responds so quickly, and talks to me like you would an old pal from high school.

You must admit, that’s most unusual for a representative of the corporate world. They usually connect you to a robot schooled in the list of FAQs and possessed of a minimal range of stock replies such as ‘I am unable to answer your query’, ‘resistance is useless’, and ‘you will be exterminated’ if the FAQs won't do. If you’re really lucky and get a friendly one, you might get a simple GOODBYE in big red letters.

So where did Rachel come from? If she’s a robot, she’s certainly a very advanced one from some superior civilisation far from planet earth. My growing conviction, however, is that she was my mother in a previous life and hasn’t moved on to a higher plane yet.