Playing Scrabble online

A friend invites me to join a game, or three, of Scrabble and suddenly I find myself constantly checking to see if he has taken his turn and I can, yet again, sit looking at the screen and contemplate the letters before me. I dislike the absence of personal interaction. I want to congratulate on clever moves, groan when planned future moves are thwarted and generally chat about the game. Online chat does not have the same effect. It does help in a small way and there are advantages to playing online. As an only child I rarely had another child to play games with. Hence my preference for the solitary occupations of reading and jigsaws, knitting and sewing, baking, writing, needlecrafts and music. I am very competitive though and it is fun when challenged to a game. It would be much more fun to play with the board in front of me and my opponent in the same room, sharing food and drink and conversation but this online alternative has its place and it brings a smile to my face to see that it is my turn again and to wonder if there is any way I can make up that huge deficit in points in all three games.