I don't consider myself to be a grade A kook by any stretch of the imagination. I'd like to think that I have quite a firm grasp on reality, and for those occasions when I might lose it, I'm not taking long excursions to the forests to murder unsuspecting tourists because they might be aliens stealing my brain-waves. The fashionable apparel of choice for these fine alien fearing folks is the tinfoil hat, now synonymous with anyone who runs around with an irrational paranoia of aliens, the government, or fluffy rabbits. The point I'm trying to get across is that I don't believe someone is out to get me, or that a shadowy figure is watching over me a la Big Brother or Bad Wolf. I don't believe that stuff, but it doesn't mean that it isn't happening.

Anyone around me should know by now that I'm heading off to Germany in two weeks. It's not news any more. I've been spouting off about it for months now, and frankly, I think people are sick of it. I've made a few posts here about it too, so anyone following this should know about it. I've bought a ticket to Germany, so the travel agent should know about it. The people I bought lunch from across the road from my former work know about it. It's fairly common knowledge that I'm leaving amongst people I have some interaction with. One group of people I'm pretty sure I didn't talk to about leaving is St George Bank. I'm not in the habit of telling my bank exactly what I'm up to, because basically it's none of their damn business. So imagine my surprise when I get a card from them today. After the initial heart-warming feeling that I got knowing that my bank was thinking about me wore off, I started to check for hidden cameras. Why did they care I was going? Who else knew I was going? What are they going to do to me if I don't go? How did they know I was going? That last one really puzzled me. I paid for my trip using my credit card (from Westpac), and there is nothing I can think of that will link me, a trip, and St George together. Unless.. this might sound crazy - but maybe the banks share data about their customers, build up profiles of them, and use that to deliver "personalised" banking experiences to their customers. This kind of stuff must go on all the time. Has this happened to anyone else? I'd ring the bank, but I'm too busy crafting a hat out of tinfoil.

Update - Di pointed out her recent experiences with people watching from above, which seem a whole lot less sinister.