Close to Home by John McPherson for September 04, 2018

And, no calls during dinner.

And these giant phones crushed the little yellow aliens.

Imagine that! Having to get up to answer the robocall

We always had a short cord telephone, so we couldn’t move around. And the phone had no memory, so we had to hand write the details in something called a phone and address book, lol ;-)

…and don’t get me started about party lines.

And the calls were never for me!

Not to mention the long distance charges.

Remember calling a predetermined fake name person to person to let the people on the other end know the you arrived safely at where ever you were going? There by not having to pay long distance.

If there wasn’t a phone book, or the name wasn’t in there, you had to dial a phone number to get someone to look up the phone number to dial.

Do you have Prince Albert in a can???

Ah, but we weren’t prisoners of the ‘cell’ phone.

And the phone was in the living room or dining room so there was no privacy.

And if the line was busy you couldn’t leave a message. And you had to answer the phone to see who was calling.

In public there were things called “phone booths” that allowed you to keep your conversation relatively private.

“I’d like to order three pizzas”….He Hee

When I started with “THE” phone company, my office didn’t even have Touch-Tone. Kids now would have trouble using a rotary phone. I must admit, seeing the changes was pretty amazing.

Actually, many mid-sized and large towns had these phone numbers you could call to play games. Mostly for kids, but I used to call them when I was in my 20’s and was bored at home. They had numbers where the recording told jokes, they had fun mind games, trivia, etc. I believe they were either local numbers or toll-free. I can’t remember off hand.

OH, THE HORROR, THE HORROR!!! (yeah, but a lot less people fell into fountains and holes, got hit by cars, or tripped over the curb because they were on the phone). :o)

Funny thing though, I forgot my phone one day and had to call a taxi. Found myself most reluctant to use a public payphone, like I didn’t know whose mouth or ear or hair had been up against the receiver. Never used to bother me in the least.

And there was a number to call for the local weather report.

If he looked back in history, at least he didn’t have to use an ice box, have only one little black and white TV in the house, etc.

I wish I’d had this phone back when I was taking Greyhound around the country. It’s replaced a rucksack full of stuff. Puzzle books, novels, notepads, tape player, cassettes, batteries, quarters for payphones.

It was great, because people actually focused on the conversation. No speakerphone so no so-called “multitasking.” Just you and the person you were talking to. Sweet.

When I was in England, home phone service was a bit pricey. If you made a call, it cost you for the call even if it was to your next door neighbor. I kept telling her to step out of our front door and knock on her door if you had something to talk to her about. Another bad part of the phone service is that you were also charged for incoming calls. I am not talking long distance either.

These are all neat memories. A phone call at my parents’ house was supposed to last less than a minute. $ LOL