Thursday 22 October 2020

The Dark Ages.


When we received our current Phone Book, we were told that it would be the last; the end of an era.

From now on, if you don't know someone personally, there is little hope of phoning them, or even finding their address; unless of course they are advertising themselves on the side of a bus.


I'm of an age when (if we were lucky) we had a large black telephone, with a round finger-hole dial, on a table in the hall (the hall table). The 'phone was in its own little sanctuary, and was used very sparingly; mostly for incoming calls. Such 'phones were rarely found in the drawing room, or elsewhere. There was something very comforting about its positioning; the radio was in the drawing room (maybe with a TV), and the 'phone was in the hall. That's how it was; almost by government decree.

Another antique is my old Nokia. Even if I could find someone's mobile number, my old (and only) mobile could no longer call it. I haven't used it for decades, and it's hardly worth re-activating. I don't own a smartphone.

I tend to keep all this old stuff, as I do all my old laptops etc. However, I'm tempted to chuck out all my video tapes that are stored in a UK loft. They are worthless and I no longer have a video player. I also have boxes filled with cassette tapes; which are also destined for the dustbin. 

How quickly things change.
 

39 comments:

  1. We can still get a phone book if we order it but it may well be the last.

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    Replies
    1. Ours even says on the front cover, that it's the last ever.... Sad.

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  2. Replies
    1. If I lived by myself, believe me, things would be very different.

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  3. You can find everyone's details online these days. I'm quite happy not to get that thick phone book. It took up too much space and was difficult to get rid of, though the pages did come on handy for wrapping fragile items

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    1. We live on the cusp of three different 'counties', therefore we had three different 'phone books. I shan't really miss them.

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  4. Haven' had a phone book for years, just use the on-line directory.

    You Nokia is the same as the one I owned but sadly lost about 10 years ago, I have the equivalent basic one now, it cost £7 in Asda and does little else but calls and text. i normally load it about every 2 years with £10.

    My son has the latest all-singing all-dancing model, it's more like a computer with the ability to make calls.

    This is the way of the world, now, I even see customers paying for a round of drinks in the pub with a mobile phone. We're well on the way to a cashless electronically-controlled society.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That Asda 'phone sounds just my cup of tea. I dread a cashless society... I like to have a hold of my money.

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    2. Yes, £7, it came in a box in pieces to assemble; since my ability to put these together properly is a serious stumbling block, the young lady on Customer Service
      kindly volunteered her services, she had up and running in less than 1 minute, it even had charge in the battery.

      And like yourself I dread the implications of a cashless society, I also like to see and feel my money. But sadly I can dee it coming, and Covid has helped it a lot.

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  5. I am amazed how few people have a landline these days and many that do don't answer calls.

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    Replies
    1. That sounds like us... we just leave the 'phone to ring; it's always bloody people trying to sell us something we don't want or need.

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  6. Some years ago our phone directories changed to being online with a hard copy available on request. I don't know if that is still available. I've recently realised that my treasures will never be of interest to anyone else.

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    Replies
    1. We have so much junk, but it's mostly antiques or art works that have some value. I really need to open an antique shop.

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  7. It was only possible to find a married female friend if you knew her husband's name. Only men were listed. We still watch one Christmas film on video. We find the 'digitally enhanced' DVD version too perfect and lacks nostalgia.

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    Replies
    1. Which film was that? It's true that some enhanced films can be very annoying.

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    2. The Muppet Christmas Carol. The DVD version has colours that are too vibrant. We like the graininess of the video version. Plus they cut a perfectly lovely song when they transferred to DVD.

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  8. Vinyl us to be old, and it has become popular again. You never know. Anonymous caller blocking can impede folks from reaching each other even when they have the right number.

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    Replies
    1. Some of my old vinyl albums must be collector's items. I must have a look at them.

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  9. You must have a good amount of storage space. It seems I am always tossing things (no phone books here) or dropping off at the swap shop (the small building where town residents can drop off things they feel someone else might use).

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    Replies
    1. This house is very small, and it's filled with clutter. If one day I post nothing on here, you may conclude that I'm buried under a mountain of trash.

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  10. Still on my 2003 Siemens phone. I've unscrewed the hard drives out of our old laptops, bought a cable, and am now using them for external backup.

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    Replies
    1. You sound like a boffin. When my old laptops start misbehaving they are retired to a cardboard box.

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  11. And to think we used to think tape recorders were almost magic - now they're so old fashioned we are ashamed to mention them. Whatever next I wonder.

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    Replies
    1. Those small tape recorders that looked like mini-pianos were wonderful. I used to record music direct from the radio with mine.

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  12. We had an old fashioned black phone with holes where you put your fingers. We used it when the power went out, making cordless phones useless. We could not call out on it, but we could receive calls. Now we are busy putting together a retirement property. We had to buy cell phones. The old black phone now sits on a desk in the upstairs office next to my mother's old Smith Corona she received as a graduation gift in 1956. There is also a small bakelite electric clock keeping track of time gone by, sitting atop of a small stack of primary school books from the 1940s.

    I wonder about you, sir. What sort of a person hangs on to all their old stuff?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After my parents died, I inherited a nightmare. They had a large house that contained stuff from THREE houses. It was a horrible job going through it all. I fear my children may inherit a similar nightmare.

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    2. We buy and renovate houses. One of the last ones was a hoarder's house. THAT was a nightmare. There was tons of stuff. There was amazing valuable finds mixed in with heaps of junk. (I think they stole the salt and pepper shakers from every restaurant they ever went to.) Sorting the wheat from the chaff was long and drawn out.

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  13. Phone numbers are available for the UK, as others have said, on on-line directories usually the BT website.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a lot to learn. I've been living too long in the outback.

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  14. Replies
    1. Very true. I was looking at a 1554 portrait of Mary I of England recently, and I saw here as a woman of today but in different clothes. We haven't changed much.

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  15. We do have an iPhone and use it for about everything but talking. But I can google a person and generally come up with their phone number. It's funny that you mentioned old tapes and cassettes, Cro... as I just put a box full of them out for the trash man who comes by tomorrow. However, usually the box will disappears before he shows up. We don't do garage sales.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used to do that at our UK house, and everything would go within minutes. Here it would stay there for years.

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  16. inside phones and other tech equipment is small amounts of precious metals that can be reclaimed if you send them to be recycled then they can enjoy another life. Obviously thoroughly clean them of info and then see if there is a place to take them or some send you a bag to send it to them. Or if you want to make some cash the mobile you have in the picture is one that is allowed on to places with heavy security ie military bases as they dont have a camera

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    Replies
    1. Interesting; I shall make enquiries! Perhaps I can make a few bob.

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  17. Phone books
    Phone boxes
    White dog poo
    Pressure cookers
    Pineapple on sticks
    Electric fires
    Things in the past

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't get me started; I can see another blog in the air.

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  18. I love having a landline but so few of us do now. I had my first mobile phone for over a decade and shed tears when its 2G capabilities were made redundant around me. I tried to find something similar but the rubbishy plastic quality was utterly offensive, so bit the bullet on a 2nd-hand smartphone. My photographic skills have since improved immeasurably! I now consider it a camera that makes calls and texts.

    Re John's list, white dog poo! I forgot there was such a thing.

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    1. I fear I might become one of those people who walk around with their 'phone' permanently in their hands, never talking to anyone and ignoring all around them. I'll stay mobile free as long as I can.

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