ONE RINGY DINGY

ONE RINGY DINGY

Today I was walking around Office Depot looking for a particular label when I heard the familar ring of my cell phone. I answered it and it was my son calling from 600 miles past the Artic Circle. The call was as clear as if he were standing right next to me. WOW...all the way from the Artic Circle in Greenland!! And even in a store!


I remember living on the farm in Dalton, NY., in the last 1950's-early 1960's. We had a wall-mounted phone with an extended shelf to hold paper, a crank on the side to "dial" the person you wanted to speak to, a receiver that your held to your ear with one hand, and a mouth piece that was attached to the phone that you held with the other hand. The phone was right out of "The Waltons" or the very early "Lassie Show". We lived in a rural area and were lucky to even have phone service.


There was no such a thing as a private line. There were about 15 people on the line. Each family had its own special ring to distinguish them from the other 14 families. Our ring was 1 long/3 short and my best friend's was 3 short. When someone's ring came through, anyone could pick up the phone and listen. Someone talking too long????....no problem, someone would just get on the line and tell you to get off!!


There were a few operators who worked the switchboard in shifts, plugging and unplugging long distant calls. We thought it progress when you could call Millie (our particular operator) and ask her to patch you into someone from Buffalo. We considered ourselves lucky that we were one of the 15 families that actually had phone service and not some other family who had to wait until such time when they would put in a new line.


We have progressed from that old farm house phone to semi-private lines to private lines; from that old crank phone to circled dial of the old Bell telephones, to the sophisticated slim line phone with push buttons; from having a phone that was stationary to having ones that you can carry in your pocket or purse.


Yes, my friend, we have come a long way since Ma Bell........it is called progress. As I held my cute little compact cell phone in my hands whilke talking to my son, I thought, with some fascination about all our progress in communications, the world IS getting smaller and smaller. Personally I will take my cell phone that fits into he palm of my hand over that country phone on the farm any old time!!!



ANSWER TO LAST TRIVIA QUESTION: Maynard, Thalia and Zelda were characters on what TV show? The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
TODAY'S TRIVIA QUESTION: In 1961, StarKist Tuna introduced its new spokesperson, making his first appearance in a TV commercial. Who/what was that spokesman?
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: You must pay for your sins. If you have already paid, disregard this notice.