“Hello, this is Grammy, and I lived in the olden days.”
Photo: Courtesy of Alexas_Fotos at Pixabay
Does the land line in the photo below look like it belongs in the olden days?
A snazzy land line
To me, it’s a pretty nice land line with an answering machine and a Bluetooth, too.
To my oldest grandchild, Twinkle Eyes, it’s a strange sight. She’s almost eight years old, and when we got together for the family Christmas celebration, she stared at it for a long time.
“Haven’t you ever seen one of those?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “What is it?”
“It’s a land line phone,” I said.
“From the olden days?” she asked.
I laughed and so did my brother-in-law, Jim, and the other adults that heard us.
“We still have a rotary phone,” Jim said, “and it still works.” He retrieved it from the garage, then explained how to dial it. I recorded his explanation:
I don’t feel like I’m from the olden days, but this little scene that played out before my very eyes tells me otherwise. Considering all the technological advances I’ve witnessed in my life, I guess I really am from the olden days.
Checking out an old rotary/dial phone
Public Pay Phones Are a Rarity These Days
In the past ten years, public pay phones have become more and more rare. In fact, so much so that I started taking photos of them when I come across one.
Here’s a real humdinger of a pay phone I found up in the High Desert a few years ago:
Public phone in the High Desert, Southern California in 2013
As you can see, it’s not in working condition. Probably a victim of vandalism. Here’s what a public phone is supposed to look like:
Public phone in working condition
Come to think of it, telephones have changed drastically since I was born in 1956. I’ll have to do a post about it sometime soon.
In the meantime, for a few giggles and guffaws, check out the video below. It’s a crackup how today’s kids (various ages) react to rotary phones. I got a big kick out of their lingo, such as “oldish” and other terms that mean the same thing as being from the olden days. Who woulda thunk?
What are your thoughts? Have you witnessed great changes in telephones during your lifetime? Does it boggle your mind like it boggles mine? What do you think the future holds for the next generation of phones?
I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by!
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