16th June 2016 - On Phones and Forgotten Times

Thought for the day:"I make apocolypse jokes like there is no tomorrow"

Saw this and chuckled - taking a selfie on the phone - old style ...  

I did finally succumb to getting a "smart" phone - not an i phone or anything fancy - but one with a screen and touch screen, and messenger and bits of intertweb if I need it. Of course the battery does not last - my old brick used to last a week at a time - but it does have its moments. I am not tied to it yet though. It lives in my home office and I often forget to pick it up when I go out..  but I will answer it after 10am ..  and not before..

I manage to switch it off while in meetings and would win at the new game of putting your phone in the middle of the table for dinner where the first person to pick up their phone pays the bill.

But I look around the street and see people walking head down with their eyes on the phone - It was bad enough when the Walkman came into being and everyone had to walk around with earphones - now we get the worst of both worlds - head down and earphones - or those ridiculous Blue Tooth earrings that really do not look "cool" at all when you wear them all day long... It just looks a bit desperate to me "Please phone me!!"

But there are always entrepreneurs - and it may be an opportunity for the future..

I remember as a child I was taught never to answer the phone too soon. It would suggest that you were desperate and witing at the phone - always count to three and then answer with the number ..
I remember the old days "958 9883"  Before the 01's came into being - before that it was Stonegrove 9883 - and the numbers did not fit with the letters...   but that was the change that came into being then. That was in Middlesex...  but the memory is interesting that it will retain items like that, and my first main car MMG 735C - "Molly Maguire" to the family...

Personally, I lament the moment that the phone stopped being attached to the wall by a cord. The old days a call box with PRESS BUTTON A to make a call and PRESS BUTTON B to get your four pennies (old ones) back if the call did not connect.  Making a reverse charge call via the operator, and tapping the cradle to make an outgoing call when the little padlock was on the dial, stopping it moving, but as it was analogue the taps would make the electrical connection for each number....

But that is because I am a luddite - which I do not mind.. I do not rush to answer the phone when it rings. I can happily wait until I stop driving before I read the text message that may have come through...  I may last longer that way - or not - I could get killed by the next bad driver who decides to answer their phone and swerve into the on-coming traffic...

But, on the other hand - someone may be reading my blog on their phone - or watching my videos..
So - there are two sides to every argument ..

I'll drink to that - because I can...
Cheers !