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Another World.
Last year we celebrated Becky's 70th birthday here at the farm- with a barbecue and outside games; this year we celebrated her 71st with a video call- four generations in five households across two continents....
I'd not been in a video call before. It was rather wonderful.
When I was a kid- and you wanted to make a call- you rang the exchange and asked for the number and the switchboard operator made the connection while you waited. The idea that you might one day be able to see the person you were talking to had occurred to us but was strictly Sci-Fi. It was the sort of thing they did in Dan Dare's world.
Dan Dare, "Pilot of the Future" occupied the front page of the Eagle comic. He went about in rocket ships and lived in a city that was skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. Dan was an clean-living RAF type who smoked a pipe and was attended by his loyal batman- a grey-haired, tubby, working-class person called Digby. Digby was comic relief...
I'd not been in a video call before. It was rather wonderful.
When I was a kid- and you wanted to make a call- you rang the exchange and asked for the number and the switchboard operator made the connection while you waited. The idea that you might one day be able to see the person you were talking to had occurred to us but was strictly Sci-Fi. It was the sort of thing they did in Dan Dare's world.
Dan Dare, "Pilot of the Future" occupied the front page of the Eagle comic. He went about in rocket ships and lived in a city that was skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. Dan was an clean-living RAF type who smoked a pipe and was attended by his loyal batman- a grey-haired, tubby, working-class person called Digby. Digby was comic relief...
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When we got our very first telephone, I was about 11. We had a party line, which meant there were about 6 other families sharing our ONE phone line. One of our fellow party liners was a teenager in love, so my sisters and I would shamelessly listen to their lovey-dovey conversations and giggle. Then her boyfriend would swear at us and hang up. Then she would cry because he hung up on her.
We were horrible children.
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We had a party line too. It should have been terribly inconvenient, but I don't remember there being major problems. I don't suppose any of us used the telephone much.
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