Pre- mobiles and internet time, question for those who knew it

[classic33]

The white and green in the 3rd picture from the left is the scheme I remember in the 80s but these new fangled Telecom Eireann boxes were already taking over from the old P&T ones.
View attachment 335202

Used to see the Yellow & Green repainted Yellow and Blue(Saffron and Blue). Never liked those ones on a country road.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I'm an "oldie" and I love modern technology, wish I had had internet when I was a teen, I was forever running out of books to read, no money for new ones, the library in the village opening hours were my school hours.
Everything took ages to organize, plus your parents could lie to you about stuff knowing you could not find out the truth.

 

[tyred]

Used to see the Yellow & Green repainted Yellow and Blue(Saffron and Blue). Never liked those ones on a country road.

I remember the one outside my national school being repainted like that.

I'm shocked at how many of them I seen around the Cork coast, some are even still live. I had no reason to phone anyone or would have done so for old time's sake.

 

[classic33]

I'm an "oldie" and I love modern technology, wish I had had internet when I was a teen, I was forever running out of books to read, no money for new ones, the library in the village opening hours were my school hours.
Everything took ages to organize, plus your parents could lie to you about stuff knowing you could not find out the truth.

Ways and means, if you applied yourself to the problem!

 

[tyred]

The last time I used a public phone box that I can recall would have been in about 2014 when I spent a few days hillwalking around Ballintoy in county Antrim and couldn't get a mobile phone signal.

 

[classic33]

The last time I used a public phone box that I can recall would have been in about 2014 when I spent a few days hillwalking around Ballintoy in county Antrim and couldn't get a mobile phone signal.

Me, they'd just brought out the phone card, no cash needed.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I went to University when I was 17. I had f*ck all communication with my parents between leaving home and coming back at breaks; and sometimes the breaks did not result in me going back. I then buggered off to live in Australia for 2 years, I think I may have phoned them twice in that time. On one occasion my dad asked me if it was snowing, as he thought I was still in Scotland.

Last year my mum visited me and there was a programme on TV about a village in England and I commented "that's where I used to live". She had no clue that at any point in my life I lived in England.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I went to University when I was 17. I had f*ck all communication with my parents between leaving home and coming back at breaks; and sometimes the breaks did not result in me going back. I then buggered off to live in Australia for 2 years, I think I may have phoned them twice in that time. On one occasion my dad asked me if it was snowing, as he thought I was still in Scotland.

Last year my mum visited me and there was a programme on TV about a village in England and I commented "that's where I used to live". She had no clue that at any point in my life I lived in England.

I have just remembered "post restante" - having to queue in Sydney on the off chance that someone might have wanted to send you some form of communication.

I went twice, but only as one of my mates thought he might have had something to collect. It was a waste of time*.

*not entirely true as one of the visits ended up in a monumental pish-up with others in the queue

 

[swee'pea99]

[QUOTE 4656386, member: 259"]I miss letter-writing. In the end I was only exchanging letters with my elderly parents, and then when they had gone, nobody else did it any more.[/QUOTE]
I used to love getting my Dad's letters at college. I remember in one him moaning that 'I remember when small things cost half a crown and big things cost a fiver. Now small things cost ten quid and big things cost a hundred. Except washing machines. They cost 300.'

 

[slowmotion]

I have just remembered "post restante" - having to queue in Sydney on the off chance that someone might have wanted to send you some form of communication.

I went twice, but only as one of my mates thought he might have had something to collect. It was a waste of time*.

*not entirely true as one of the visits ended up in a monumental pish-up with others in the queue

In 1973, there were a very, very few places in India where travellers could find a place to make international phone calls. The ones that existed had booths with phones that were ruinously expensive to use and rarely worked. They were mainly used by Americans trying to report how sick they were, and begging for more funds from Daddy.

In July, the American Express office in New Delhi was an excellent place to lurk and make all kinds of spurious enquiries. It had air conditioning.

 

[swee'pea99]

Some great quotes on this thread...

I actually miss phone boxes. In a world of everyone constantly being on the phone and shouting an trying to be heard above the background noise I think it was nice to go into a phone box and shut the door and have peace and privacy to carry out your call.

I do too. The real old-style ones with the big, heavy doors, were wonderful. They often reeked of piss, but it was worth it.

When I left school at eighteen, I set off alone on the overland trail to Nepal, hitching and using local buses and trains. I was away for four or five months, I forget which. My family received four postcards while I was away.. Years later, my mother confessed that she found the first three weeks of postal silence a bit difficult.

I travelled for seven months in NZ, writing home pretty frequently, then went to Australia, made some friends, and stopped writing. Maybe four months? I never gave it a thought, but with hindsight it was incredibly thoughtless. The more so when I thought about it later and realised that my arrival in Australia had coincided with a wave of bush fires that had killed quite a number of people.

I could happily live in the 70s and 80s again but would chose a better haircut.

Everything took ages to organize, plus your parents could lie to you about stuff knowing you could not find out the truth.

On one occasion my dad asked me if it was snowing, as he thought I was still in Scotland.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

One thing I miss about the early days of mobile phones is that it was considered rude back then to interrupt a face-to-face conversation to talk on your mobile phone.

 

[Tin Pot]

My basic question is for anyone who was a young person or adult in that time. Did you prefer the way social communication was back then?

No. People were huge peanuts. I'd wait to meet someone 5mins, 10mins, what, an hour, more? You had no way to tell if they had died or farked off.

Today, if someone does not appear for five or ten minutes you know they have the ability to contact you but chose not to, so you can fark off after fifteen with a clear conscience.

 

[classic33]

One thing I miss about the early days of mobile phones is that it was considered rude back then to interrupt a face-to-face conversation to talk on your mobile phone.

Now try to find a face to face conversation, where a mobile isn't involved.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

One thing I miss about the early days of mobile phones is that it was considered rude back then to interrupt a face-to-face conversation to talk on your mobile phone.

It still is !