Still exists!
I use it when touring and feel lazy. Send a small pack with clean clothes and the maps etc for the second half of the trip.
Grab parcel from Post Office, nip into cafe / pub.... repack with the stuff you don't need and send it back
Pre- mobiles and internet time, question for those who knew it
- Thread starter Starchivore
- Start date
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Still exists!
I use it when touring and feel lazy. Send a small pack with clean clothes and the maps etc for the second half of the trip.
Grab parcel from Post Office, nip into cafe / pub.... repack with the stuff you don't need and send it back
sarahale
Über Member
I'm a bit too young to give much of a view point, but I do remember one particular day pre mobiles.
I had a horse riding accident in the middle of no where. I was about 7 and my thigh got ripped open from top to bottom with my muscle hanging out and a bad knock to the head. Due to lack of phone and it being unlikely anyone would just walk by my mum left me whilst she went to get help. I just lay there for absolutely ages thinking I was dying. Luckily I didn't nick an artery as who knows how that would of ended.
I had a horse riding accident in the middle of no where. I was about 7 and my thigh got ripped open from top to bottom with my muscle hanging out and a bad knock to the head. Due to lack of phone and it being unlikely anyone would just walk by my mum left me whilst she went to get help. I just lay there for absolutely ages thinking I was dying. Luckily I didn't nick an artery as who knows how that would of ended.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
And today you'd be laying there either with no signal, or with marginal battery because of the power hungry apps.
sarahale
Über Member
Yes the no signal is possible, but at least I could of played a game whilst waiting...
mybike
Grumblin at Garmin on the Granny Gear
- Location
- Not 'emel 'empstead
Aaargh, writing letters home from school - getting it inspected to ensure you'd actually written something!
Julia9054
Guru
- Location
- Knaresborough
Breaking down one morning and having to trudge through the snow carrying a 3 year old and a 6 month old baby until i found a farm house to ring the AA. Decided it was about time i had one of those new fangled mobile phones. My first one came free when i applied for a Barclaycard.
It's hard to believe that was only 18 years ago.
It's hard to believe that was only 18 years ago.
EltonFrog
Legendary Member
The last time I used a public phone box was in December in Northfields near Ealing, I was trying to talk to my dad on my mobile ( he's a bit mutton) and I couldn't hear him 'cos of traffic noise, so I stood in an empty call box. Perfect.
It occurred to me at the time there should be loads of these on street corners so we can talk in peace on our devices.
It occurred to me at the time there should be loads of these on street corners so we can talk in peace on our devices.
byegad
Legendary Member
- Location
- NE England
Back in those days, we didn't even have a home phone. Young people made arrangements face to face. You said you'd be at such and such a place at such and such a time and you simply turned up. Remember life was taken at a slower pace, shops closed by 5 or 5.30pm, didn't open on Sundays and eating out was a rare treat. One of the treats for our crowd was to jump into cars and drive 30 miles to Whitby to get fish and chips or a burger to eat on the harbour side. When I got a motorbike in 1969 this was still a great thing to do.
I like modern communications although don't see the point of Twitter or using Facebook for posting photos of my tea! I do use Facebook to keep up with friends and my sons' activities and have an online presence in fora like this for fun. I'm thinking of changing my mind about joining Twitter. If only to find out what the mad US President is doing today.
I like modern communications although don't see the point of Twitter or using Facebook for posting photos of my tea! I do use Facebook to keep up with friends and my sons' activities and have an online presence in fora like this for fun. I'm thinking of changing my mind about joining Twitter. If only to find out what the mad US President is doing today.
growingvegetables
Guru
- Location
- Leeds
Yes.
So much more fun, independence, resourcefulness --- trivia was simply trivia that passed by trivially.
Aye - it was a lot harder in cases of real emergency.
Finding out about a family bereavements by letters which took months to arrive? Hard. Getting an accurate message to a colleague about a family bereavement (involved a nightmare 24 hour trip by 3rd class Egyptian train)? Hard.
No --- it wasn't efficient. It worked, sort of, and you had to be creative, resourceful, and muck in. We knew how to ignore all those tiny trivial things which now cause such astonishing angst.
But - I was involved in the medical evacuation of somebody from backwoods Nigeria. One key link in the communications involved was two of us being "runners" between the two senior people in the London office on different phone lines (one to Nigeria, one to the emergency flight provider in Switzerland); down three floors, across a courtyard, and up four floors; backwards and forwards for a couple of hours. Before the days of fancy electronic office phone exchanges. Horrible - the lass died before the plane landed in UK.
No --- it wasn't efficient. It worked, sort of, and you had to be creative, resourceful, and muck in. And we knew how to ignore all those tiny trivial things which now cause such astonishing angst.
Saluki
World class procrastinator
- Location
- ...Norwich over the water.
My Dad told me, while I was still at school, to only ever wait 20 minutes for anyone. If someone is more that 20 minutes late they are not respectful of you or your time. If they weren't there go home or do something else instead but don't wait. We didn't have mobiles then but the busses ran every 15 minutes so we waited "a bus worth of time plus roadworks "
I still only wait 20 minutes.
When I first started work in the City all of the pubs would have at least one and often up to three phones on the bar, usually in different colours
Everyone in the business knew which broking companies frequented which pubs, the etiquette was that if you were close to the phone when it rang, you picked it up, found out who they wanted and the called out 'JONES & CO, SMITH, WHITE PHONE' and then got on with your pint.
'Pub deals' were absolutely standard.
I'm still in the same industry, we only stopped confirmation of deals being done in the pub last summer.
(Brokers can still do pub deals, they just have to be confirmed in the cold light of day, back in the office)
Everyone in the business knew which broking companies frequented which pubs, the etiquette was that if you were close to the phone when it rang, you picked it up, found out who they wanted and the called out 'JONES & CO, SMITH, WHITE PHONE' and then got on with your pint.
'Pub deals' were absolutely standard.
I'm still in the same industry, we only stopped confirmation of deals being done in the pub last summer.
(Brokers can still do pub deals, they just have to be confirmed in the cold light of day, back in the office)
When my dad died (1979) I had to phone the international operator and request an emergency 'person to person' call to my brother in Rhodesia. "And what is the nature of the emergency, sir?" Half an hour later I was called back and put through. I'm now in instantaneous contact with rellies still in Zimbabwe via WhatsApp.
Sod the faux nostalgia. It is all far better now.
Sod the faux nostalgia. It is all far better now.
growingvegetables
Guru
- Location
- Leeds
... and I refuse to message, whatsapp, or phone wondering where they are
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
Cycling wise, it's nice to be able to call for a ride when all breaks down, but otherwise I still prefer the letter writing and telephone days. Mrs GA loves the smart phone in all its glory, but she's younger.
