short telephone numbers

[dellzeqq]

some of the Old Trucks (see 'Informal Rides') had Old Telephone Numbers on them. 'Back Bottom 305', or 'Burnt Stranger 666'. That kind of thing.

Which led to a bit of reminiscing amongst the more 'experienced' of us. When I returned to this country from parts west back in the late seventies I swapped '213-633-5033' for 'Grendon Underwood 248'. My friends in Los Angeles were bemused. They tried dialling G-R-E-N.... to no avail. As one of them put it 'your country has stupid telephone numbers and I f**king hate it'. Hard to think of a sensible reply to that one.

So, CCers! What 'stupid' telephone numbers do you have in old address books? A prize of uncertain, or possibly negative, value goes to the shortest number!

 

[Norm]

I have two (step mother and bestest friend) in my phone book which are still listed as "Long Sutton xxx" and "Langrick xxx", although Long Sutton has long since been consumed by the 01256 of Basingstoke and Langrick has disappeared into Boston.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I knew someone who's family had the number Moreton in the Marsh x - it was quite a while ago though, he was most put out that they didn't have Moreton in the Marsh 1.

 

[Fnaar]

When we first got a telephone, I was about 10yrs old, and we had a 'party line*' with a family up the road. You had to press a button to let the other family know you were on the phone.

*We never actually had a party with them

 

[Ravenbait]

Our original phone number was three digits.

My dad still had a wall-mounted thing with a cord that was braided and an old fashioned earpiece. The mike was on the phone itself.

Wow. I'd forgotten all about that.

Sam

 

[gbb]

My old abode on Nottingham used to be 'East Stoke' 231. No idea what it became, no doubt still ending in 231.

It used to be a faff though, if you wanted to ring someone in Farndon (a few miles down the road) from a callbox, you'd have to look down the list to find the code. Back then we used the phone so rarely, you didnt get to remember phone numbers more than 4 or 5 digits long.
But then, who can remember when we were supposed to get free calls from callboxes by 'tapping' out the number. Dont remember whether i actually made it work, but everyone thought you could.

 

[yello]

When we first got a telephone, I was about 10yrs old, and we had a 'party line*' with a family up the road.

Same here. Our number was Paraparaumu 313K. There were maybe 5 or 6 others on the same line, they had 313B, 313M, etc. You knew if the call was for you by the ring tone... our's rang long short long. I remember once collecting the paper money (I had a paper round) from a fellow 313-er when their phone rang... and it was our ring tone! Felt weird hearing it at someone elses home!

You'd only know the line was free by picking the phone up. Or, if you'd got a memory for such things and good ears, you'd hear the phone 'ding' from a call when the other party line user had hung up. Oh, happy days.

 

[661-Pete]

When I returned to this country from parts west back in the late seventies I swapped '213-633-5033' for 'Grendon Underwood 248'.

Grendon Underwood?

 

[Norm]

Which led to a bit of reminiscing amongst the more 'experienced' of us. When I returned to this country from parts west back in the late seventies I swapped '213-633-5033' for 'Grendon Underwood 248'. My friends in Los Angeles were bemused. They tried dialling G-R-E-N.... to no avail. As one of them put it 'your country has stupid telephone numbers and I f**king hate it'. Hard to think of a sensible reply to that one.

Turning it the other way, I'm still amazed (in a grumpy old man way) that you can pick up a phone in most parts of the world and dial +44 xxxx xxxxxx and my mobile will ring.

 

[Paulus]

Wasn't the old number for Scotland Yard, Whitehall123?

 

[Over The Hill]

And everyone used to pick up the phone and say their number!

Come to think of it, it was a bit odd to call the number by a place and then have to look up the number for that place.

You were for ever looking up the code for a town as the person never actually told you what you needed to dial.

We were Breamore 516 then Downton 22516 then Salisbury 722516 then 0722 722516 then 01722 722516.

 

[Norm]

Wasn't the old number for Scotland Yard, Whitehall123?

1212

And the current non-emergency number still has echoes of that in being 0300 123 1212http://www.met.police.uk/contacts/contactnumber.htm

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

1212

And the current non-emergency number still has echoes of that in being 0300 123 1212

Don't all the local nick numbers still end with 1212?

I once went on a tour of Scotland but the hired van got us to the hotel at the mouth of Glencoe and then died. We had to call the AA from the outside hotel phone. But we needed to give them a number where they could contact us - and it was before most people had a mobile. So we asked the hotel receptionist what the number of the phone we were calling from was.

Back came the answer: ''two''. That's the shortest number I've ever been given. In fact, there are only another 8 numbers that can possibly equal it. Not much use to the AA though....

 

[yello]

Ever noticed, in a tangential question, how phone numbers given in US tv and films are always 555-xxxx?

555 is the local phone company (and related services?) prefix. I guess it's the law in the US that any fictional numbers given on the screen cannot be real, or some such. Just in guess some dork tries to phone it thinking they really will get to speak to Cameron Diaz or whoever.

Edit: wiki link

 

[upsidedown]

Don't remember the phone number when i was a kid, but i do remember being able to tap the number out on the cradle buttons to call your mates when your parents had put a lock on the dial.
Trimphones ended all that though