Ring Ring

Dear O'H dear and Lovely Tea Jenny,

We were reminiscing at work today about making phone calls when we were young. Making a call was VERY EXCITING despite the complete lack of privacy as you had ONE (rented) phone for the whole family. (I thought it was really posh to have TWO phones). I used to try to sneak the phone into the downstairs loo (the cable was just long enough) to have very important and secret chats with my friends. Obviously these chats could only ever happen after 6 pm as according to my parents, it was cheaper to buy gold than make a call during ‘peak time’.

When I was a teenager, I once phoned a friend who was away for the summer. It was surprisingly how much an hour long call in the middle of the day to Venezuela cost! To prevent this happening again, my parents got a phone where you had to enter a pin (not shared with me obviously) to make an outgoing call. I had to brave the aroma of pee in the public phone box ‘down the street’ if I wanted to chat.

Thankfully it is so much easier now and I am very glad. It brings the other side of the world so much closer.

C