The end....

When we came to Feorlean in December 1992 it had no phone line.   BT had to lay a cable up from the road over some rough and rocky ground in order to connect us, but lay it they did, and at no cost over and above the small installation fee changed at that time.   With one or two outages, it has operated continuously since then and at various stages we have  even had second lines , for media purposes when I was a minister and for use in our outdoor study more recently. 

My first memory of a phone was a black bakelite classic Post Office one, which sat on a wee shelf in a corridor outside the kitchen in our house in Bentinck Drive in Troon.   It was fixed by a braided cable to a little junction box, and  when you wanted to make a call, or had to receive one, you came to the phone, not the phone to you.   

That phone worked  by simply picking it up and waiting for an operator to connect the number you asked for.     Direct dial was still to come, and then press buttons, and eventually handsets that could move away from base stations.

Now all the analogue phones are being switched off and as we never use ours from one month to the next  - only two people we know ever ring us on it - we decided some weeks ago to give it up.   Certainly having a backstop during storms that bring down the mobile  system  is a bonus, and mobile providers are nowhere near to securing the type of  robust,  rarely weather interrupted service in areas like ours.   For a start they need to secure business continuity in their network  during power cuts for more than a few hours .

In addition BT undoubtedly need to explain more clearly how the new dispensation is going to work, and so far they have been poor both in providing guidance and arranging meetings - the latest list of their "going digital" events  organises nothing even near this rural community.   

But as the service is going to cease before too long, and as we now both have mobile reception through the house (something that wasn't true even a couple of years ago) we decided we didn't need to go on paying for it .

Consequently  today  I unplugged the phone for the last time.   01369 820319 is no longer operational and that seems just a wee bit sad, given that landlines have been the norm in my life for virtually all my 70 years.   

And now I don't have one.