Sundays are easy!! Sunday’s are always about kicking back and listening to favourite tunes…but, we have been chatting about party lines, old phones, and phone boxes this week so some more about what I remember about early phone use:-
1) The phone was generally located in the hallway, often by the front door. This was usually the coldest part of anyone’s house. Everyone sat on the stairs to talk on the phone – having to lean into the wall if anyone wanted to shuffle past with a basket load of laundry.
2) You had to ask permission from a parent to even think about using the phone; they would glare at you after 15 minutes of chatter, and then shout at you to hang up at around the 40 minute mark.
3) Without fail my mum would say: Who’s that? whenever the phone rang without moving a muscle to answer it.
4) My sister would use the phone as a weapon of abuse. If we’d had a row [often] she’d dramatically dial up a friend and tell them, loudly, how vile I was and what she thought of me. So childish.
5) I hated waiting for boys to call me – devastated if they didn’t – too embarrassed to speak if they did because of my mum and sister hovering in the background.
An appropriate bit of Sunday Music for Mitzi…
Wonky Words 