“It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not. “
Today the outside world beckons. It is a bit chilly but the sun is bright. I almost want to lie down on the deck with Gracie and soak up the warmth. The cats are sleeping in the sunlight streaming through the front door. Lots of birds are at the feeders. The red spawn was there earlier but now has a Pavlovian response to me. If I go outside and the spawn is on the squirrel proof feeder, it jumps on a branch, runs up the tree trunk and then jumps from branch to branch across the yard. I don’t even have the hose yet, and it still runs away from me.
When I was a kid, the phone we had was a party line. We shared it with Mrs. McGaffigan whose house was at the bottom of our hill. It was a really big house, the sort built in the 1930’s, with a front porch. The house sat right on the corner across from a similar house on the other corner also with a big front porch. I never knew who lived in that house, and I only knew Mrs. McGaffigan by her voice. When the phone rang, we had to listen to the number of rings to see if the call was for us or for Mrs. McGaffigan. Sometimes we didn’t care, and we’d pick up the phone to listen to her conversation. She always seem to catch us. I think we giggled. “Put the phone down right now,” was what was always said. Most times we put it down but once in a while we just pressed the button so she’d think we had, and we’d keep listening. Mrs. McGaffigan never really had an exciting conversation. We liked listening because we shouldn’t. We eventually got our own number, and I always missed Mrs. McGaffigan and her phone calls. When I go back to my town, I drive the familiar routes I walked as a kid. I usually drive right by Mrs. McGaffigan’s. The house still looks big perched on the corner. I don’t know who lives there, and It will never matter. It is always Mrs. McGaffigan’s house to me.
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April 30, 2015 at 1:58 pm
Hi Kat,
I remember party lines. We had Mrs. Manzilla. I could see her house from my front door even though she lived on another street. Every morning Mrs. Manzilla would call Mrs. P. who lived two houses away from her. They would talk all day. I mean ALL DAY. Finally my father got tired of having to ask her to hang up so he could make a call and he requested a single line. Apparently Mrs. Manzilla was well known to the phone company because they didn’t even ask why.
We didn’t have rings here. I don’t know why. If the call was for the party, it didn’t ring in our house. The house in Maine had rings. Two long, one short was ours. There was usually some unauthorized person listening in though. That must be where I learned to be circumspect on social media. 😀
Today is a cloudy/sunny day. It looks grey and dingy from inside the house but I can see blue sky through the windows. Just not any sun. Not even a sunny spot on the floor to lie in. It’s a little chilly, too.
Enjoy the day.
April 30, 2015 at 4:24 pm
Hi Caryn,
That was another problem-the yakker who wouldn’t get off the line.
I swear older ladies had nothing better to do than chat al day.
We couldn’t afford our won line at first, but as soon as we could, we got one. I don’t know if that means Mrs. McGaffigan got one by default.
I forget the rings but that was our way to know for whom the bell tolls sort of speak.
It is still sunny and chilly today, but all in all it is a nice day.
Enjoy the evening!
April 30, 2015 at 2:21 pm
We never had that when I grew up but we could still hear neighbors talking on other lines, I guess the cables must have been close together and parts of it not isolated towards other lines. So no one could understand that someone listened to them and they, of course must have been able to hear us every now and again 🙂
Rainy here today and a bit chilly but the clouds have started to break up and I can see some blue sky up there. I guess the night will be cold and the world white, covered with frost when I wake up tomorrow.
Have a great day!
Christer.
April 30, 2015 at 4:27 pm
Christer,
After we got our own line, we could never hear anyone else. I don’t remember having any crossed lines.
We still have cold nights but the days are in the 50’s which feel warm as log as there is no wind.
Have a great evening!
April 30, 2015 at 8:38 pm
We always had a private line but I knew other kids who’s parents had party lines. It’s hard to imagine how far technology has come in such a short period of time. In the 1950s and 60s AT&T, “Ma Bell” would not allow anyone to connect another device to their system except their phones, Thank goodness for MCI and Carter Phone for taking “Ma Bell” to court which led to the break up of their monopoly. Does anyone remember having to call the long distance operator to place a call outside of your city? In those days receiving a long distance call would strike fear in my mother because she know that something bad must have happened.
In 1960 my 75 year old Eastern Eiropean born grandmother flew from NYC to visit us in Dallas. She flew on 707 jet. One of my mother’s friends asked my grandmother how she enjoyed her flight. My grandmother replied that she flew over so much water. The woman replied that there is no water between NY and Dallas. My grandmother said she looked out the window and saw all that white stuff. Oh, the woman said, that was the clouds. My grandmother said, no clouds are up above water is down below. It’s all in your perspective.
Beautiful weather again today with a high in the mid 80s.
April 30, 2015 at 8:50 pm
Bob,
It is amazing how far we have come in such a short time. I remember when you had to talk to the operator to make a call, when we first got dial phones and how huge the first portable phones were.
In 1970 in Ghana I had to go to the communications building in the capital to make an overseas call, and I had to book it a day ahead. I could hear the call being transferred from Ghana to London to White Plains and finally to my parents’ house. When I went back in 2011, I bought a phone and called home using that.
That’s a great story. I totally understand your grandmother’s prospective. I find it wonderful she flew all that way.
April 30, 2015 at 10:39 pm
Pay phones on street corners anyone?
My grandparents had a party line. And their own ring. They were always interrupted by “Mrs Macgaffigan.” She just HAD to make a call. The rings sounded more like little beeps. We too—would listen in on calls. And giggle. My Grandparents told us to shush! And hang up!
At 16 I got a phone in my room. That was a big deal all those years ago! It was a “princess” phone. Pink. A color not one of my favorites. Loved yakking with my friends in the privacy of my room.
April 30, 2015 at 11:04 pm
t,
I can’t remember the last time I saw one of those half booths or a full booth with a folding door. Where would Clark Kent change now?
We loved to listen though Mrs. McGaffigan had nothing interesting to say. That woman could talk.
I never had a phone in my room until I bought this house. That phone is now dead, and I haven’t replaced it as I know I have a yellow princess phone somewhere in the house which I’m hoping to find. We all need a little retro.