I have a slimline calendar hanging in my kitchen. It became a habit or tradition to replace it each year and it hung by the phone for quick reference to appointments and functions. It began in the days of the fixed phone. They (fixed phones) were the only kind when I moved in here.
The calendar had one line per day and often the weekend days were in a different colour, making it easier to keep track of the weeks. It was amazing how much information could be squeezed into one line. Back in the days when Elly was at school it kept me up to date on hockey or tennis matches, swimming lessons, PTA meetings and school outings.
Jack had his meetings and trips to the UK Mainland and I had committee meetings & fund-raisers to organise and prepare for. It was checked on a regular basis for up coming birthdays and anniversaries.
The phones changed and with time but the fixed one stayed in the kitchen. A Calendar stayed alongside it.
Yesterday, I realised that the month was still showing as July! Taking a second glance I noticed the page was empty. The month had been a busy one and August was proving to be just the same.
What happened to all the notes on the calendar? Sudden realisation of how dependent I had become on modern technology. All dates and reminders were now on my laptop calendar or in my phone. The phone bleeps to remind me at an appropriate time.
All phones nowadays have address books so we no longer need to learn numbers. How many people know when asked what their mobile/cell number is? Who needs to phone their own mobile phone?
338352 336096 592155 888036 are just four numbers from my childhood. The people are long gone and I am sure the numbers no longer exist. In the present day everyone has at least two if not three phone numbers. I have three, two of them I can recite like the list above, but I need to look up the third when asked for it. With address books in phones I only need to select the persons name and I am given a choice for all their numbers listed. I seldom remember any of the numbers by heart these days.
There is a series of numbers that I remember and they all have four digits – PINS – wait now…. Is that mine or is it Ellys?
Now don’t get me started on passwords…..
I don’t know my cell number, but I still remember the number my parents had when I was a child.
I still use a calender to track all my bills and appointment would be lost without it, wouldn’t trust my pc to remind me of bills/
We still have a calendar, and we seldom use our mobiles. Maybe that makes us endearingly retro.
Im hopeless remembering numbers but today’s technology means we don’t even have to try. I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Then if you’re internet’s down or you lose you’re phone, you’re in real strife!
Rose – Try breaking the cell number into groups of two or three digits.
BTD – I use direct debit for most of my bills so it saves me the worry about them.
Nick – Mobile phones are there to ‘aid’ and not make you a slave!
Baino – You need to know the numbers to add them in the first place. When the power goes we survive like we used to in days of yore.
I’ve had some serious crashes, GM so finally reverted to antique calendar on wall and hardcover address book. Call me luddite. I simply don’t trust those backups anymore.I’m still recovering from the last crash and mobiles fail too.
And there’s something about the sound of a pen on a piece of paper….
XO
WWW
PS And I still have my parents’ number in my head….
I can remember so clearly that day in 1934 when our first telephone was installed. Oh, the thrill of having our own telephone;even if it WAS a party line. We had 3 other families on our line. Our number was Madison 7697J. The letter after the number was to signify which party you were. It was chaos if all parties wanted to use the phone at the same time.
My husband tells me that he was not happy when everybody could get a phone because he made a living out of having the only phone in the neighborhood. His parents had a bakery and needed a phone so the people in the area would give out the bakery number and it was my husband’s job to either run and get them if a call came for them or write the message down and take it to the person. He made 5 cents a call and thought he was rich..
If I had known then that they were the “Good old Days” I would have enjoyed them more….
WWW – I still put doctors or hospital appointments on the fridge door. The remainder is on a shared calendar with Elly on-line. That way she keeps up to speed with my movements.
Nancy – When I came to this house we had a shared line, it was something unheard of in the South of Ireland. For a few weeks I was unaware that my private conversations were being listened to deliberately. When I discovered it, I reported it to the provider and they gave us an independent line!
Thank the powers that be that we have the ability to write them all down somewhere, otherwise we’d be continually lost!
Grannymar,
I like the idea of your shared online calendar. I might set that up here.
I’m still using an appointment calendar in the kitchen as I like to be able to use it for quick reference when I’m trying to plan ahead for something.
We’ve just changed provider for our bin collection service and I was suitably impressed to receive a text reminder this week to put out the bin!
Kenju – A very sensible idea.
Steph – The on-line calendar works for Elly and I, either of us can edit it as things change. I have four bin collections. Two are on alternate weeks, one every week and the other at six weekly intervals. We are notified the dates for the year ahead and I list them on the calendar, otherwise I would be lost!
I never had a party line, but in college our dorm room and the one next to it shared one phone on a rotating platform in a little closet that opened into both rooms. Tough for four young women to share one phone!
I can still remember my grandma’s phone number, surely the first one I ever called, and my delight at phoning her up and saying, “Grandma, I dialed you myself!”
My father’s number is still the same as it’s been since I was an infant. Any coincidence that the last four digits spell out H-0-M-E ?
Stwidgie – How wonderful to have a phone number that is a double reminder of home!