As I work from home, enjoying the occasional company of Mrs S and JRT during the day, Elder Daught’s bedroom has become an office, or better described as a room where I keep about five miles of cabling from old computers, 200 cassettes, piles of pencils, loads of files, this PC, and a telephone.
One telephone? Maybe two…
No, at the moment I have five here right in front of me, on the desk, blinking, beeping, occasionally ringing even! It’s bloody crazy! One landline is our home number, the other landline is for work, there is an Internet handset which works with the Hub, and at the moment, I’ve got two mobiles as I’m changing providers. To add to that, Mrs S also has a cellphone, and we’ve still got a very old mobile which is the size of a brick…
SEVEN BLASTED PHONES IN ONE HOUSE, and there’s only two of us!
My old chum, who used to work for BT, retired when he was 50, with an eye-watering pension and plenty of time to see the world. Staring at all this communication stuff, and knowing who’s paying for it, makes me wonder if I’m actually alive, maybe a solipsist, or perhaps just a bloody fool because I didn’t spot the enormous money to be made from communications all those years ago...
I only keep the landline so I can have broadband - although it is much cheaper to ring 0845 and 0800 numbers via BT than Vodafone...
ReplyDeleteWeirdly, my landline number is very similar to my mobile number!
(I don't give BT or Vodafone much money, they can't be making much profit out of me)
It's so weird to think that only a few years ago there were no mobiles, we all had but one phone - one of those nice ones with a dial (how I loved those) and you had to sit right next to it to use it - none of this prowling about and speaking at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI remember when my parents first got a phone - it was so exciting. But I knew no-one else who had one so I would look at this thing and had no-one to ring.
How times change! I feel quite old now.
Maybe you should reconsider your wish to move to Wales though. When I lived in Wales the signal was so poor that I had to stand at the end of the garden, perched on a pile of compost to use my phone!
Darling Trubes took early retirement from BT a few years ago, along with a very attractive financial package and substantial amount of BT shares. Sadly, due to the financial incompetence of Gordon Brown et al, the soaring cost of living and the fall in the Stock Market, our personal funds are diminshing drastically.
ReplyDeleteSocialists, dont cha just love em ?
You work your socks off all your life, save hard, and then, when you need your well earned dosh, you find it`s all been frittered away by a profligate mendacious Stalinist Goverment.
Prudence.....My A..e !
Sorry about the rant Scrobs but this Goverment makes me furious.
Di.xx
P.S. I`ve just read my rant to DT and he`s walked away, shaking his head and chuckling !
I just got £20 off my broadband charge by asking what Virgin would do to keep my custom. O2 just gave me another 100 texts a month when I asked them the same thing. Bartering is obviously how to keep costs down these days.
ReplyDeleteEd, you've got it right there!
ReplyDeleteThe mobile signal round here is pathetic, hence the move to a Broadband connection.
Relucs, I remember those too!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad's number started with two digits, then went to three, then six!
D'ya remember 'button B'? If there was a wodge of paper stuck up in the slot, you could collect the coins which the previous caller had tried to achieve...
Trubes! You can come here and rant as much as you like! I agree with you about this appalling government we are paying so much for.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't like is the uncertainty about the next couple of years. There are underlying problems with commerce for most of us in the UK. I'm sorry DT's aspirations on retiring aren't working as they could have done pre Gordon Brown. That is galling, especially as the socialists keep pushing the limits - well never get it back.
Thinking about my BT chum, perhaps he isn't doing as well as he might...However, he kept in with his business knowledge, and began to make a few quid from that.
Lils; Love it!
ReplyDeleteI'm spending a little time working out how to use the 4 for 1 minutes on this new BT phone which is replacing my old mobile.
They're still cheaper than driving everywhere at 104p a litre!
i was in much the same situation 3 years ago...work cell, my cell, landline for the house, landline for work use, husbands cell, son's cell for work, and his cell for home...it was insane! seemed like we were always looking for a freaking phone! i got rid of the landlines...extended our contract on cells and got rid of all but one cell per person...son moved out (left his phone so i shut it off :))...now we have 2 cells with very different ringers and it works...
ReplyDeleteplus i found the damn off button the other day...what a wonderful invention!!!!
Trubes would love my most recent post about Gordon Brown.
ReplyDeleteSo what's the NEXT Big Thing, Scrobs. Wind/solar power, retirement homes ? That's what we should be looking at rather than lamenting our failure to jump on previous bandwagons.
Not ALL of my friends in telecoms are doing so well - admittedly some of them are though.
Scrobs: Thanks for yor comments. Whilst we are not exactly on our "uppers", it is galling to see some of our funds dwindling, that are dependent upon Market Indices.
ReplyDeleteWe could always revert to plan B and sell our home and "downsize" to the countryside. Our eldest daughter , who lives in Surrey, has plans to buy a property perhaps with extra accomodation for a Granny/ Granpa annex, so we have that to look forward to !
"Always look on the bright side of life" Da da da da da da !
In our three-bed flat we have: five TVs, two laptops, one iMac, three iPods, two BlackBerries and a Nintendo DS Lite... and there are only two of us living here.
ReplyDeleteWellers!
ReplyDeleteNice of you to drop by! Elder Daught would be proud of all that 'IT' in her old room, and I'm sure you've got a 'silimer situashion'!
Years ago, I knew a Mr Wellington who had a friend called 'Little John Wilson'! He wore a grey pinstripe suit and had stary eyes! He also knew someone who's Dad drove an ancient lawnmower...
But I bet this is far too obscure...
You're damn right Scrobster, you can always tell a lawnmower. Apparently it's in the way they walk?
ReplyDeleteI reckon that your Mr Wellington's pinstripe suit is still very much loved and treasured. Am wondering whether Sonia's mum's future offspring will be wearing 'silimar' from Easter Bank Holiday Monday...
But you're right, it's a bit too obscure.
Aaaah, Welsers's Mum!
ReplyDeleteLawnmowers become icons when they have pics of good pals!
When Easter's over, we'll be making sure we all enjoy a chat and a bit of fun!
'Come on........'!
ai yah same here
ReplyDeleteI have decided i hate working from home
too many temptations
God yes I wish I had known then ...etc.
ReplyDeleteI would not like to work from home that precious hour on the train with coffee and papers is all the time I get to myself now and it will be worse soon. In fact being out of the Cirty is too much of a temptation,,,,in fact I`d better get on with some work
I prefer working very early in the morning Hitch, and sometimes get a second bash in late pm.
ReplyDeleteIt's lunchtimes I enjoy for chewing the fat though, which is best enjoyed with a few tinctures...
Newms!
ReplyDeleteHow's Lewes? Nice time of year as everything improves from now on! The Downs are beautiful.
I still marvel at the platform which doesn't exist in Lewes Station! Stae of the art that is!
Why speak with people when you can blog with them instead and you don't have to listen to their rasping, tinny voices or have to fake sincere-sounding laughs when your old uncles tell unfunny jokes?
ReplyDeleteAND People ALWAYS call when I've got my mouth full (of food), so I can never speak with them properly.
"uggmmeuflll hhw orr u dffin?"
"Is that you Mermaid? Shall I call back later?"
"mmno, ssokay hvv pnut bttr stk to rff mouff."
Merms - you're right there!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes gag or choke - for no reason - just before someone picks up the phone, and I'm coughing a retching all over the place while trying to explain the reason for calling!
Doesn't do one's image any good, when one's just about to ask a fund for a couple of squillion...
Also agree about whiney voices. I know I sound like someone out of The Archers, which I suppose could be worse than it is!