Sunday, November 27, 2022

The Sunday Five: Phone Home


 1: What is your earliest memory of a phone booth / phone box? 

2: Can you remember the last time you used a phone booth/phone box? 

3: Did the cell phone/mobile phone kill the payphone? 

4: What can we reuse them for?

5: Who will you call this weekend? 

My answers: 

1: What is your earliest memory of a phone booth / phone box? When I was about  five years old my family spent a winter living in Phoenix, Arizona.  I remember my parents driving to a phone booth at a gas station to phone family over the holidays.  (We didn't have a phone in the house until I was about 10.) 

2: Can you remember the last time you used a phone booth/phone box? When we were moving from Orlando, in 1995, my pager went off (remember pagers) and I needed to call the moving company immediately, they were trying to deliver before we would own the house in Lexington.  I called from a phone both at a gas station at SR 436 and Aloma, and was rather rude to the dispatcher (I was wound a bit to tight at that point in life.) 

3: Did the cell phone/mobile phone kill the payphone? Sadly, yes. 

4: What can we reuse them for? Museum pieces, little libraries, 

5: Who will you call this weekend? I don't know. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

16 comments:

  1. What is your earliest memory of a phone booth / phone box? I think when my mother once got lost, she pulled over and used one.

    Can you remember the last time you used a phone booth/phone box? Nope.It's been years.

    Did the cell phone/mobile phone kill the payphone? Most definitely. I can't even recall even seeing any. I thought I read, the last in-service pay phone ended connection some time ago.If I recall, they even had a phone book in them in a slot to hold the book.

    What can we reuse them for? I always thought they would make a great outdoor shower for a home, or a row of them at the beach for when you come off the beach to rinse the sand off. Or how cool in a home, at the end of a wall of bookshelves, with the phone still in there and shelves added for even more books.

    Who will you call this weekend? I owe my friend Kim in San Fran a call.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another idea for phone booths....turn them into cell phone charging stations.

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  2. 1: What is your earliest memory of a phone booth / phone box? They were the norm but I don’t have a specific earliest memory. I can’t remember a time without them. I do remember the phone booth in front of our building and making prank calls with my friends when I was 10 or 11. “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” “Well, let 'em out!”
    2: Can you remember the last time you used a phone booth/phone box? I wish I could. That would be a historic memory.
    3: Did the cell phone/mobile phone kill the payphone? Absolutely.
    4: What can we reuse them for? In Bergen, Norway, they were free libraries. When we first sAW our house in San Diego, the former owners had a London call box in the living room.
    5: Who will you call this weekend? At this point, I don’t think I’ll call anyone.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1: What is your earliest memory of a phone booth / phone box? I don't think I have one ...

    2: Can you remember the last time you used a phone booth/phone box? Wow, even though I was late to the cell phone fad [a luddite am I] I cannot remember the last time I used a phone booth.

    3: Did the cell phone/mobile phone kill the payphone? I'm sure it did.

    4: What can we reuse them for? Changing booths.

    5: Who will you call this weekend? My Dad to make sure he's sure he's listening to Dr.'s orders.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Clark Kent was able to change in a phone booth

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  4. 1. Huh. I don't remember my first thought on a phone booth. I remember them, of course, but not really remember how and when I used them. I'm sure I did.
    2. I really don't know last time. I got my first cell phone in 1996 (?). So, it would have been before that.
    3. Undoubtedly.
    4. I don't know they're still standing to make them into anything. I suppose a Tardis of some kind. They just did a new "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure", in the past didn't they use booths? What'd they do in the new one?
    5. I have a Zoom happy hour call every Sunday at 17:30. I set up the call, so no one is technically calling me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have a generation who has never used one. I have the same cell number since 1996.

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  5. 1: What is your earliest memory of a phone booth / phone box? I was driving from Phoenix to Orlando Florida meeting my parents there for a visit to Walt Disney World. In order to keep track of where we each were on the road, I was supposed to call my sister to tell her where I was spending the night, my parents called my sister to tell where they were. My sister relayed what she knew to each of us. The first night on the road, I had to use a phone booth in the parking lot of the motel.
    2: Can you remember the last time you used a phone booth/phone box? Yes, when I had moved to Chicago from St. Louis and had to call my friend David to let him know I had arrived safely. I used the phone booth at the Hyatt Hotel.

    3: Did the cell phone/mobile phone kill the payphone? Most certainly.

    4: What can we reuse them for? little libraries or art pieces

    5: Who will you call this weekend? My sister.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1. Believing the myth that by yelling into the earpiece, the person at the other end could hear you and so you didn't need to pay.
    2. Not so long ago to check that they are actually now free.
    3. Mobile phones have almost killed public phones, but not quite.
    4. A windbreak to light a cigarette.
    5. Nobody, thankfully.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Windbreak is an interesting idea

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  7. I cannot remember when last in the phone booth. I don't think I called anyone this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have not called anyone, I have sent a couple of long emails

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  8. I recall pay phone being a dime.
    Coffee is on and stay safe

    ReplyDelete