When Using The 'Phone Was an all but Solemn Task.

We didn't have a 'phone in my home until about 1960/61.  

Dad resisted this modernity.  He believed that home 'phones were only necessary for people in business.

My two older sisters and I helped Dad to change his mind, when we said that we would foot the monthly bills.

So we did until first one sister, and then another got married.  That left me as the sole payer - which was fine.

In due course Mum and Dad, having gotten used to having a home 'phone, took over the bill.

Long before the advent of caller I.D, British people answered the phone by announcing the name of the exchange, and the number.

In our case it was "Bristol 51769" (later Bristol 551769).

We were provided with the standard U.K. rotary 'phone, made with bakelite ( who remembers bakelite?  - one friend thought that it was called "baker light"!

This one is a non-working 1940's model, treasured now as an antique. Hence it stands on a bookcase in sitting room.

When my family signed on to the telephone service we placed the phone in the passage-way which led from the front door to the kitchen.  This was common for most residential 'phones, for two reasons.  First, it ensured some privacy. Second, since the passage-way was not heated, we wanted calls to be brief. 'Phone calls were for business, not for chit-chat. They were measured and charged by the minute, with an evening "cheap rate" after 6:00 p.m.  I think that this was also the case in the U.S.A.

I can't remember if our phone was on a table, or if it was the more  modern wall mounted version

Both rotary dial of course. (I think that I would still be able to use a rotary dial 'phone).

Cordless 'phones; caller i.d.; touch tone 'phones; mobile 'phones; face time 'phones were all in a distant future.

Now they are with us, and I am glad.  But I do not disdain or discount those 1960 days when my family first got a home 'phone.

"Bristol 51769 anyone?"