THE PHONE

I don't know why but for some strange reason, I suddenly thought about those old phones the other day. You know, the black ones with the rotating dial. I realized that I miss those kind of phones. Sure, the push-button one is highly convenient but I think the old phone was more fun. Sure, it was irritating to use the old one especially when you dialled the 4th number wrong and had to hang up to do the whole dialling process again. But I find the rotating disc so cool (I used to wonder how, upon dialling, it would get the phone number right in the end). And, I love the click-clickety sound of the dial as it makes the turn everytime. My favorite thing was whenever I had to dial zero because it was like winding it up fully and whenever I would use the end of a pencil to turn the dial. Looking at my boys' toy phone, I realize that it too, is the push-button version. My sister's and mine (in our childhood - don't ask when) was the rotating one. I think that's just sad.

I guess that old phone was okay to use years back because I remember that telephone numbers only had 4 figures before. Also, it really seemed like there was just so much time to spare in the past. I mean, it's not like today, when we get so frazzled if we can't call through in 5 minutes. Auto-redialling was not even possible with the old phone and yet, I survived. I suppose it was also because my friends' phones were hardly busy 24/7. Today, is another matter entirely. You can't NOT have auto-redialling. The tip of your finger would chafe calling customer service or making airline reservations (just experienced that the other day when I had to book our tickets to Bohol). Things have just changed a lot and I guess that old phone can still survive in a peaceful laidback village or a quaint bed and breakfast or a quiet little city. But for the metropolis, I guess the push-button phone (and cellular phones) is here to stay.