Rotary Phone

Posted bywriterravenclawPosted inA day in the life ofTags:

Written for https://lindaghill.com/2024/09/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-14-2024/

The rotary phone, and phone box in town, my version of letting my parents know I would be late. There was always a bit of a funky smell to it and a litter of cards with numbers for the adults.

Advised to have a few select coins in my purse, I would call them so they wouldn’t worry. There were reverse charges if you ran out of money. Only that added a lot more struggle on the bills.

A red box

covered in graffiti,

the only way to show

we were alive and well,

pip, pip, pip

the chat ended before we had

a chance to finish our bad excuses

of arriving back to our family before dark.

With no mobiles, it was our lifeline. For this generation, having a mobile is a normal possession. A quick text can mean anything, but the sound of your child’s voice is the best method to show you are safe.

Published by writerravenclaw

I am a fifty something mother of two grown up children, and one beautiful grandchild. I have been married for nearly thirty-four years. My first book was published ten years ago. I wrote my book Sticks and Stones because of my experience of being bullied at school.

18 thoughts on “Rotary Phone”

  4. Oh yes! Memories coming back… the pips and reverse calls … sometimes it was so good to not be able to find a ‘working phone’ to tell my parents I was late …. And now parents want them to check in all the time …. I didn’t realise how much freedom I had …. 😂 never knew the prompt phone would bring back so many memories ….

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  5. Phone booths are a dying breed. I just recently photographed on on Mount Royal as they are so few and far between. Such a necessity brought down to antiquity status! Nicely done, Diana.

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