When I first came to America I used the telephone rarely. I would call my family back in England, every 3 months or so and was surprised when I met peers who called sisters, mothers, fathers, and brothers I suppose, several times a week.
“Why?” I would ask.
“To chat!” they would say.
Americans love to chat on the phone. Teenagers used to do it incessantly, or so I observed in the films. I just never had the time. I came from a culture where the telephone was used as a signaling device rather than another way to “get together.” When I left the house I was asked by my parents to “give three rings.” This meant when I arrived at my final destination I was to dial their number, let it ring three times and hang up. That way they would know I had arrived safely without actually having to hear me state the obvious. If I had to talk to them I needed to deploy the “one ring, hang up and then ring straight back” strategy. This meant the caller was someone who knew the code so was probably a trusty member of the clan, so it was safe to pick up. Oh and sometimes I would mess up on the coding…but let’s not go there!
In addition to not really enjoying using the phone as a substitute for getting together face to face I need to add another facet to the British attitude to “phoning.” Unlike our counterparts across the pond, all of our calls had to be paid for so we really could not afford large telephone bills to do something that was just as effective in person over a nice cuppa and a bicky.
Oh and if the person with whom we craved conversation lived a ways away, we…wrote letters!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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