fun with phones

the time of landline phones will always hold an element of nostalgia for people who lived through it - and a facebook post about it reminded me of one such incident. and yes, this was before we even had caller ID.

I must have been about 16 or 17 at the time. I picked up the phone to make a call (probably to Satej?) but instead of the dial tone, there was silence.

I was surprised, as it wasn't raining or anything (that's usually when the lines went dead!). after pressing the hook a couple of times with no success, I call out across the house: "mom, the phone's dead!"

and a voice on the line said "kris?"

turns out aunt Avita had called us at the exact same moment as I lifted the phone off the hook, so I didn't hear it ring, and she didn't hear the ringing tone on the line either!

it took a few seconds for us both to understand what happened, and I still marvel at what set of coincidences led to this happening!

also points to the time when phone circuits were fully analog, and you didn't hear the ringing tone on the line until the phone rang at the other end!