Back Around the House II: Modern methods of communications

0

I think our modern methods of communications are fantastic!

Back in the 1940s, when my parents brought our family back to Greenville, my younger brother and I were thrilled when we found out that if there was a fire in town, the bells at the old city hall would ring out the number of the fire alarm box nearest the fire. We could count the peals of the bell, then look at the inside front cover of the phone book and know what corner the fire was near.

Back then, this was state of the art communications.

It was even more thrilling if we were at my Uncle Ernie Gauvey’s house when there was a fire alarm. He was the Fire Chief here, and he had an alarm in his house which really raised a ruckus when the main alarm went off at the old fire house.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say we prayed for a fire alarm when we went to Unc’s house. Well, at least I didn’t, but my little brother Dave could have done that.

We were rather upset when they tore the old city hall down and the bells no longer pealed out the fire box locations when there was a fire alarm. We thought local communications really took a step backwards.

Last Wednesday night, I realized our communications are back to state of the art. I was talking on the phone with one of my daughters-in-law when she said, “What was that?” and I heard a terrible “THUNK” as our windows rattled.

We recognized the “thunk.” It was the same one we heard, or felt, when the gas tank blew up over on Ohio 49 North several weeks ago.

Within seconds we knew what happened and where.

We flipped a switch and our scanner blurted out the approximate location and the cause – another explosion, this time out on Ohio 121 South. I told my daughter-in-law what happened as another call came in, and another.

“What was that?” from another offspring. After that there were a number of phone calls coming in and going out as our “family communications” center came alive.

“Modern communications?” you might ask, and rightly so. Telephones have been around forever – even before I was a baby. You might point out I could have used the internet.

But no, I couldn’t because Bill was on the net when the explosion happened, discussing a knotty computer problem with one of our sons-in-law. Well, actually even if he weren’t on the net I probably wouldn’t have used it. When I need to use the internet, Bill sets it up for me, and I just type in the message and send it. When my fingernails are long, I sometimes send messages in several parts. Somehow I manage to hit the send key before I’m finished, so I have to send the rest of the message as part two, or sometimes as part three.

Don’t give me the old “you really should learn how to use the internet” speech. I’ve heard it so often I don’t even have to listen to know when to make appropriate replies.

Besides, as long as I have Bill, he takes care of incoming e-mails for me.

Usually he starts by him telling me I have email. I say, “Okay.” Time passes and we repeat the pattern several times. If I wait long enough, he prints out the message and puts it on my desk. If necessary, I reply – usually by telephone.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This column was first published in the Greenville Advocate March 13, 2002

https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_KathleenFloydPRINT-20.jpg

By Kathleen Floyd

Back Around the House II

Kathleen Floyd is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves The Daily Advocate readers weekly with her column Back Around the House II. She can be reached at [email protected]. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

No posts to display