I did a flash back in my Siblings with Benefits series that took place in the eighties and I wrote in the brother had a pager. Made me think of how they were all the rage and there were stores that sold only pagers.I had to remind myself recently a character would not have access to a cell phone in a story set in 1995. She would have to wait until the bus stopped and use a pay phone- at least those would be available.
The best time I walked into a bar and saw that they had Labatt's Blue was at the NCO club on the Naval Support Activity in Bahrain. It was the first time I was allowed Alcohol after being assigned to the "holy" land and I was thirsty. They had this HUGE sign advertising Labatt's Brew fifty cents a can!!! The brew I grew up with at a price that made us both happy. The bartender said "What'll you have?"
) but I got to talk to some beautiful women in tiny, tiny bikinis... and I met their husbands, but we had some interesting conversations. Sadly when they had to return to Saudi they'd go into the locker room and come out dressed as BMOs (Black Moving Objects). Another reason why we were bombing the wrong countries.
I got a pager in 1998, going cheap. The following year, like half the country, I invested in a mobile phone (Nokia 3310i, like most people). When I became a student in the early 90s, only geeks used email (and Usenet), and the standard method of communication was to go to someone's room and leave a message on the paper on their door. Or a note in their college pigeon-hole. Or find them in the bar.
The first mobile phone I had was back in 2000 and it was a Nokia, and I think the plan I purchased was for 100 minutes a month or something like that.
I encountered the "bikinis to burkas" issue throughout the Middle East. With overall Middle East responsibility but living in Cyprus as a safe haven, I often flew between those points. Both coming and going between Cyprus and any Middle Eastern capital, the airlines had a special announcement of time distance to port for the Arab women to have time to go to the loo and change between Paris fashion and burkas, depending on where the plane was touching down next.That was one part of the world I detested, which surprised me. I loved Turkey and the people, but Bahrain - it only exists to serve drinks to Saudi princes who aren't allowed to have alcohol on the main land. They allowed my unit to use the swimming pool at a yacht club and I'd go as trip commander (no drinking
I never saw burkas (the robe where the entirety of a woman's face is obscured) in the ME. Even a niqab (fabric covering nose downwards, often bejewelled and ornate) or equally fancy eye mask was rare, almost only on Saudi women (you could guess that from the 'bejewelled', really...)
Running a derivative of a 1960s operating system...
Back in the day, there was nothing more satisfying than slamming the receiver down when the other person on the call was being an asshat.
Now I’m feeling super old. I remember it being a nickel, but an unsealed local letter could be sent for 4¢.
Same here, although strictly speaking my wife had it from that date. We switched numbers for some long forgotten reason a year or so later.
I think, "He hung up on me," sounds a lot less clunky than "He disconnected", or "He ended the call."
For some reason, "Bridge over Troubled Waters" is the one of the only songs that I can locate where I was the first time I heard it--in the small cafeteria attached to my university dorm in my second year. I was walking out of the food area, holding a tray, when it came on over the loudspeaker. I'd never heard it or Simon and Garfunkel before. I was dumb founded in the same way as when I heard "Memory" from Cats or anything from Phantom of the Opera.
Listening to Casey Casum's America's Top Forty late on Sunday nights with a make-shift antenna stuck on top of the radio, to pick up a Melbourne based AM radio station on an atmosphere bounce. It must have been a huge transmitter, coz I was right up north in NSW.
