Seniors

NanceGreggs

(27,835 posts)

9. In my family, it was two rings.

Mon Dec 24, 2018, 08:31 PM

Dec 2018

When you arrived somewhere safely, you'd call home, let it ring twice, and then hang up. Of course, this meant that if someone in the household was traveling, you weren't allowed to answer the phone until it had rung three times.

My mother was still insistent that I do this after I moved to Toronto, and she was still in NY. Her last words to me, every time she dropped me at the airport, were: "Two rings."

I had mentioned this to a friend many years ago. He later moved from Toronto to Vancouver, and I wished him a safe journey, as he was driving across the country. A few days after he left, I got an email from him. All it said was: Two rings.

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I remember when there was one telephone in the house. [View all] trof Dec 2018 OP

I am really old I pre-date the dial phone. I think there were 8 doc03 Dec 2018 #1

Mayberry trof Dec 2018 #2

I remember visiting a relative somewhere in West Virginia. They had what they called the farmers doc03 Dec 2018 #14

When we got a phone it was an 8 party line. Our ring was one long ring. Arkansas Granny Dec 2018 #7

Melrose - 2786 lapfog_1 Jan 2019 #26

Melrose was the exchange for Martins Ferry, Ohio where I went to doc03 Jan 2019 #43

Our party line had 7 families on it. Ferrets are Cool Dec 2018 #3

Ours was also a party line. Remember when reception was so lousy for long distance calls tblue37 Dec 2018 #4

Oh yeah. A long distance call was a BIG DEAL! trof Dec 2018 #5

In my family, it was two rings. NanceGreggs Dec 2018 #9

Great story. trof Dec 2018 #20

Cool story! Lithos Jan 2019 #35

We did the 2 rings, too. nt tblue37 Jan 2019 #42

Hi, Carl! MyOwnPeace Dec 2018 #10

My boy friend and I did that same sort of thing too with arranging dates by coded messages. northoftheborder Dec 2018 #18

Yeah-the operators were definitely on to that scam! Lol! Alliepoo Dec 2018 #15

Trust me, the operators were on to you. PoindexterOglethorpe Jan 2019 #25

I called my high school FES lapfog_1 Jan 2019 #28

What does FES mean? NBachers Jan 2019 #37

Foreign Exchange Student lapfog_1 Jan 2019 #39

We had a party line too Zoonart Jan 2019 #33

21987! akraven Dec 2018 #6

Yes, one phone in the house, three families on the party line. NT enough Dec 2018 #8

Our phone number began with 2 letters marked50 Dec 2018 #11

Yep lillypaddle Dec 2018 #24

we had this one KT2000 Dec 2018 #12

We had that phone too! blaze Dec 2018 #21

Oh, yeah, you could drop those suckers on the floor and not break them. brush Jan 2019 #32

I remember making a long distance call way back. Sneederbunk Dec 2018 #13

I still remember our old phone # Ohiogal Dec 2018 #16

MAyflower 3-5649. Southern Ohio Laurian Dec 2018 #17

When I was a 'ute, we had the candle stick. Around 1952, dial phones came in. I was in 7th grade. 3Hotdogs Dec 2018 #19

Temple 2 dweller Dec 2018 #22

We has two when I was growing up. One in the living room and one in my parents' bedroom. worstexever Dec 2018 #23

I recIg ently read a novel in which people in the 1950s called PoindexterOglethorpe Jan 2019 #27

I can remember, as kids, gathering around to watch Dad make rare long distance calls. NBachers Jan 2019 #38

We had a wall phone in the kitchen and another phone in the parents' bedroom. The Velveteen Ocelot Jan 2019 #29

My earliest recollection of our phone was a party line. House of Roberts Jan 2019 #30

My grandmother's sister ran the switchboard for her neck of the woods. applegrove Jan 2019 #31

Even more of a hoot was the Phone book at the time. Wellstone ruled Jan 2019 #34

Higate 2600 demosincebirth Jan 2019 #36

We had a combo table and seat in the hall also, with the phone on top. secondwind Jan 2019 #40

our number was 4491 rurallib Jan 2019 #41