Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

How many cookies did Andrew eat? Andrew ate eight thousand. How do you keep your carpets clean? Call Andrew eight thousand. That was a radio jingle fifty years ago. It was when you could just look at the dial and use the numbers that they sang.

Remember when everyone had a landline? We still have our original landline. I keep it for good luck, and to find my cell phone when I can’t locate it. I just call myself and find my phone.

I remember there was a time that I memorized most of my friends’ phone numbers and I can still remember a couple. There was no button you could press next to each friend’s name, which meant you had to go through the dialing process.

My mother had a piece of paper with the phone numbers of all my dad’s favorite haunts like The Coronet, Pat Connolly’s, and Sligos.

Just about everybody today has a cell phone which, means your favorite peoples’ phone numbers are just a click away. Do you know your wife’s cell phone number? Do you know your kids’ cell phone numbers? Chances are no. We just hit the button next to their name and presto you are in touch with your loved one.

Remember when you actually had to do some work to call someone on the phone? In the old days of Somerville, I remember some of the extensions which were PR6, M06, and S06. PR was Prospect, MO was Monument and SO was for Somerset. Here are some memories of those trusty old land lines.

“Don’t have a landline now, but memory of having had one was the 20-foot cord. We could reach all over the house.”

Here’s another comment about those long cords: “The cords! Those cords getting tangled and lifting the phone up in the air with the ear/mouth piece. Dangling to unwind. Those were the days my friends – lol.”

Here’s a friend who shares: “We still have a landline. They’re a must for power outages. They never lose their signal. Needed for fax from way back 617-623-17**. Grandparents from even further back. PR6-45**.”

Here’s another reader’s comment: “We no longer have a landline. I still remember my Som number, 625-7145. I wonder if any of my old girlfriends remember it. LOL.”

Check this out! “My favorite memory is the day my four-year-old cut the damn cord because he wanted something from his mother!”

Who would have thought that there would be a time when just about every human being alive owns and carries a personal telephone. I’m gonna press “Joe” to call my son. His cellphone number? Who knows? Just to be safe, I keep a small piece of paper with my important phone numbers on it in my wallet, just in case. No need any more for that emergency dime in my shoe.