In a short time something has become a pet peeve with me - cell phones. The damn things ring all over the place at anytime: church, library, business places, traffic, etc. I don't think anyone likes being drawn into another person's often petty business when they are trying to concentrate on their own. Yesterday I encountered two traffic situations because of them. One man was concentrating on his call, drove too slowly, and held up a whole string of cars behind him. Another darted across the street to enter the opposite lane and blocked my lane while he stopped for an opening. Here is where I laid on my horn in disgust.
I'm taken back to the time when telephones weren't such an oppressive gadget. One phone per home was the standard. We were on a party line with several others. To reminisce I still remember our number - 5542. It rang with our assigned signal of three shorts. "Rubbernecks" knew and recognized everyone's ring and could pick up the receiver to listen in on conversations. We were not slaves to the phones. Why, you could even leave home and not hear a phone ring.
Maybe there are enough emergency situations or urgent business matters that justify all of these contraptions, and I know the rush and push of society moving forward will continue to bring out inventions like these. Since I do not wish to dig a hole and escape from the world just yet, I guess I'll have to put up with it all.
