Dear LPG,   

Reading AJ’s valentine post got me reminiscing about the time I spent working at Lewisham telephone exchange in the mid-1980s. 

I was one of the last groups of GPO telephone operators before the whole thing went ‘private’, and in those days, many of the services that are automated now were all provided by real people.  It was an interesting job because it was a localised service when I started working with them.  We all had to sign the official secrets act when joining, and we often learned some interesting things about our neighbours, I can tell you!

When someone phoned 100, the operator could see the number that they were calling from even if the caller shared their telephone line.  Do you remember when, if you had a party line, you had to wait if the party you shared with was already on the phone when you wanted to make a call?    If you asked the operator, they could tell you if the phone was faulty or just busy.  There were no arguments if you wanted to report someone else’s phone as out of order because you did not know their password.  Life was so much simpler then.

I also remember when people started buying mobile phones and I recall making an observation in the early 1990s.  I predicted that there would be no landlines left by 2010.  I was a bit previous but I think I was right.  According to an article I read recently, only 50% of homes in the USA have a home phone now and I am noticing that the UK is catching up quite quickly. 

It is just another indication of how quickly our world is changing. The home telephone really came into its own after WWII and it is fast becoming obsolete already!

DY, Lee

LPG found some information for our readers…

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