Dear LPG, 

I am old but I like to get out and about.  I went to spend a couple of days with a friend in Gillingham last week and while we were chatting and having a first cup of tea of the morning there was a knock at the door.  We assumed that it was her postman but when we finally got to the front door mat we realised that what looked like another leaflet which had dropped there was, for her household, a moment of history.

When we picked up the little booklet we realised that it was the last ever time that the yellow pages would be delivered to her house; in fact the copy that was received brings an institution to an end.  I have no doubt that if you are over 65 there has been many a time that you wanted to find a builder or local pet shop and, without hesitation, you would as they used to say ‘let your fingers do the walking…’ as you made a beeline for your copy of the Yellow Pages which you knew the exact location of in your house; but no more.

Do you remember when your delivered copy was so big that it could not fit through your letter box and was left in cellophane wrapping at the doorstep?  In a way I think that the fact that we thought it to be another deposited piece of junk mail, when we first saw it on the door mat, to be a bit of an insult.   I know that the company has a big presence online now together with Google and many other electronic search engines but it is not the same. 

The other thing I remember is the adverts with their two main themes.  First there were walking fingers which I am sure many remember and later the JR Hartley story-type adverts with that memorable little jingle. 

Books and magazines are becoming more and more electronic, including LPG, and I understand that there are real financial implications for the organisations that produce and deliver them, while I suppose it is only the older people in our borough that really use them these days.  We are being forced to live in an electronic world because paper comes at a real cost to our environment.  If you don’t have a computerised device yourself, you can be sure that your son or daughter, at least one of your friends or the person next door will.  I know that it is so accessible on my smart phone but it is not the same.

I have one more little bit of advice for readers and that is that even if you never open it, it may be worth keeping this edition when it comes through your door.  Having read your article about car tax discs (►►►) I have no doubt that it will be worth money before you know it.

YD, Lewisham.

If you want to be sure of getting a copy of the last ever edition of the Yellow Pages the telephone number to contact is 0800 671 444.  LPG has found some of those ‘Yellow Pages’ adverts that we know will bring back a few memories and our last link shows an advert which sums up their vision of their future…

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