Hello All,
In my last letter from Cloverdale I wrote about our village’s transformation from analog telephone to digital, touch tone phones. The switch over has been rather painful but one we all knew was necessary if we wanted our little village in the land between nowhere and somewhere to stay current and modern. In addition to the new touch tone telephones many of us are being forced to do away with our dialing computer keyboards we’ve grown so fond of over the years. Dialing your phone while on the computer was always a nice feature offered by Confederacy Telephone and Telegraph. Mind you, it was a feature we paid dearly for, but such a convenience. One click and the telephone line was connected, then you dialed your number and, as if by magic, the person’s voice you called was heard through your computer’s speakers. Of course the technology wasn’t advanced enough to talk through the computer. Once someone answered your call with a “Hello”, necessity required you to pick up the actual phone to carry on a two way conversation.
Everyone will be gathering at the village centre tonight to turn in their old rotary dial phones and keyboards. A truck from “World Rotary Relief” will be parked to collect our old technology for delivery to third world countries that still use rotary phones. I hear such phones are no longer produced in many countries and places like North Dakota and the Yukon are desperate for assistance. Of course, there is always a need for our phones in China and certain suburbs of Paris.
After tonight’s ‘analog cleansing' of Cloverdale, Confederacy Telephone and Telegraph will host a “Welcome to the 21st Century" party at the village's two pubs, The Kicking Donkey and The Hairy Lemon. Villagers will be treated to drinks and pub food. Along with demonstrations of touch tone dialing there are rumors CT and T will have the internet connected to one of the pub’s monitors to demonstrate internet speeds much higher than we are accustom to over dial up.
Many in the village think this transformation is moving ahead too quickly. They wonder if we are losing our traditional values, and with those a part of who we are, in the process of ‘getting connected’. Some in the village have sworn off technology all together. All of that is OK. Cloverdale can accommodate everyone’s viewpoints. We are an accepting village that prides itself on staying ‘informed’, even if informed means just learning that men landed on the moon!
All the Best,
Victor
