Dear You,
"It's a sign!" a friend of mine said, "a sign for something new and utterly adventurous that will happen!"
Well - one might see it like this, though I'm not that far advanced in Positive Thinking - will need still two more days at least to see the silver lining on the horizon, where maybe (maybe - well, they are talking of a cloud, aren't they?) all my telephone numbers are feeling free, absolutely free to dance a dance of joy... incognito...
A few days ago my Galaxy SIII smartphone was conking out. Of course it is a shere coincidence that the contract with O2 ended two months before that... and The Youth (I'm speaking of my son) said: "What's the matter? Two years and two months - that's a good result!"
"Oh aye" I answered, seizing the opportunity to drizzle a bit of Detective Superintendend Andy Daziel's Yorkshire utterances into the conversation. See, I'm still Old School (at least in the section durability of consumer goods - hahaha: there still exists the synonym "durables", if I am not erring.... hear my bitter laugh from Berlin...).
Of course it is absolutely my fault that I did not save toutes les telephone numbers by copying them into - another - cloud.. And all my SMSs are lost!!! And it is very, very disturbing that I cannot find the address-book that I have ... somewhere...
At least I kept my mobile-number. But - new smartphone in hand - I pondered by whom the SMS was that I had got (without a name at the end!) -- a very interesting text, but I know two persons who might have been the sender - and one of them I do not want to encourage - so I answered very neutrally back --- ending with the hilarious question "Who are you?" (True story!).
(Well, it was the right person - at the moment I am grateful even for little favours).
After rummaging through a few drawers I found an older address-book from Hamburg.
It contains about two-thirds of my numbers.
I had to calm down and remind myself that normally I act on a maxim: when someone calls me on the phone and I do not want to be disturbed at that moment, I think: "If it is important, the person will call again."
Up till now they do.
Or, as an old count I know said so derisively to a host who interrupted a conversation with him to hurry to the telephone that rang: "You let yourself being rung?" (Oh - that's a horrible translation - the meaning was: like a salesperson the host ran to get his orders).
Very Old School, that count - but it has a ring to it...
PS: And why is the new vocable I just learned in my Italian class haunting me? It is the wonderful word the Italians use for "scrambled eggs": uovo strapazzato - stressed eggs. I mean...eh... it's only the word "strapazzato" that seems so appropriate now -- and the saying: There is no use to cry about broken eggs - oh no: that goes: No use to cry about spilt milk.
Ah - whatsoever... I think I'll make a pan of scrambled eggs....
Ah Britta ….. the joys of modern technology !!!! These problems didn't exist a few years ago, did they ?
ReplyDeleteUovo strapazzato seems to fit the bill perfectly for you right now !! I could do with a plateful myself at the moment !! XXXX
Dear Jackie, I love eggs (and the very special way they use the egg's articles in Italy :-) But though I moan sometimes about complicated technology, as you - owner of such a beautiful car - I adore and buy it.
DeleteCould you give up the phone and return to pen and paper, Britta? Or can one still send telegrams in Berlin? No better way to make an evening assignation.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wish Amazon would still sell me a copy of your book (if ever they did sell one in English, it is not clear from the entry). It is surely full of the sort of wisdom I need.
Dear Mise, I am one of the last letter- and diary-writers in Berlin, I think, just came back from the KaDeWe where I got the last seven (violet) packets of ink cartridges they have... No, the problem are my idolisers! Not knowing how to end an SMS properly, I fear worse for them writing letters ... on the other hand:: in so many novels letters rocked the boat, so maybe a bit of precaution is quite sensible :-)
DeleteAs to my book: the publishing company is just discussing if they will publish the umpteeth new edition (and if, I hope they will choose the first title and cover) - if they do not I am very happy because then I get my rights back and can e.g. translate it).
I have lost many addresses and phone numbers on my computer for various reasons. I try to keep paper copies too but often I forget where I put them. What to do? I like the term stressed eggs... very lyrical.
ReplyDeleteDear Emma, I am a bit lazy with filing things in the computer... but I will do it from now on (that's what they always say :-)
DeleteGood luck: I found the new address-book almost there where it belonged to be - just one file behind - but as a librarian once said: a book put in the wrong place in the library is often lost forever...
Whatever will we do with a generation that believes two years and two months life is a good result?
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne, I think this sort of question is "the" one (beside of "manners", that all generations before us have put in an earnest tone - but, surprise, surprise: the next generation always managed :-) I have a lot of trust in - and admiration for - the young ones.
DeleteOh, Britta... At the 2 year mark with this new phone, you must immediately replace... Don't leave the security of your contacts to fate! As loving son said... 2 years is a good result! So sad isn't it? How I miss the little black rotary phone of my youth! Smiles... Susan
ReplyDeleteDear Susan, appreciating your kind words - yes, my son is - of course - a marvel: he told me which newer - and cheaper - smartphone to buy (next day I had a motorola - instead of a Samsung), and gave me tips how to recover part of the lost informations (and a little lecture on the value/necessity of filing, oh aye...:-)
DeleteAnd though I hate it when things expire just after their guarantee (in Germany they made a new Law: it is from now on forbidden to manipulate products to expire by deliberately included faults to make them kaputt after a certain time - but HOW will I prove that, I ask?) - I also have to say in all fairness that technology has become extremely cheap -- a lot of things we can buy now that were unthinkable expensive some decades before. So one compensates the other - it is only that I regret the environmental burden that is created this way.
I have just decided, based on this post, that "stressed eggs" are the solution to any problem!
ReplyDeleteDear Sue, hahaha - one might solve anything with that - but consider: how many eggs might be broken - if one doesn't want to "walk on eggshells" :-)
DeleteDear Brigitta,
ReplyDeleteI have a Nokia cell phone I bought 15 years ago, when I was still working as a gardener. It works. It does not take photos, nor can it text. I have not checked my messages in 6 years. It saves no numbers. There is no cloud. This week, my 77-year-old friend, Willie, sent me an email. It said, "What is your phone number?" I met Willie in 1965. If he doesn't know my phone number by now, he is obviously not as primitive as I. I use an operating system that was considered revolutionary when it appeared: writing phone numbers in a cumbersome address book. Unfortunately it is considered anachronistic by modern standards. Sometimes primitive is good. Do not be beguiled by clouds, no matter what wonders they promise.
Dear Geo., 15 years - that breaks the record that Husband held with his old cellphone - he loved it, it was yellow and quite a brick. I don't know my cellphone number (too often changed - I need my memory for Italian - but I carry a calling card with my number on it, in case of need...)
DeleteOf course I write into an address book - but as that had slipped off... (Good that I kept the one from years before - and now I found the recent one again - as Husband says: "The house doesn't lose anything".) "Clouds" I look at with real distrust - and even the DVDs and harddrive with my photos on it do not make me feel very ensured.
I must be the only person in the universe who doesn't own a mobile phone - so I don't have these problems - but I do rely on my address book and lost it over Christmas when I needed it to write out my Christmas cards - disaster. Luckily it was found in the end - but I would really have been stuck without it.
ReplyDeleteDear Elaine, the wonderous thing is that it is possible to exist with a cellphone :-) As I can without a 'navigator' (can't find the English word for it - the thing that tells you where to drive to find a certain street or city).
DeleteI own such a navigator, but do almost never use it - I love the adventure of relying on my own mind. Though I would miss my mobile phone (not those silly apps - but I love to be able to remind husband when he is shopping for the menue that I forgot to add "bread" to the list, for instance).
Luckily you found your address book - so you could send Happy-New-Year-cards.
Elaine isn't the ONLY person in the world without a cell phone. I don't have (or want) one, either. But I can sympathize with you losing all your info in yours when it went belly up.
ReplyDeleteIt's a modern-day dichotomy. Technology has advanced in leaps and bounds from what it was fifty years ago, but nowadays, very few things are built with a goal of durability and longevity. For example, years ago, AT&T's standard was to design and build products that would last at least forty years, but now, as your son said, two years is considered "good". Is it really? No, I don't think so. I think we've just gotten used to built-in obsolescence and cheaply constructed products designed for the fickle needs of a throw-away society.
Dear Susan, I also know a person who doesn't own a cell phone, but she has difficulties with meeting people if something changes suddenly. From your generation a few people in Germany even don't know how to use a computer - they had not to learn it to work, and now they do not try to learn it.
DeleteAs to durability: right, I also expect things to last. On the other hand: the generation of our children will get a "lasting" gift from (all of) us (ancestors): it remains unclear what mankind will do with the undestroyable leftovers from atomic plants, and our children will inherit a greedily looted earth and climate warming.
Sono pronto per la prima colazione. Che ne dite di uova strapazzate? Per quanto riguarda i telefoni, riportare la manopola!
ReplyDeleteChiaro! Gli abissi dell anima mia (!) ho guardato per alcuni momenti - ma adesso basta. Telefono dopo (after Italian class 2 :-)
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