Monday 13 September 2010

Arrived!

I remember thinking we'd arrived here when, about two years ago, my name appeared in the Azores phone book.

The event was tempered slightly by the fact that the address was wrong - they'd put me in a place called Morres-Cima which I still don't know where it is and even José Antonio at the shop was a bit hesitant in pronouncing it to be "near Lajes". However, they got the phone number right which is the important thing for a phone book, I suppose.

Anyway, I cut out the correction slip and posted it off, never imagining it would actually be actioned, but a new phone book came in the other day lo and behold with the correct address! So, being "second generation phone book", as it were, I feel that not only have we arrived but can probably afford to take our jackets off now as well.

8 comments:

Kathie said...

I, on the other hand, felt I'd arrived once we obtained an UNLISTED phone number!

One can only assume that Flores is largely immune to the epidemic of telemarketing phone calls plaguing more populous venues such as the US.

Among my pet peeves are "push-poll" calls masquerading initially as impartial political surveys seeking the respondent's opinions on some issue of the day, but soon devolve into loaded questions that one can scarcely answer in the negative without sounding downright unpatriotic -- not that I'd let that stop ME, because I'm just so darn contrarian!!!

Then there are those automated robo-calls, where a machine plays a recorded message urging a vote for or against a specific candidate or issue. Those deserve to be answered only by voice mail (or a hang-up).

And of course, such calls inevitably come during dinner time (sigh).

Marisa said...

I like to call it Assomada not Assumada, from: ela assomou à porta, she appeared at the door, more or less, when something or someone begins to appear in the horizon. Assomada: lugar alto (high place), cume (peak)...
But, still, is better than Morres, wich was wrong too, is Morros.

Kathie said...

What's up with those dysfunctional Miliband Bros.?

Yikes, it's as though Bobby Kennedy had challenged JFK for the Presidential nomination in 1960.

Mary said...

Hello. You should see the size of the BT Central Scotland and Trossachs "The Phone Book" now (I preferred it when it was a "telephone directory", with an area map on the front as well, instead of non-helpful, nondescript adverts) - a wee skinny thing like a narrow A4 envelope, now that all its customers have gone digital.

Neil King said...

Is "Central Scotland and Trossachs" a phone book area? Is that not a bit like having "Glasgow and Ailsa Craig"?

Mary said...

Indeed it is. Let your mind's eye wander along its boundaries, from its northmost point at Dalveich, then west to Craigruie, south and then east via Stronachlachar, Drymen, Blanefield, Kilsyth, Cumbernauld, Slamannan, Polmont, Letham, Kincardine, northwards again via Glendevon, Braco and finally via Callander and Strathyre, skirting Loch Earn and back to Dalveich. A scenic route, mostly.

Neil King said...

Tell me about it. You're talking to the person who tried to first register a lease of Loch Katrine (for you-know-who) but prudently decided to retire before RoS got round to sending any requisitions ...

Kathie said...

Oops, sorry, accidentally posted this on the wrong page. Belongs here instead. Kathie.
= = = = = = = = = =

Coincidentally, National Public Radio had a story Tuesday morning about the impending demise of the residential White Pages (being replaced increasing by Internet listings), going the way of rotary-dial phones and telephone booths. In relevant part:
= = = = = = = = = =

"The White Pages, Where Anybody Could Be Somebody":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130332956

...Take, for instance, Steve Martin's character in the 1979 film "The Jerk." For him, getting listed in the White Pages promised a rise to fortune and fame.

In one famous scene, Martin's character interrupts his work at a gas station to yell with excitement, "The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!"

His boss at the gas station, played by Jackie Mason, is dubious. "I wish I could get that excited about nothing," he says.

"Nothing?! Are you kidding?" Martin yells as he flips through the pages of listings. "Page 73. Johnson, Navin R. I'm somebody now!"

...After all, as Steve Martin's character says: "Millions of people look at this book every day. This is the kind of spontaneous publicity -- your name in print -- that makes people!"