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Today’s Blog Post
Repeating the same mistake over again… is really hard
That was back when the ring at home was something like “One Long and Two Short” rings, and your neighbour could be “Two Longs and One Short”. And if you were unlucky “busy Beulah” would pick up the phone at the same time you took your call and then listen to all that you were talking about. You could hear her breathing!
Anyway… in the story, the former Operator told of one day when a man called into the Operator and asked the correct time. The Operator that took the call glanced at the Telephone Office Clock and gave the man the answer he needed.
Now stop for a minute and remember – when you needed the correct time – you called Central and the Operator would give you the time on Central’s clock. That way almost everyone connected to Central had the same time.
This particular day the man called again and again. Each time he was give the latest time… which the Central Office had been changing as well.
One Operator became a wee bit concerned why the same man had called a number of times to check the time and asked him – who he was and why he had called back so often.
His reply brought giggles to the Telephone Operators that day.
The man said, “I am the guy that sets the Town Clock and it seems to be changing… so I call and you girls give me the correct time.”
After he hung up they burst into laughing. Their clock was set according to the Town Clock that was not far from Central by looking out the window. Whatever was shown they adjusted their clock inside to match… which then was given in the next phone call from the man. He then changed the Town clock to match what they gave him. They then reset their Central Clock to the new Town Clock time – which was likely different when the man changed it again… who then called back to get the new time… which was different from the Town Clock by a little bit.
In their little world the time was never quite right in that the reference points were always a little off. When no one was right – everyone was wrong.
This simple story came through loud and clear today as I sat at a table in the Peterborough Square demonstrating Lace Making.
I was making a Tatted piece using an old pattern that someone had given me in a very old book. As I worked on it trying to figure out what was wrong… I could see that I had used the pattern and faithfully done exactly what I should have done… BUT it was all screwed up!
There was a mistake in the Printer Pattern in 1905!! DUH!
How many people had made the mistake over and over again – BECAUSE the Publisher and Printer had allowed and duplicated the mistake??! Dozens or maybe more… who knows!
As I sat at the table a pretty YOUNG LADY came to speak with me. She had beautiful little girl with her who’s name was Betty. Betty had big brown eyes and grinned when I talked to her. She told me she was 4 years old.
As the mommy talked to me she told me that she was only just 18 years old. She did not work and she did not go to school now. She couldn’t go to school as there was no place for her with a little girl.
She also told me that she was pregnant again.
I gulped a little and didn’t know what to say.
She then told me everything. She was kicked out of school just after she turned 14 years old. Two weeks later she found out she was pregnant. Think of it for a minute… just left her 13th year and now in the first month of her 14th year… going to have a baby.
She said, “When I knew I was pregnant I was too embarrassed to go back to the school, I didn’t have anyone to talk to… so I stayed home and waited… then I had her” pointing to Betty.
“Lots of my friends have babies too. They are about my age…” she went on…
I gulped again.
In the Telephone Operator’s Office it was a repeated Time mistake… with poor reference points. In my Tatting Pattern it was a mess because someone didn’t catch that one mistake…in 1905 and people have been repeating that same mistake over and over again!!!
Now in front of me was this beautiful young lady, Rebecca, who had stopped school in Grade 8, never graduated, but stayed home to become a much older Lady than her years would be… very quickly.
The only reference points she had were also messed up just like her life is now… with little hope of going back.
How can a girl of 18 with two kids sit back into a Grade 8 Class? I can only imagine how hard that would be to cope with. Many of her former friends are having their Graduation Parties now and heading to University. She needed to talk today.
Her daughter will be in Kindergarten next year. In a very few years she will read better than mommy.
I gulped again.
Repeating the same mistake over again… is really hard. Nothing Funny about that at all!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Below... situated in front of the Crop Circles Store in Peterborough Square - meeting people - lots and lots of people.
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