dagmaraka wrote:actually, i wear them if they don't work, too, sometimes. as a memory/decoration.
So, someone comes up to you and asks you if you have the time, you say "No this watch doesn't work, hasn't for 8 years"
um, OK, uh, I've got to go over to the other side of the street.
no. i pull out my cell phone and tell them.
i had a watch -my grandpa's watch (some bahstid stole it) - that was about 20 mins fast in an hour. i kept it on american time for sentimental reason, so whenever someone asked i'd have to calculate the time by discounting six hours and adjusting for the time it went ahead since the last time i set the time... took awhile and noone believed the time i told them, although it was always within 5 minutes of the real time.
i just tell people, with a straight face: "this is not a watch."
farmerman : if you have access to an old house - legally of course !!! - , you might want to check the attic for old trunks, suitcases, boxes ... old stamps, postcards and envelopes - especially with contents - can be quite valuable.
i started collecting as a young boy when a sailor friend of the family brought some stamps from his visits to foreign countries. i'm not really into collecting because of the possible monetary rewards, but am more interested in the history that goes with old postcards and letters.
as an example, it is interesting to see that mail in the 1890's that was posted in the morning would usually be delivered in the afternoon in the same city and the next day in towns and cities nearby. even overseas mail (shippost) was about as fast as it is today by airmail. since mail was usually backstamped in the arriving post-office before delivery, it is easy to see how long the mail travelled.
here are a couple of examples of postcards mailed from the united states to germany :
-mailed new york, oct 17, 1902, 3 pm
delivered hamburg, oct 27, 6 pm
-mailed milwaukee, dec 9, 1904, 3:30 pm
delivered hamburg, dec 22, 1904, 9 am.
the mail must go through !
hbg
I have a watch on right now, for 2 reasons
dayum, those were some fast ships. i thought it's more like 3-4 weeks between new york and europe.
wristwatch - yeap I get a new one about every year or so - that's about the time it takes to either destroy the face or band - hardly ever the battery.
I gotta say I wear wrist watches as part of my wardrobe - I know it sounds really vain and superficial, but for me they seem to fulfill this duty more so than its original function of telling time... Of course, I do look at my watches for that purpose as well - I usually keep them a little faster b/c I am usually running late. I rely on the cell phone too for the "actual" time since all of my watches are fast.
Convoluted system, I know, but it works for me.
dagmaraka : the mailships (cunard, white star line, north-german lloyd) made the atlantic crossings in 6-7 days before ww II . the first european port was often le havre, where the mail for continental destinations was transferred to mail-trains that made fast runs to the various destinations.
an even older postcard was mailed in sidney(at that time using the stamps of new south wales) on may 23, 1896 at 7 am. delivered in hamburg on july 6, 1896 at 6 am - a little slower but still not bad.
the text is quite funny (to me anyhow) :
dear hermann : you probably think that i forgot you, but that's not the case. i was just lazy ! very boring here; no amusement to be had for any kind of money ! (the end) greetings to uncle , aunt and all friends, willy . (text in german)
one has to wonder if it was worth the price of the stamp (penny-half penny ... that's what the stamp shows) to send such interesting news.
most of the mail has similar "interesting" news.
hbg
It'd be inappropriate to have a cell phone visible in a meeting round here. Ya need the wrist watch. You can look down at it while you turning to look at someone else, while you're looking at the table ... gotta be discreet.
hbg, if you're ever bored, it would be wonderful to scan those postcards and post them. i would love to see/read them. sometimes i buy old postcards of places i know in antique bookstores. love to read who passed through before me.
ehBeth wrote:It'd be inappropriate to have a cell phone visible in a meeting round here. Ya need the wrist watch. You can look down at it while you turning to look at someone else, while you're looking at the table ... gotta be discreet.
Oh well, there's the problem....I'm in Texas ya see.
Around here the meetin's don't even start until someone arrives with the moonpies and sweet ice tea.
Not that there's no discretion mind you. At least one person would be offended if you wore your Aggie T-shirt or had the nerve to take off your gimme cap indoors.
Oh my.
Cell phones are definitely not as much a part of the accepted culture here as they've seemed to be in the parts of the U.S. I've visited recently.
Of course I have a wristwatch ... Seiko, as a matter of fact.
Now, a cell phone ... that's what I don't have.
My wife bought me a cellphone for emergency use - in case of health problems or while on the road. I rarely carry it around with me while at home. Sometimes I leave it in my car.
I'd be lost without my cell phone . . . but i know right where it is . . . it's out in the glove box of my sweetiepie's car . . . i sleep better knowing where it is . . .
Crazielady420 wrote:I have a watch on right now, for 2 reasons
Well, I know that one of the reasons is that it has a CrimeStoppers' 2-way radio built in.
What's the other?
That's like that joke:
A man walks into McDonald's and says:
"Chin thang tyeng pun kong Coca-Cola"
Waitress:
"Medium cup of what?"
dagmaraka wrote:actually, i wear them if they don't work, too, sometimes. as a memory/decoration.
Nothing wrong with that. It's still right twice a day, right?
