I live in the house my grandparents bought in 1946. When they first
moved
here, they had a friend who was an independent businessman who
lived across
the bay. Since he had the only house near there, the
phone company ran the
line through my grandparents' yard and across
the bay to their friend's
house. But after a few years, the salt
water ate into the insulation and the
line would short out at high
tide. The operator's recourse was to call my
Grandmother and give
her the message. Sometimes his calls were from East
Coast bigwigs
and they were totally perplexed to hear "We can't put your call
through because the tide is in - but we can connect you to his
friends across
the bay."
10 years ago I had a new bulkhead put in, and they dug up that
old
phone line on the beach! Yeah, the insulation was pretty
far gone. :-)
_______________________________________________
Mgs@autox.team.net
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