Whether you are old or young, you might have seen a telephone like this one:
This is similar to the one we had on our dairy farm when I was a child. Ours had the crank on the side and the separate receiver, and we were connected by a party line. A party line doesn’t exist anymore in urban areas but it consisted of your phone line and a few other neighbors’ lines all being connected. To call someone, you would crank the handle once or a few times and for a certain duration to identify the person on the other end. Each line had their own distinctive ring. Two short rings, two long rings, one ring, etc. Every neighbor knew the identity of the rings.
This made it extremely easy to know who was calling who, that they were home, etc, and we had one neighbor who was infamous at listening in on all calls. We were phoned by a friend one day and it was obvious the intruder (Mrs. B) was listening in. Unfortunately for her the friend had visited the intruder earlier in the day. While we conversed, he suddenly said, “Mrs. B—, you’re beans are burning”. Mrs. B. yelled, “Oh, my goodness!” and put the phone down.
Telephones have come along way!😉
The Bag Lady 
I’ve seen those phones and we had a party line. However, whenever I think party line, I think of Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk. 😉 xoxoM
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That was a funny one. I enjoyed those movies.
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I do remember party lines, but the end of them came when I was very young. I don’t remember a Nosy Josey in the neighborhood other than the elderly woman who sat in her window and watched everyone’s comings and goings all day.
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I remember party lines lol, but that phone in the picture is not one I’ve ever seen 😳
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Oh you young people!🤓
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👼🏻
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Ah ha ha ha!
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I have a phone very similar to that, that I use every day…..except my eves droppers pick up one of the portables.
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Ohhh, we had a party line even in London. We did not have the different rings though but we did have the nosy neighbours … Cheers Jamie
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We had the one especially. No privacy at all. The neighbors were all miles apart, it was country!😂
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Never actually knew the party lines in London. The exchange covered miles, too. Population density, etc. The ones in Nelson were right next door and there was no escape from that …. It’s laughable the cellphone stuff. Now everyone is on a party line and nobody knows who listens in? Cheers Jamie
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😂
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