On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:52:00 GMT, "Eddie Bellass"
wrote:

But there isn't room for *all* of us in there..! The whole train
should be phone-free.
-----------------------------------

The development of this thread has taken me back 20 years
or so, to when I was British Telecom's Business Systems
Manager at Warrington and also an active writer/photographer
for RAIL and other rail enthusiast magazines.

I was on a BR (Provincial?) press trip from Sheffield to Liverpool
on the prototype Met-Camm Class 151 dmu --- during which we
ceremoniously 'opened' the then new Hazel Grove chord line.
I seem to remember that Bob Goundry himself cut the tape.

I had in my possession my then brand new Motorola 'brick' mobile
phone, which had just been distributed to BT managers, along with an
'open account', chargeable to publicity. It was called a 'brick'
phone because it looked like one, felt like one & was nearly as
heavy! We were encouraged to use it whenever we were out and about
and offer its use to anybody in business who might like to try it.

The maximum endurance of this early mobile phone was 30 mins
talk time and 10 hours standby but I had spare batteries for it so
I demonstrated it to both the BR management on board and
to fellow journalists. They flattened the first battery 'phoning the
office', but in the case of two evening paper hacks, this got their
'copy' into the last editions that same night!

I returned home with dozens of enquiries and business cards
in my pocket which I passed on to our BT Sales Dept. next day,
since I was an engineer. I also arranged for the loan of some demo
mobile phones to BR's Liverpool management, from which BT Sales
did extremely well not long afterwards. BT Engineers didn't earn any
commission but the sales people did, resulting in me and 3 of my top
technical staff being treated to a slap-up meal a few weeks later!

Next time you are overwhelmed by on-train mobile phone chatter,
remember who *may* just have started it all! :-) :-) :-)

{Sorry lads, I'm returning to my bunker now...}.


Lovely story Eddie - I forgive you.. :-)

It reminds me of the time I borrowed my fathers car (about 25 years
ago) to go to meet some friends in the the pub. My father was on call
(he was a CEGB engineer) and consequently I also had his pager (about
the size of a cheque book several times thicker) it was too big to fit
in a pocket. If he was called out he'd get "control" to ring his pager
and I'd have to get home quick. Fortunately it didn't go off but a lot
of people wanted to know what it was as I couldn't hide it.

G

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
22:27:29 on Thu, 17 Nov 2005, Brimstone
remarked:
I don't care what people do on trains/busses/in public as long as
it doesn't affect other people. As soon as that happens, the
perpetrator has over-stepped the mark, and should stop.

So if someone insists on silence, and that affects someone who has
an important phone call to make...

Tough ****.

Glad we got that one sorted. Tough **** can work both ways, of course.

However, in law at least, the person who wants peace and quiet usually wins
over the person who wants to make a noise and disturbe others. The reality
"on the street" (to borrow a phrase) may well come down to who can
intimidate who.

In message , at
09:34:09 on Fri, 18 Nov 2005, Brimstone
remarked:
I don't care what people do on trains/busses/in public as long as
it doesn't affect other people. As soon as that happens, the
perpetrator has over-stepped the mark, and should stop.

So if someone insists on silence, and that affects someone who has
an important phone call to make...

Tough ****.

Glad we got that one sorted. Tough **** can work both ways, of course.

However, in law at least, the person who wants peace and quiet usually wins
over the person who wants to make a noise and disturbe others. The reality
"on the street" (to borrow a phrase) may well come down to who can
intimidate who.

It's all about reasonableness. I have no time for the people with silly
ring tones (someone on the train yesterday had one which shouted "answer
the phone!" over and over again) or with those who conduct one-sided
conversations as if they were speaking at a public meeting.

Nevertheless, it's galling for those of us who do know that we can talk
quietly and still be heard the other end, to be prevented from doing so
by "one size fits all" rules.

A final note: I refrained from making a long call on the train
yesterday. Making the call later from a (very cold metal) seat at a
London terminus I was dismayed to have to stop the discussion three
times as I was overpowered by the station announcer sufficiently that I
wasn't just unable to hear what the other person was saying, but even
tell if they were speaking at all!

So much for silence winning over peace and quiet :-)
--
Roland Perry

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 10:15:20 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

It's all about reasonableness. I have no time for the people with silly
ring tones (someone on the train yesterday had one which shouted "answer
the phone!" over and over again) or with those who conduct one-sided
conversations as if they were speaking at a public meeting.

Nevertheless, it's galling for those of us who do know that we can talk
quietly and still be heard the other end, to be prevented from doing so
by "one size fits all" rules.


My ring tone plays "Nellie the Elephant". Do you find that
acceptable? (Actually, if you don't, tough ****.)

Agreed, we don't need more "nanny" laws.

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 00:35:08 -0000, "Ivor Jones"
wrote:

Incidentally, my living is driving buses, I don't see why I should spend
my entire working day subjected to other people's noisy conversations

What makes you think you have any business doing that? What do you
think people did before buses were invented?

Works both ways, doesn't it? If people want to use your bus, why
shouldn't they? If they want to talk to people on the next seat, or on
the phone, why shouldn't they?

Of course, buses used to have the driver kept separate in a driving
cab, deafened by the roar of the engine. But the drive to cut the cost
of the conductor put paid to that. Perhaps you should campaign for
soundproof screens rather than **** off you passengers - the people
who pay your wages.

If you really find the chatter of your passengers such a problem,
perhaps you should get a new job. There aren't any lighthouse keepers
any more, but perhaps you could herd sheep on some hillside miles for
other people.


--

Iain
the out-of-date hairydog guide to mobile phones
http://www.hairydog.co.uk/cell1.html
Browse now while stocks last!

On 17 Nov 2005 02:52:52 -0800, "Andy Kent"
wrote:

I don't know but it never ceases to amaze me why all the really noisy
and annoying people seem to make a bee-line for the Quiet Carriage.

When I used Virgin trains regularly, I used to avoid the quiet
carriage, because it was usually the noisiest place on the train.

--

Iain
the out-of-date hairydog guide to mobile phones
http://www.hairydog.co.uk/cell1.html
Browse now while stocks last!

In message , at 11:58:00 on
Fri, 18 Nov 2005, Laurence Payne
remarked:
My ring tone plays "Nellie the Elephant". Do you find that
acceptable?

Mine played "Popeye the sailor man" for a while [1], so I'm in no
position to comment :-)

[1] Now it is simply a "ring ring" like a mechanical telephone bell.
--
Roland Perry

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 12:34:24 +0000, wrote:

When I used Virgin trains regularly, I used to avoid the quiet
carriage, because it was usually the noisiest place on the train.

Funny how that sort of thing happens. Or how people like to say it
does :-)

In message , at 12:32:12 on
Fri, 18 Nov 2005, remarked:
If you really find the chatter of your passengers such a problem,
perhaps you should get a new job. There aren't any lighthouse keepers
any more, but perhaps you could herd sheep on some hillside miles for
other people.

And don't get a job as a football referee (or indeed a football player)
if the noise of the crowd will put you off.
--
Roland Perry

In message , Roland
Perry writes

Snip

What, I hear you ask, would I have done before the days of mobile
phones? I've had one since 1988, so we are going back a fair way, but
the answer is that I employed a fulltime secretary to organise such
things for me when I was otherwise uncontactable, and whose job it was
to make sure that when I went out she knew the landline numbers of
everywhere I was likely to be (and the names of the secretaries of all
the people I was visiting).

In the days before mobile phones I travelled all over Wales and the West
Country organising OBs. I managed perfectly well with telephone boxes
and hotel phones. And those were the days when phone boxes were
regularly vandalised.

Mike
--
M.J.Powell