devohoneybee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
devohoneybee) wrote2006-02-02 08:45 pm
devohoneybee) wrote2006-02-02 08:45 pm
telegraphica
Today, Western Union sent its last telegram. With email and faxes, naturally, it was only a matter of time. Will future generations even *get* "Candygram!"?
My best telegram memory:
I was in Israel for the summer, working on a kibbutz and touring around with family friends. I must have been 16. My father had lent me a pretty good camera, a Cannon Pellix -- one that he was quite fond of. At the pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, it was stolen off the back of my seat. I was heartbroken. I wrote him a letter apologizing for losing his beloved camera. A few weeks later (mail took 2 weeks to go each way), I got a telegram: "HAVE MANY CAMERAS ONLY TWO DAUGHTERS DAD" (You didn't waste money on punctuation in telegrams.)
I don't remember ones I sent, though I remember composing some. Telegrams were very glamorous and exciting. A kind of haiku, the most urgent meaning harrowed down to its most threadbare form.
READ MANY EMAILS ONLY FEW TELEGRAMS DEVO
STOP
My best telegram memory:
I was in Israel for the summer, working on a kibbutz and touring around with family friends. I must have been 16. My father had lent me a pretty good camera, a Cannon Pellix -- one that he was quite fond of. At the pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, it was stolen off the back of my seat. I was heartbroken. I wrote him a letter apologizing for losing his beloved camera. A few weeks later (mail took 2 weeks to go each way), I got a telegram: "HAVE MANY CAMERAS ONLY TWO DAUGHTERS DAD" (You didn't waste money on punctuation in telegrams.)
I don't remember ones I sent, though I remember composing some. Telegrams were very glamorous and exciting. A kind of haiku, the most urgent meaning harrowed down to its most threadbare form.
READ MANY EMAILS ONLY FEW TELEGRAMS DEVO
STOP
no subject
Aww. That's a great story.