H was the first to notice the beacon had been lit on the Malvern Hills. About 15 minutes later, darkness had really fallen and I was able to see the beacon to the north that had signalled to ours - poor photo I'm afraid but just about visible in the top right corner after I used zoom and edited the photo.
Our beacon was glowing nicely by now
Then a flash caught my eye and I was able to see the next beacon with the aid of the powerful zoom.
And then there to the East it glowed: a red spot on the horizon signalling its message beyond my sight.
Having never been able to see a single beacon for any of the previous occasions they've been lit in my memory, this time seemed little short of magic. How must it have been in earlier times when important messages were sent this way to suddenly see the hilltop beacon leap into life. Until I saw these three, I had not really appreciated not only how far they could be seen, but what a moving sight they were.
We all take ease of communication for granted - it's changed out of all recognition in the 60 years of the Queen's reign that is the whole of my lifetime. In my childhood, few people in the innercity area of Bristol where we lived had a telephone. During my teenage years we still had to phone an operator to make a non-local call (who else remembers 'trunks?') our phone number in rural Essex was still 3 digit and London areas were still called by name not dial codes: 'Regency 245 caller?, putting you through now.' Telegrams telex and to some extent fax have all come and gone, and landlines are hardly used by the young - we had to ask permission and always offer to pay for a call if using someone else's phone and phone boxes had two buttons A and B to take your money and put you through. Going out with a friend required making sure you had change to ring home if you missed a bus or were delayed.
Now I can Skype my Australian Brother-in-law as easily as I speak to my brother in Essex (and often on a better connection.) and my smart phone and computer puts a world of information at my fingertips. But they don't have quite the same thrill as seeing a flame leap up in the dark.
5 comments:
I remember all of those things too and whilst I look back with affection I do find that living now is so much easier; no more black-leading the grate and lighting the fire and waiting for the room to warm up and the kettle to boil...
I remember well button A and B as I also mentioned in my recent post! It has been a real memory jogger this weekend hasn't it? How amazing to see the beacons and imagine how it must have been to our ancestors who would have rarely left their own villages to have contact with others so far away.
Yes, I was glued to powerful binoculars in the attic window, and to see the chain spring to life was wonderful. It was such a perfect evening for it too, and the silhouettes of all those hundreds of people on the hill tops was a really moving sight.
Do you remember Party Lines too? You couldn't use the phone if 'the other person' was using the line. Quite bizarre! Mobile phones are both the best and the worst of inventions! I wouldn't be without mine and it's great for the kids to have theirs but texting has just about done for the English language and people talk on them all the time just because they can - and it's mostly drivel!
We had a beacon quite close to us but we wouldn't have had such a clear view as yours was.
Marigold Jam: try explaining the old fashioned telephone box to anyone under the age of 20 and they think you're joking! And he frustration of using your last pennies only to find the person on the other end couldn't hear you ...
I wouldn't go back to many things either, Toffee Apple - especially freeing cold bedrooms with lino floors and ice inside the windows!
Think it was almost more exciting seen from a distance, Sue. My daughter's in Worcester but their Cathedral blocked their view.
I knew you'd probably been a spy in an earlier existence, Judith. Must be very powerful binoculars :-)
I remember 'party lines only too well, Joanna. And the whole telephone system had a language of it's own -'Hold the line please caller while I see if the other party is available!' 'Beep, beep, beep, your three minutes are up, please insert more money if you wish to continue' 'I have a caller who wishes to make a reversed charge call. Will you accept the charges?'
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