Nearing Extinction

Payphone

Rarer and more difficult to find, the once-ubiquitous payphone is headed for extinction. Obviously, the proliferation of the cell phone is the leading cause of this relic’s demise. It will be a sad day when the last payphone accepts its final coin, and that nostalgic sound of the coins dropping through the slot and into the pile of coins is never to be heard again. Goodbye to these rough and tough phones, so many have used to connect with a loved one or seek assistance when stranded out on America’s roads.

Flow Control

Electricity meters and lines entering a commercial building in Phoenix, Arizona

Up against the wall, almost out of view, seldom considered and often taken for granted – the electricity meters. As a kid, I could watch the little sliver of a wheel turn inside the box and when someone turned on a high voltage power-sucking something-or-other another, the wheel would race around and around, making me wonder if it could ever spin too fast. Today I am denied that childhood pleasure as meters are going digital. With an intrusive prong, the invisible meter reader whom I swear I have never seen even once in 43 years, is able to jab the meter to download the undecipherable codes blinking on the LED display. I want the silver disk back where it belongs.