"Instal A Telephone" 1937 Melbourne Australia Cancel

Perhaps this is more common than I thought, but found this cancellation rather humorous:



By the way, is the word "Instal" v. "Install" a country-specific variant?

nice

Gee I must be getting old,
I was 8yo before I lived in a house that boasted
a telephone or a refrigerator.

It is always humorous to hear statements like that. When my dad was a kid in the 30's he lived in Upstate NY for 3 years. They had No Phone, 1 electric outlet in 3 out of 7 room's, Gas lighting and an Outhouse(Outdoor privy for the Brits.). He still talks about it to this day!

Oh I forgot an Ice Box and no refrigerator.

Does he still talk about walking five miles to school, up-hill, both ways?

I can't remember how many times I heard that one from Dad.

No, He had a 2 mile walk. But, he told the truth. My Brother looked it up on a map a bunch of years ago.

Calgary is, of course, a thoroughly modern society, but we're not that far from the edge of civilization. My father was from the hamlet of Leslieville, a tiny village of a bit more than 200 people now. Electricity didn't come until 1938, the outhouse stayed until 1979. My grandfather owned the local car repair shop, Leslieville Motors. He also owned Eckville Motors in a neighbouring town. I remember seeing business stationary from these two shops, appearing to be from the late 1940s or early 1950s - the garage in Leslieville had a phone number of 52, in Eckville the phone number was 88.

The history of Leslieville can be read in this charming little pamphlet written by local school students.

http://folklore.library.ualberta.ca...91&Current=1

And then there's Gilby - population 6, the town was lost when the road was paved. My Grandma's farm was within walking distance (2 miles or so) of Gilby's general store. I keep hoping that someday I'll find a stamp with a Gilby postmark on it. I won't hold my breath - the town consisted of one general store and a couple of houses with a community hall on the other side of the road. A new hall is there, but the store and houses are gone.

From my uncle's website, a picture of the thrilling metropolis of Gilby, AB. Judging from the phone booth and the gas station sign, I'd guess the picture was from the '60s or '70s, but the post office was already closed by 1930.

http://www3.telus.net/armottus/store.htm

Ryan

That's a lovely book from the Leslieville kids Ryan.

Actually, 'install' is the country-specific variant

I've just looked it up in two "Australian" dictionaries (including Macquarie which often lists Australian variations) and "instal" appears to be a spelling mistake.

We also had no telephone as a child (mid 1970s), no town water (we used tanks), and had an Aussie backyard "dunny". We did however have electricity in our town and (at the time) had had for many years. Many others in our town did have a telephone.

The double 'l' 'install' is a modern variation. In my dim, distant youth I was taught to spell it with a single 'l'.

Our teachers have a lot to answer for...
It <really> irks me when I see bad spelling,
or even US spelling, but I am aware that is just
my conditioning from school.

With pen and nib, we had to write endless repetative
lines of script which had to be a certain height,
(we had to rule pencil lines to encourage that)

Correct speech and handwriting was drummed in.

Todays kids are encoouraged to spell badly for cost and brevity
when texting " r you coming tonite?" etc.

Sorry Rod, but it is "r "u" coming 2nite"

You would get on very well with my son.

"encoouraged", Rod?

Typos are always a problem though. LOL
Or did you just do this for effect?

Steve