[hnbear]

Yes, aged 8 went to boarding school. There was no phone for the kids. They did have phones for staff, obviously. In our case they’d call a parent if you broke something. But, communication was a weekly letter. We had letter writing every Sunday morning.

My parents seldom wrote back. My mother would send the occasional post-card, at which point the whole school would comment on how bad her english was.

I got a letter from my father and it was signed off:

“Love Dad

Actually, this is his secretary, but he told me to write love dad on it”

After a while there was a campaign to put phones in boarding schools, so a phone was installed. A single phone for 250 boys. There was always a queue and time was limited. On the plus side, I memorized a lot of phone numbers that I’d never know today.

Event with the phone new joiners to the school were banned from using it for the first 3 weeks on the basis they’d adapt quicker to just break the tie to parents than spend all their time moping on the phone.

[klondike_klive]

What a strange interjection from the secretary! Funny and poignant, with an undercurrent of exasperation?

[hnbear]

Yes, I does strike me as someone only someone very undertrained would put in. I found it funny at the time, aged 10 or so. It wasn't bad.

I'd rather have letters from him than not, even with odd secretarial additions.