ncribble Loc: Albuquerque, NM

AMEN AND AMEN!

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

There is a cemetery a few miles away that has a "bell tower". Not only is the tower ugly but the "bell" is a mechanical chime that makes a horrible sound. Luckily, I only have to hear it once a day when it strikes at noon. I would love to hear a nice sounding bell.

Dodie

redlegfrog

Maybe apples and oranges but the town down the road still blows a siren everyday at noon.
First time I heard it I didn't know what was going on.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

A lot of places do that. Testing so people know it still works, at noon so they know it isn't a real emergency.

Many smaller places still use a siren etc. to alert volunteer fireman and others to check in or run for the station. And they continue it even in these days of cell phones because everyone hears it at once faster than auto dialing.

Steven Loc: So. Milwaukee, WI.

Me also!

redlegfrog

Thanks, makes sense! Not just time to grab a sandwich!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

My little home town had I think it was three full time firemen and a mechanic/janitor/driver. Usually one fireman and the mechanic on duty during the day M-F and they serviced the truck etc. to keep busy. There was one fireman sleeping at the station over night and on Weekends. The secretary/switchboard operator for the Mayor and City Council took the phone calls for the Fire Department. Nights and weekends the duty fireman manned the switchboard. The Fire Station and City Hall were on the same large lot in the middle of town and the Police Chief had a desk in City Hall. The town PD was a Chief and one full time patrolman and two reserves-both former MPs in the military
If a call came in the nature of the emergency and location was passed to the duty fireman, and the siren was sounded. The truck drove slowly down main street past the places where the volunteers worked until the truck had a full crew then took off for the fire. At night or on weekends the truck drove past pre-arraigned pickup points. Their helmets etc were in storage compartments on the truck. The others either used their own cars or rode the old Army tanker truck full of water and with extra hose etc. Sometimes driven by one of them, sometimes by the mechanic as they chased after the firetruck. One of the volunteer firemen would take over manning the station.
Our version of EMTs, a county ambulance and a volunteer network of RNs, town Doctors, Pharmacists and former military medics.
The population of the whole county was less than 10,000 and the nearest hospital was either 7 miles away across the Ohio in Illinois or 25 miles away in the city of Paducah Kentucky. Anyone needing a larger better equipped hospital there were people who owned private planes at the Paducah Airport who were on call to fly them to a large city.
Small town, rural life is different from what people in large Metro Areas have and expect.

Don's Leica Loc: Asheville, NC

I am old and learned how to use clocks before we had the internet. I own several old clocks and watches that need to be reset twice a year to use daylight savings time. It is a useless bother. Schools and whoever needs the seasonal change can publish their schedule when needed.

Wyantry Loc: SW Colorado

So the concept was to allow for more ‘daylight time’ in the evening, correct? Then the Brits came up with “double daylight” so even more time could be spent ‘during daylight hours’ (or on wartime production).

Why in the heck can’t people just go to work at 0700 instead of 0800? Switch at the same time throughout a region rather than going through the nonsense of resetting clocks twice a year.

redlegfrog

I like you description of your town. I was born in a small town that grew to be a big city mess. When I retired I took off to this very small town and I love it. Most of the people here know they have something special and they really appreciate it.
Small town people just figure things out. They might not have any money but they can round up some manpower when needed. No, the town's not perfect but compared to big city life----- Big city folks have no idea what they are missing.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Glad you liked it.
Small towns are great. The Postmaster knew everyone in town by name who was more than a few months old. Little kids wondered around and everyone watched after them. Your play group of friends roamed all over and at just about any time someone's Mom would pass out cookies, milk or iced tea/lemonade etc.
There was a group of guys who were avid fisherman and hunters made up of a few businessmen, farmers and the ministers of several churches in my town and the nearest one down the road. The Catholic Priest in the next town was also a member. They would go on hunting and fishing trips then the churches took turns holding cook outs, BBQs, fish fries etc as fund raisers and the members of all the congregations would show up at each other's event. The Priest was actually from Ireland and he taught all the Southern Ladies to make his Mother's version of Mulligan Stew when it was his turn to host the get togethers. They came up with a hybrid of Mulligan Stew and Kentucky Burgoo Stew (multi-meat game and domestic).