Posted by LukeDolman on March 27, 2009 at 19:35:15 user LukeDolman.
In Reply to: signalling, was: Re: burghers of Carlisle posted by Ed Kiser on March 27, 2009 at 17:27:08:
Lovely post Ed. Does anyone remember that experiment they did a few years ago when the lit the beacons across the UK? I agree entirely that there is something really satisfying about the process of signalling and, in particular, being understood, that is all too easily lost today when most people can signal to each other by simply taking a cell/mobile phone out of their pocket.
I have a couple of favourite boyhood memories that involve signalling. The first is of signalling with a flashlight, in morse code, to my friend whose house was about quarter of a mile away. We had quite a few nocturnal conversations, using it to organise our plans for the next day on weekends and holidays, and it was amazing how quickly we started to memorise the codes.
My other favourite memory is of staying in a house which some here might recognise, Strawberry Gardens (a National Trust cottage) about a mile north of the ferry ramp on the western shore of Windermere. There was no electricity in the house (back then), just gas lighting, and the nearest phone was at the ferry. We had a friend living in Rio who we sailed with, so we devised a system of light signals to arrange our sailing trips and get info on the weather. While it was still light I'd set up some binoculars in the upstairs window trained on their upstairs window and when the time came to signal it was easy to see their flashlight blinking on and off. The first time we did it we had assumed we needed something a little more powerful so we used car headlights!! The system worked really well. That was only 25 years ago!!
Cheers
Luke