Payphones still useful, especially in a pandemic

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/12/2020 (1769 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg was a trailblazer in emergency response services. In 1958 the city instituted the first emergency 999 telephone system in North America. The call system received its own purpose-built centre in 1965 in the then-newly built police headquarters at the Public Safety Building, recently demolished. 

The PSB was even designed with the modernity of a press room that held wiring for state of the art lighting and recording equipment for use at press conferences and meetings with crime beat reporters. 

You might recall emergency numbers changing from the easily remembered, serious-sounding 999 to the shorter dial time of 911. I recall this happening sometime in the 1970s.

I would like to check the veracity of my memory but unfortunately, I have discovered a disruption of the internet, as well as phone service.

As ironic as the timing of this interruption is, it has also proven quite a challenge to investigate. I can’t telephone or email the provider to discuss the issue, and it would be quite un-neighbourly to bang on someone’s door to ask to use the phone, since inter-personal contact must be kept to one household.

Internet connection through the libraries? They are closed. 

Hey, I could use a payphone.

Luckily there’s one nearby at Jamison Food Mart at the corner of Jamison Avenue and Watt Street. Does it still cost 50 cents? I can recall a time when using a payphone cost a dime.

I pack the hand sanitizer to clean the receiver and keypad but I hope COVID-19 is like the rest of us — prone to freezing in a late Manitoba fall. Dressing warmly is a good idea.

To be disconnected during the pandemic is more than thought-provoking, given its usefulness in staying safe.

For me, isolation is made tolerable by a good selection of audio presentations from the web. But there are those who have weathered this storm without phone or internet from the very beginning, as well as those who have few to reach out to, even with the technology to do so. 

Aside from these important concerns, I can attest that an accessible, outdoor neighbourhood pay telephone is still necessary and good for the community.

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I recall that there were once many payphones throughout the neighbourhood. But only three outdoor BellMTS phone booths remain to span North Kildonan to Elmwood. 

In case you need one, an outdoor payphone can be found at Jamison Food Mart, Mercury Food Mart at the corner of Brazier Street at Trent Avenue, and Zip Thru Food Store at the strip mall at Stadacona Street and Midwinter Avenue. All are locally owned family corner stores.

In the meantime, there is the trusty radio for some nice Christmas music.

Please try to find joy in the small things this season. The end of the pandemic is on the horizon.

Shirley Kowalchuk is a Winnipeg writer who loves her childhood home of East Kildonan where she still resides. She can be reached at sakowalchuk1@gmail.com

Shirley Kowalchuk
East Kildonan community correspondent

Shirley Kowalchuk is a Winnipeg writer who loves her childhood home of East Kildonan, where she still resides. She can be reached at sakowalchuk1@gmail.com

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