Antique or Obsolete?

Obsolete. And now I will explain. There are so many things that look old in Australia, that I constantly wonder whether they are antiques or just obsolete. After counting so many of such things, from house windows to TV sets, cars, conference room seats and café furniture, I am convinced they are obsolete. I think that unlike the US where old is replaced by new at a fast pace, in Oz this doesn’t happen. I still see the very old computer monitors being used in my institute, bathrooms with hot and cold water coming from two different faucets, heat and cool air coming from two separate units, hot water bottles being used for warming beds, etc, etc, etc. One shocking thing was this phone, which has a dialing wheel. Even if I grew up with it, I cannot believe it still exists in old elevators (called lifts here). It’s only for emergencies, but I am always tempted to pick up the heavy banana-shaped receiver, put my finger in the tight round hole and dial a number, just for the sake of re-living that strong feeling of making a phone call that left me when this type of phones were taken out of use. Twenty years ago in the US I had my first phone with buttons and I thought it was so modern, the first time I went to visit my parents in Romania, I brought them one, too! Nowadays dialing a number feels so light! It takes a light touch on a smooth screen…