For a good time, call 1194.
This graffiti was seen, around 1993, in various toilets, referencing the national talking-clock service.
1194 == “On the third tone it will be 3:45 and 30 seconds, beep beep beeep.”
555-1212 was the number where I was.
I still use it on websites that ask for my phone number for some gods unknown reason.
These still exist, except it’s not a number you call, it’s a shortwave station that you tune into.
Check out http://websdr.org/ if you don’t have your own. From there you can play with various shortwave radios from around the world. The first one on my list is my favorite cause it picks up a lot of stuff.
GeoGuessr mfs inventing the first time machine to have this job:
GeoGuessr person:“ok, now which directions are the shadows pointing? Any wildflowers or birds in the area?”
Caller: “I’m just looking for a gas station”
“Just tell me what type of material is the road. Come on!”
“I can’t help you until you tell me the typeface in the nearest street street sign!”
in the 80s you could call AAA and tell them where you’re planning to go on a road trip and they would send you a spiralbound roadmap of the route with gas stations, hotels, and construction zones highlighted
My grandma actually recommended I do this last year. I was already contacting AAA about some other thing, and jokingly brought up road trips. They went, “Yeah we can help!” I was kinda adorable.
I’m sure you were… But what does that have to do with what they said?
They only agreed to help because OP was just so darn cute.
Part of me still misses TripTiks. It was fun to go through them ahead of trips and always have that nicely printed, spiral bound book with you on the road.
At some point in the 90s they automated TripTiks with the idea that you’d print them at home yourself. It was all the same info but the magic was gone.
Wonder if a day will come when they stop making road atlases:
How widespread was this? I grew up in the 80s/90s and pre GPS we just had a map in the car. I’ve never heard of such a hotline until seeing this post.
Maybe a call centre operated by map producers, intended more for questions about routes and conditions rather than “take the third left” kind of navigation.
