I was out and about yesterday – a whole bunch of quick errands. Enough errands that I wrote them down and numbered them. Then, of course, I went in a different order, based on how fast I could get from one to the next. Typical.
This strategy led me on some back streets that while not foreign to me are not my usual routes around town. As I was coming up to a stop sign, the bicyclist ahead of me stuck out his left arm, but instead of straight to the side or straight down, sort of mid-way between. He did slow down a bit but then turned left onto another street. For a minute I thought maybe it was a “I’m slowing down before I turn left” arm signal but then just dismissed it as a lazy turn signal. But it stayed with me so you know I eventually looked it up on the computer and while there are several more than I was ever taught, there isn’t one for slowing on a left turn.
It also occurred to me that these days I don’t actually see many bicyclists using arm signals when they are in traffic. Are these not a thing any longer? Then I started a mental list of some of the things that have disappeared from the world during my lifetime: pay phones, rotary dial phones, maybe typewriters, encyclopedias, busy signals. There are probably a lot more that I’m either not remembering or still around but getting rarer as the days go by (typewriters should probably be in this category).
Things changing/evolving doesn’t bother me too much but I do think bicyclists would be safer if they kept up the arm signals when they are on streets with cars/trucks?
Are you still holding onto anything that is starting to disappear?
Trail Baboon 
Padawan and I were on the highway in the gator the other day and as we slowed down to turn into our driveway, I asked if he knew the hand signal for making a turn. Nope, never heard of them.
Huh.
Well, I still have an AOL email.
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bicyclist use a hand signal. Not in the last 50 years, anyway. Most of them don’t even stop at stop signs.
We still have a land line. I suspect that marks us as geezers to phone scammers. We still have a lot of CDs and DVDs. Those seem to be on the outs although vinyl is on the rise again.
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Busy signals hadn’t occurred to me until you mentioned it.
Answering machines, unless you count doing that on your cell line.
Weird to think there were still party lines in small towns in iowa when I was a child. We didn’t have one, but I knew what it was.
Got a message about the Pope quoting Gandalf from the s&h the other day, and I had to remind him that this is the first pope in centuries who grew up speaking English. Nevermind that Gandalf has been in existence for less than 100 years.
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We are starting to get close to the hundred year mark for Gandolf however. Didn’t The Hobbit come out sometime in the 1930s?
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The Hobbit was published in 1937–99years old !
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That’s gotta be using new math!
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Too early in the morning math. Now I have been to water aerobics and I am awake. 89 years.
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Rise and Hold On To It, Baboons,
I held on to paper newspapers for a long time because I like to do the crossword on paper. It is not satisfying to me online. Then finally, Finally, FINALLY, I discover how to print out the crossword on paper. And then an on-line newspaper was fine. It is not an issue in the summertime, since I rarely have time to do them in the summer with all the yard work.
Other things: The presidency of Barack Obama. While I did disagree with him on some policy points, I never once doubted his competence, health, or sanity. Nor did the White House stand in shambles behind an arena structure.
Grandma’s cooking. I still make some of her recipes. She was something else.
While I was working, doing therapy in-person. I did a lot of telehealth, but I missed sitting in the office with someone.
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Hope for humanity’s survival??
I ride my bike regularly (every week or two) and use hand signals when needed. However, I abandoned the left-arm-up-at 90-degrees move for a right turn years ago. If I’m turning right, I stick out my right arm. If I’m turning left, I stick out my left arm. I don’t use the signal for “stop’ any more because it seems silly unless I’m in the car traffic, which I rarely am. And most reasons to stop, such as a stop sign or light, are obvious, so, duh!.
Chris in Owatonna
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My brother-in-law technically still has a darkroom, though it’s been a very long time since it was in use, and now doubles as a storage area.
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I didn’t think of photo processing. Does that even still happen?
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I am reminded of this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome_(film)
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Darkrooms are probably mostly known to art students at this point.
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Bluegrass, old-time, and folk music! (And hope that our country can survive this era.)
We had a party line when I was growing up. I’m not holding on to that! Cell phones are pretty great!
I try to be courteous and polite to people, even if they’re being rude. It seems that manners and kindness are vanishing behaviors.
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I’m trying to hang on to letter writing, the kind that gets mailed at the Post Office (see yesterday)… If I’m too busy, an email note is better than nothing, but sometimes I’ll even type a letter (prevents writer’s cramp), print it out, and mail it.
Other things have already been mentioned like the land line, CDs…
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I’m holding on, for the moment, to a jar of pennies.
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Nonny had a jar of change. Neither of my sisters wanted to mess with counting it out to split it so YA and I ended up with it. Only about $10 but about 1/3 is pennies. I haven’t gotten around to doing anything with them yet.
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I remember in front of my grade school, coming for a summertime “class” in bike safety – learning these signals, and getting some sort of certificate. I always think it’s useful to let people know where you’re going, i.e., if you’re biking on a two-way path around the lake, and you ‘re going to pass pedestrians, you say out loud “On your left” so they know to expect a bike whizzing past them.
Etc.
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I tease Padawan if he can read or write in cursive. He scoffs at me that yes he can. His handwriting is terrible, but he can do it. Must be because he went to a Catholic school that he can do cursive. Maybe?
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