Don’t leave home without it
No, not your American Express card…
A memorable advertising slogan for American Express credit cards in the 1980s was: Don’t leave home without it. Whatever happened to you, the ad suggested, an Amex card could get you through the day.
Today, it’s your smartphone that you wouldn’t want to leave home without. It is your gateway to work, news, friends, family, shopping, transport and much, much more. And, with apologies to American Express, you probably don’t even need their card since you can also pay with your phone.
Yes, today we travel light. How different it all was before the internet, when our pockets and handbags were loaded down with all of this:
Cash You needed a thick wad of fives, tens and twenties in your wallet to buy stuff in pharmacies, coffee shops and various stores. Cheques were only accepted for sizeable payments, like at a restaurant or a supermarket checkout; but many businesses avoided them because of fraud. An ATM on every street corner was rare; and credit cards hadn’t yet gone mainstream. So a nicely padded wallet ensured you didn’t run out of money.
Coins Yes, they rattled around in your pockets and handbag, but without them you couldn’t do such basic things as buy a bus ticket, use a payphone or pay for the parking meter. One of the most common interactions with strangers was, “Excuse me, do you have change for a …?”. Wallets had special pockets for coins; even cars had coin-slots near the gearstick or on the dashboard.
Pen and notepad With no cell phone to hold important information, you had to write everything down – from telephone numbers and important dates to movie screenings and prices displayed in shop windows. If you saw an interesting ad in the bus or metro, you quickly noted down the details in your notepad; today, you’d simply take a photo with your phone.
A street map A pocket-size street map – or better still, a booklet of the entire city, like the London A-Z, for example – was essential if you wanted to find an important address or navigate an unfamiliar neighbourhood. Before Google Maps and GPS navigation, it was the only way to find your way around.
Bus and train timetables Unless you had a car, these were essential if you were running late, had a change of plan or needed to get home on time. If you were lucky, you could phone ahead so that people knew when to expect you – assuming, of course, that you could find a payphone, and had the right coins in your wallet to pay for the call.
A newspaper and a book The only way to pass the time on the bus, train or plane – or in the doctor’s waiting room – was to read. A newspaper kept you occupied for only so long, however; if you really had time to kill, you always brought a novel as well.
And these were just the basics. If you were really organized, you might bring along a booklet of stamps (in case you needed to post a letter) and perhaps even a pocket-sized penknife (my Swiss Army knife included a nail-file, mini-scissors and even a corkscrew). It’s little wonder that so many people walked around with briefcases (men) and fairly voluminous handbags (women).
Michael Gentle is the author of Life Before the Internet, a fascinating look back at a slower, simpler time, when Amazon was just a river. For similar articles, click here.
Image from Freepik