[Ansteorra] Walkie-Talkiers and Cell Phones

Christine/Maria casadevaca at charter.net
Tue Sep 19 09:10:37 PDT 2006


I really feel the need to put my $.02 in here.....

I carry both a cell phone and a walkie talkie at events.

Walkie talkies:
Especially so at the Canton First Trade Day site. Canton is a huge area 
that many times are crawling with mundanes that look less than 
reputable. I have caught mundanes in my personal tent before who tried 
to claim that it was their tent as they rummaged through my belongings.  
I don't trust them around my items let alone around my children. But, my 
oldest 2 children are now teen/pre-teen (too old to stay by mom all the 
time) and I definitely don't trust them around my children. This is one 
reason why at events my children each carry a radio and I carry one too. 
We don't use them much and we keep them as hidden as possible. Mine and 
my husbands radios has access to the NOAA weather broadcasts. Canton is 
notorious for extreme high winds, flash floods and lightning 
storms...and they roll into the area at an alarming speed.  With radios, 
we can monitor bad weather and if bad weather has moved in, we can tell 
the children and others to get to the hall ASAP.  These radios give me 
peace of mind.

Cell Phones:
I do not turn off my ringer and refuse to turn it off or turn the sound 
down. I know this is an unpopular decision, but one I feel is necessary. 
My grandmother is 86 years old and still lives on her own. My phone 
number and my mom's numbers are on speed dial for her, she knows if she 
gets into trouble or needs the help I am but just a phone call away.  I 
am also listed on her lists of emergency contacts with her doctors and 
in her wallet. Also, my sister-n-law's mother is dieing of cancer. She 
has asked me to be on call for when her mother does pass away.  Plus my 
parents are getting older and still feel they can still work like young 
adults and therefore, push themselves too hard sometimes.  I have to 
keep my phone turned on and the ringer turned on.  I never feel the 
vibrate feature on my phone because of all the skirts I wear and putting 
it on the soft ring feature, I just can not hear it.

There are things that I do to help prevent these 2 items from becoming a 
distraction at event:

1) Pouches -- These are easy to make. I made mine on the sewing machine 
in under 10 minutes using scrap material and scrap trim for the 
drawstring.  If I am wearing my earlier garb, I hang them from my belt. 
If I am wearing my kirtle and ropa (which has no belt worn with it), I 
have a larger one that I hang from my wrist.

2) Tell my friends and family that I am at an event -- I've always done 
this for safety purposes, but I do it also to let them know, please 
don't call me unless it is an emergency. This cuts my phone calls down 
considerably.

3) If a call does come through or I need to speak with my children -- I 
leave the area I am in immediately and take care of my business on my 
mundane tools away from the general crowd.  Now at court I will put my 
phone on vibrate, but I keep it in my hands during the entire court.

I think we can all have these items, if we can all use them with 
courtesy and respect for those trying to enjoy the medieval environment 
we all try so hard to recreate.

Maria



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