We've wanted more people here for a long time. Saskatchewan has been waiting forever for its population to grow. Now it is. And we're about to experience one of the small inconveniences to that growth.
We're getting another area code for our telephones (gasp!).
When it was announced a while ago that Saskatchewan was soon going to run out of 306 area code numbers, some people got pretty up in arms. How were they going to decide who got to keep 306 and who had to change to some weird new code? How would we remember those new phone numbers? And how long was it going to take to dial a number once we were forced to input all 10 digits, even for local calls - I mean, that's another second or two of our lives spent dialing the phone!
Now, SaskTel has announced that this new area code is definitely on its way. And don't worry - if you've had the same phone number for the past 87 years, it's not going to change now, unless you suddenly decide to cancel it and get a new one. That will relieve the minds of many who have issues adjusting to change.
However, we will have to dial 10 digits, even when making local calls.
That might take some getting used to.
It's not often that I feel old, though I have to admit I am getting up there. But I remember in the early 1980s calling home from the rink and only having to wind up the old rotary phone five times. The first three numbers for Wynyard are 554, and I only had to dial the 4 and then my parents' number to reach home.
To call my grandma in Beatty, I just had to dial 1 and then her seven-digit number. No 306 first. It was crazy, and it was awesome, especially since I spent a lot of my youth calling wrong numbers due to some less than dextrous fingers.
Now to call down the street is going to take all of my nimbleness. And considering the number of phone calls I usually make in the course of a day, it might take me a while to get the person I'm looking for on the line.
It is the price of growth, however, and really not a steep one to pay, in the whole scheme of things.
Growth, after all, means we get things like new stores in our community, new conveniences, and new people to meet.
And now it means we get a new area code.
We should really be celebrating this milestone. And I think we would be, if we hadn't had the convenience of one area code for so long. We've been spoiled. Now it's time to pay the piper.
I hope it won't take too long to get used to. I hope, before long, we will adjust, just like we have before, even if we didn't like it.
