Oh, so we've moved on from the 4 contact 1/4" jack? Many is the times I removed the phone to the upstairs socket so that my parents couldn't hear me making obscene suggestions to the girlfriend: she was in Wembley and I was in Chislehurst - so she was fairly safe agreeing to my suggestions.
I remember the first time that I went to the west coast of Ireland, in my pal Jimmy's parents village, you answered the phone depending on the number of rings: At that time, Ireland had two directories: Dublin and rest of Ireland.
I'll hold on the joys of sharing a party line with an alcoholic!