The Episode of the Expired Phone Card

Soon after I arrive at Heathrow Airport, I always buy a phone card and telephone my parents. If I take a direct flight to England, I'll arrive at Heathrow after midnight, Japan time. However, when I telephone, they seem to be relieved altough our conversation is very simple, such as, "I arrived in England.", "I see."After that, I telephone them just saying, "I'm fine.", when I find a public phone and it is still before midnight, Japan time.
Firstly, I used coins to telephone to Japan, but the coins which you can use are one pound, fifty, twenty, and ten pence coins. I didn't have so many coins, so sometimes I was cut off during our conversation and had to call them again. There was some phones which I could use my credit card, but the charge for a telephone call was more expensive. Therefore, I began to use phone cards.
A few years ago, the public phones in England were similar to the ones in Japan. When I inserted a phone card, I could see how much I still had and the phone was ready. Then, I push the number which I wanted to call. If I called to Japan, firstly, I pushed "00", the internatilnal telephone code, next "81", Japan pin number, and finally pushed the telephone number without the first zero. That time, the phone card was visable, it was not sucked into the phone. It was the only difference between phones in England and the ones in Japan. Therefore, I could use a public phone easily.
However, public phones in America are completely different. Several years ago, I travelled to Seattle with my cousin. I wanted to telephone my parents, but I didn't know where I could get a phone card. I couldn't find a phone card. Therefore, I didn't telephone them on the day when we arrived in Seattle although I thought they were a little anxious. The next day, we used "Twin Peaks Tour", so we asked the tour guide where we could buy a phone card. The public phone system in America was different. After we bought a phone card, the first thing we should do was to scratch the shaped part with a coin, so a number appeared. This was my pin number. Next, when I call the number which showed on the card, I could hear, "Please push your pin number.", so I pushed my pin number. After that, I heard, "You still have XX dollars. Push the telephone number which you want to call."I pushed the telephone number and could finally speak to my mother. "How complicated!"
The guide said, "You can use this phone card almost indefinitely.". I believed him, so I didn't use all of it up.
I was relieved that public phones in England were different from the ones in America. However, about three years ago, when I arrived at Heathrow airport and bought a phone card, I found out that the public phone system had changed. English people began to use the same system as in America. Are you sure?
I thought that the phone card would be valid almost indefinitely, so I hadn't used all of it up, so the next year, I could use it again.
This year, I traveled with my parents, so there wasn't a chance to use it. However, I wanted to use it once. I booked a half-day tour to the Windsor Castle for my parents. The tour would start at 13:30. The leaflet said that the time appointed for assembling should be 15 minutes before, 13:15.
However, when I booked it, I wrote the meeting time as 12:15. Probably, I was wrong, but if it was 12:15 and my parents didn't go in time, so the tour company would think my parents had canceled it, it was a problem.
Actually, my parents and I arrived at Hay Market in Piccadilly Circus. It was near the place for assembling, My Bus Centre. However, we wanted to have lunch before joining the tour, so we didn't have so much time. Moreover, there was a restaurant where we wanted to eat right under our noses. I felt it would be troublesome to go to My Bus Center. At that time, I found a public phone, so I thought I could telephone to ask them.
I entered the phone box and called the telephone number on my phone card. However, I pushed a wrong number because I was in a hurry, so I tried again. This time, they answered, "Your pin number, please." I pushed the required number. However, something was wrong. I thought I must have entered a wrong code. Again, I telephoned and pushed the pin number. I listened to what they were saying and found out that my pin number had already expired. I couldn't believe it, so I called them again, but the result was the same.
At that moment, I felt extremely tired. However, I couldn't say so. I left my parents around there and rushed to the Bus Centre. By this time, I was very very tired!
As long as I remembered, I still had much time left on the telephone card, but it had already expired. Of course, I should have checked until when it would be valid. However, in only less than 3 years, it had become invalid. I didn't think it was reasonable. Probably, many travellers have experienced the same. Don't you think the phone company is a bit unreasonable. they are laughing all the way to the bank!
This is just an aside, but it reminded me that I had a lot of Japanese telephone cards which I hadn't used yet. Once, making our own phone cards was popular in Japan and I'm keeping a Rolling Stones phone card and some unique phone cards in which some musicians, actors or actresses were printed.
Recently, people began to use their own mobile phones, so the number of public phones are decreasing in Japan. Therefore, in the near future, the same phone card system as is used in America may be used in Japan with the additional intention of preventing forged phone cards. I don't want a system in which phone cards I have purchased will expire and be useless without knowing. I should keep my eyes open.

Upper left : I bought this phone card in Seattle, America. The picture of panda is striking.
Lower left : I bought this card at Heathrow Airport, London. When I scratched the middle part, my pin number appeared.
Right : A previous phone card in England. Recently, I checked this card and found out that it showed the expiry date.

（2004.12.18）

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