Sometimes, I look back on blogposts I have written in the past and they can seem like offerings made by someone else. So it was when earlier today I revisited this particular post - published on August 14th 2020, during the time of COVID. I was rather pleased with it and the way it was written. First time round, I titled it "Boxes"...
Somehow Britain's famous red phone boxes said something about who we were as a nation. They were strong, permanent structures made from iron and boldly painted red. They had glass panes for there was confidence that law-abiding citizens would not break them. And they were a visible declaration of our belief in both new technology and communication.
Every community of any size had its own red phone box and you would also find them at remote crossroads in the countryside or in banks of half a dozen in busy city centres. They had pierced royal crowns beneath domed roofs and the word "telephone" appeared on all four sides - illuminated at night like a beacon.
The iconic K2 design was the brainchild of one of this country's leading architects - Giles Gilbert Scott back in the mid-nineteen twenties. From London, the phone boxes spread all over the kingdom like an army of red-coated guards. They were reassuring and as I say very solid on their concrete plinths. In contrast, so much that we now have in the modern world is flimsy, with limited lifespans - disposable, plastic, tissue-thin. The K2 phone kiosk was not meant to be like that. It was made to last in a time when nobody predicted personal portable communication devices.
This blogpost was inspired by the content of "Shadows and Light" this very morning so thanks to Steve Reed. Looking back through my "geograph" library, I see that I have taken more than fifty pictures of red phone boxes on my many rambles. Whenever I spot an old phone box, I am tempted to snap it in the belief that next time I walk there the box may be gone.
In practical terms, we do not need them any more. We hold them in affectionate regard partly because they have come to represent a golden time in our history. A simpler time between the wars, a time of carthorses, unlocked doors, endless summers and upright pianos when swallows cavorted over barley fields and Britannia still believed that it ruled the waves.
How sad to see them rusting now, paint peeling, wreathed in cobwebs, converted into toolsheds, showers, homes for defibrillators, community libraries, phones ripped out, "Telephone" no longer lit up, places where men urinate or prostitutes leave calling cards, places for litter and invading ivy. By these boxes memories were made - of love and friendship and family connections to faraway places. It's not the same now. The world has changed.
Phone kiosks from top to bottom: Elsham (Lincolnshire), Fenny Bentley (Derbyshire), Kersall (Nottinghamshire) South Wingfield (Derbyshire) Whaley Bridge (Derbyshire).
We have a couple of your red phone boxes on our small town square, serving as book exchanges. I featured them in a blog post back in 2013. At least they're being used for something!
ReplyDeleteThat is so good. They live on.
DeleteI always loved those phone boxes but as you said, times have changed. Strange to think I used to think nothing of driving 1000km without a phone and yet now don't want to walk without my cell phone. To be fair though, it is also my camera and it contains my drivers license, should I collapse.
ReplyDeleteI think of smartphones as babies' dummies or pacifiers. Adults cling to them as if their lives depended on them... which they probably do!
DeleteI used a telephone booth to phone my Mom at Drake, Sask.
ReplyDeleteI found Drake on a map - not too far from Esk. Did the Canadian rapper Drake come from Drake?
DeleteIconic boxes; you don't see them anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteAnd before long we won't see them here any more.
DeleteWouldn't it be lovely if someone travelled the length and breadth of England cleaning up and restoring those old boxes to look good again. Those in or near towns could become "street libraries". Or a place to donate warm things for the homeless.
ReplyDeleteThey could be small AirBnbs in which you have to sleep standing up.
DeleteIn my area, several towns have acquired phone boxes from their twin towns in the UK, and set them up in public places. Our own old phone booths were yellow, and just prior to them becoming obsolete, one last generation appeared in a new design, with grey and magenta colours and the possibility of paying by card, not just with coins.
ReplyDeleteIn England it is now very rare to find a phone box with a working telephone.
DeleteThey're iconic for Britain also to us who don't live there...
ReplyDeleteWhat colour were Swedish phone boxes in the past? Blue and yellow?
DeleteBeautifully written and illustrated.
ReplyDeleteYou are an excellent judge young man!
DeleteI do remember this post, and your repost inspired me to look back at mine:
ReplyDeletehttps://shadowsteve.blogspot.com/2020/08/phone-booths-and-dystopia.html
I still get e-mails occasionally from companies trying to sell me an antique British phone booth. (Maybe because I wrote about them?!) Apparently they can be purchased for use in gardens or outdoor landscaping or whatever. Maybe you need one for your garden!
They are not cheap Steve. I investigated that in the past but now I have rather gone off the idea.
DeleteMemory lane, I enjoyed the trip.
ReplyDeleteDown Memory Lane the world was a better place. Nothing bad ever happened there.
DeleteVery nice post and well-worth the reblog.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteI remember the days of telephone booths with their shelves so you could lay out your change needed to make the calls. There would be a long chain with a telephone directory hanging from it, although these would often be ripped or stolen...
ReplyDeleteNice photos - that bright red really stands out!
I bet you needed a lot of change for your phone calls Ellen!
DeleteMy Dad's childhood nickname for me was Aunt Blabby! ;)
DeleteI think the boxes are still used as phone boxes in Gibralter, though it's some years since I've been and that, like everything else, may have changed. It's good that some have been repurposed for use in the community, but sad to see those that have been abandoned to nature and the elements.
ReplyDeleteWhat ever happened to the red phone boxes? Each one has a tale to tell.
DeleteI often think of Dr. Who when I see one of those beautiful red phone boxes. I don't know why as I never watched the show.
ReplyDeleteHe used a police telephone box Bruce - painted dark blue and somewhat larger.
DeleteI think our last telephone kiosk disappeared a couple of years ago. They were a reassuring, comfortable sight, an indicator that life was safe and permanent and that no-one was ever alone and isolated. What has taken that position now?The pillar box may be the successor, but for how long?
ReplyDelete