I have found myself in charge of a fish pond at the new house and in going into fish, pond and plant shops I came across miniature versions of the classic red phone box:
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Phone boxes in the press
Evening Standard: 6 December 2016
UK’s highest phone box faces axe by BT
And another story about closures… My thought – if it costs £310 a year to maintain the box then can the three groups quoted in this article all throw in £100 a year to sponsor the phone-box? BT can pay any remainder costs and everyone should be happy. Anyway, the story:
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Banksy likes a phone box
Banksy likes a phone box – and so, it seems, does someone else…
Source: ‘i’ newspaper, 23/8/2016
Gift shop draw
British Museum July 2016
Street action
A bit of street art and entertainment, as seen from above, utilising the phone box (July 2016, Canary Wharf, London).
Uplifting story about a phone box
Woman left in phone box as a baby is reunited with the man who found her
Kiran outside the phone box in Forest Gate, where she was found. Credit: SWNS
A woman abandoned in a phone box as a baby has been reunited with the man who found her. Kiran Sheikh was just two hours old when her mother dumped her in the middle of the night on April 30, 1994.
Her rescuer Joe Campbell said at first he thought the baby – who he named April – was an empty chip wrapper as he approached the phone box. He told Good Morning Britain:
“When I saw it was a little baby I called 999 and the police came and the ambulance came and that’s when I found out she was just about two hours old.”
Joe said he felt an “instant connection” with the baby and even asked if he could adopt her, but was told it wasn’t possible as he wasn’t married at the time.
“I asked if I could keep in contact, I was told no, that’s not possible. I asked if I could find out how she was doing, and I was told no, that’s not possible.”
In the end Joe had to cut all contact with Kiran but said he never gave up hope of finding her one day. Kiran went searching for him after discovering who he was in her adoption file.
“He had done so much for me. It said in my file he gave me presents, he sent me cards and I never received anything, but he did. I needed to thank him somehow,” she said. And it wasn’t long before they were reunited.
Joe said: “It was one of the happiest days of my life because I never stopped looking for her. I was always hopeful that someday, somehow I would find her before I finally part this world.”
After the emotional reunion, the pair said it was like finding a family member.
“She is my family. I told her you’ve got siblings. Ok, we’re not blood related but it’s like we are,” Joe said.
For the full story with images – go to the ITV News website.
Overgrown phone box in St Michaels
Closing the door of overgrown phone box in St Michaels is like a bushtucker trial from I’m A Celebrity
Covered in thick foliage and buried deep into the hedgerow, this phone box in St Michaels felt like “something from I’m A Celebrity”.
Councillor Sue Ferguson, who posted the picture on social media, said closing the door of the dark, dingy kiosk felt like a challenge from the ITV show.
Councillor Sue Ferguson, who posted the picture on social media, said closing the door of the dark, dingy kiosk felt like a challenge from the ITV show.
She said:
“If you were slightly scared of insects you really wouldn’t want to be in there. It was quite horrible to go inside. It felt like one of those awful things from I’m A Celebrity – it would be one their terrible tasks to actually shut the door!”
In the popular reality show, contestants perform tricky or terrifying tasks – bushtucker trials – to win food and treats for their camp and most of the challenges involve creepy crawlies.
The kiosk next to the Fat Ox pub still works but as most people have a mobile phone now, it is rarely used.
Their production of telephone boxes ended altogether in 1985 with the advent of the KX series phones and many kiosk around the country have been broken and abandoned.
Mrs Ferguson added:
“I tweeted pictures of it to BT showing what a state it was in and they actually replied to say they would get this sorted, so well done BT for wanting to do something about it.”
Box marks the spot
BT installed its 100,000th payphone at Dunsop Bridge, Lancashire in 1992 and included a plaque to explain its significance. It reads:
“You are calling from the BT payphone that marks the centre of Great Britain.”
In fact, the phone is 4.2 miles (6.8 km) from the true centre. Postmaster and shop owner Phil Woodhead said the town did not capitalise on its status.
“There is only that payphone really… we haven’t put up big signs or anything like that. If this was a bigger town with more shops, then maybe we would do something. But because we are so small, there is really no-one to push it.”
Phone closures
This appeared in the ‘i’ newspaper yesterday (11 October 2016). Sign of the times:
Which leads nicely onto this:
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Posted in Comment, News
Tagged curiosity, rural, Wales