Cuba libre

Here are four from our recent trip to Cuba. Many people use the phones in Havana that line the shaded outside walls of buildings. My favourite are the blue half cocnut shaped covers. They have bright yellow tourist taxis, called coca taxis, with a similar shape. I have also included a shot of a detail of the outside of the government telecom building in the streets behind the Capitole.  As with most of the capital – the building was lovely but in dire need of a clean. This is a  city melting with lazy decrepitude. It could be one of the most beautiful cities in the world if only the buildings were restored and the streets cleaned up.

Old city, Havana

Old city, Havana

Havana

Havana

Detail of telecom building

Detail of telecom building, Havana

Trinidad

Trinidad

Vinales

Vinales

Not sure about this one

Middle East somewhere

?

A friend sent me this after she returned from a tour of the Silk Road some years ago.

Crete

I went to Crete in 2002, I think.

crete-1

crete-2

Tokyo

Matthew took these on a business trip. The first is at Hibiya Park.  In the second the green box would be used just for domestic calls and the gray for international, although now they’re usable for both.

japan-tokyo-hibiya-park

japan-tokyo-2

Australia

Here are a couple of older shots from the homeland:

Byron Bay

Byron Bay

Brisbane, West End - starring James Denton

Brisbane, West End - starring James Denton

UK

London?

London?

I don’t really remember where this was taken, but I’m sure it was in England, perhaps London.

Urinals

While I photograph phone boxes I have discovered that Cory McAbee (of American Astronaut and Stingray Sam fame) takes photos of urinals.

For a look go to: http://thesmalleststar.blogspot.com/

(update 12/11/15 – can’t find his post on his blog anymore. Ah well.)

Spooky

I read this great little story in The Fortean Times last night. FT251, July 2009, p.77. Author is Darren Ryden:

“In the 80s a friend of mine decided to go hitchhiking around Europe, and on the way call in on some friends in Italy. After a row at work, he quit his job early and started travelling two weeks earlier than he had originally planned. One night, during a heavy downpour in Germany, he took shelter in a phone kiosk. The telephone rang and, having nothing better to do, he answered it, expecting to hear someone speaking German.
To his suprise, it was our mutual friend in Italy calling to check some arrangement on meeting up. It transpired our Italian friend, not knowing about his early depature, has simply dialled his home phone number and had somehow been connected to that particular public phone.
Our Italian friend phoned me straight after to check that this wasn’t a hoax and that our friend was indeed abroad, which I confirmed. To this day, none of us knows how it happened. Misdial a number and the odds of picking up a particular phone in another country must be infinitesimal.”

Zurich

switz-zurich-1

switz-zurich-2

Here are two from our recent visit to Zurich.  We were particularly surprised to see the defibrillator aside the phone. A new one for me.  A very sensible thing to do but I guess you need to trust the public not to vandilise the equipment.

Covent Garden

London

London

In my wanderings I came across this row today.

A colleague of my husband’s told him, after seeing this blog, that I was either insane or a genius.  Hmmm.  She suggested I apply for a lottery grant to pursue my art.  An interesting thought.