Category Archives: Geography

Synchronicity

I was considering putting an end to this blog but on return from holiday I came across a new installment in my town of Gravesend. It’s shiny and new and I’ve taken it as a sign that I should stick with the blog. The new style (not a box as such) indicates a continuation in the provision of communication and health services. This model is supplied by New World Payphones. Unfortunately the touch screen didn’t work – maybe as it’s not fully connected yet? I hope this doesn’t become another example of the enshitification of life in general.

Sardinia

I’ve just returned from a week in Sardinia. What a fabulous place to visit. Yet I only came across two phone boxes during my holiday. The first was an iconic red box in a local setting:

Then at the end of the week I came across a box in the village of Bitti and one phone cover at the airport. That’s it:

A little bit of travel

Out and about

I haven’t come across many phone boxes lately so just two locations this time.

I spent a few days in Helsinki and Tallinn and this was the only phone box I came across. Both countries are strongly digitial orientated so that may explain it. This UNESCO island is a sea fort and the phone box was last used in the 1970s (I think).

This is me, with my dog Biscuit, at the Rochester Sweeps Festival a few weeks ago.

A bit of variety

Brighton on a sunny winter’s day
Brighton on a sunny winter’s day

Blog on

I love the little solar panel on this box in Whitstable (hard to see in the photo though).

Images taken by me watching tv:

Lerwick news

I was listening to a Mark Steel’s In Town podcast and this news item was mentioned:

 Person freed from Lerwick phone box by firefighters

from Shetland News 1 July 2025

A LERWICK phone box had to be cut by firefighters after a report of a person becoming trapped on Monday night.

For the full article please go to the Shetland News – https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2025/07/01/person-freed-lerwick-phone-box/

Marrakesh Telecoms Museum

On our recent trip to Marrakesh we came across this small museum in the Medina. It’s near a nice park and worth a visit. Apopogises for the glare in the photos – there was a lot of glass about.

Not in the museum but in the Medina…

Greenhouse phone house

Visited the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, London, yesterday. They’ve done a very cool thing with the phonebox at the front of the property – turned it into a greenhouse.

Yorkshire Dales

We had a few days in the Yorkshire Dales recently and I was happy to see that the phone box is still very much a part of the landscape.

Here are a few from the Dales in general…

Settle in particular was an excellent find (and referenced in a much earlier post on this blog) – a mini art gallery and the only speaking phone I’m aware of. The voice of George Horner, a Signalman for many years on the Settle-Carlisle Railway, can be heard by dialing the phone. His oral history stories are part of the Bill Mitchell archive and cover a variety of topics such as dealing with snow and tea-making at the signal box. Apologises for the glare on some of the photos.

An update: I found the image below in the Science Museum files. It appears to be an AA telephone handset. Perhaps it was installed inside boxes such as the Aysgarth one shown above?

dial phone handset AA