Monday, August 10, 2009

I'll Be Calling You....

One of the familiar sights I miss most about my homeland, are the bright red telephone "boxes" dotted about the landscape.
When I was growing up, they were on every corner. Drive down any country lane, and right there in the middle of nowhere, you'd find a telephone box, and well-used at that.
I have idled away more hours, standing inside a telephone box, than I care to account for.
Not only were they a convenience in making the occasional telephone call ( in a time when most people didn't own a home telephone), but also serving as a quick place to shelter, from an unexpected downpour.
The red telephone box, a public telephone kiosk, was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar, and despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, red boxes can still be seen in many places and current or ex-British Colonies around the world. The color red was chosen to make them easy to spot.
Post box incorporated into a red telephone box in Warrington, Cheshire, England. The vertical panels either side of the letter-slot originally housed stamp vending machines, hence the obsolete "STAMPS" signage above.

My daughter bought me a telephone box several years ago. It is designed as a C/D holder, or display cabinet.

A little reminder of "home" I can't help but smile when it catches my eye.

Info credit: Wikipedia

10 comments:

Loree said...

I'm quite familiar with the red boxes too :)

Sunny said...

Such memories! I came across a telephone box in a small country town in Massachusetts, it was such a surprise.
Wonderful pictures.
Sunny :)

Winifred said...

Oh yes they are lovely. They matched the red pillar boxes which thankfully we still have.

Much nicer than the half baked half open BT things they give us now. We have one of BT things at the end of the street and they are hopeless. A young lad in a car drove into it deliberately and pushed it over at an angle. They still haven't replaced or repaired it. He wouldn't have tried it with a big red box. It would have caved his front end in.

Thanks for the information. Love your CD box!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Jo, I'll bet---even in England--that telephone booths are not needed much anymore. Due to the cellphones everyone has now---I can't imagine too many people using the telephone booths anymore. SO--maybe they'll find a new use for them!!!!!

I love yours (CD case).
Hugs,
Betsy

Anonymous said...

yes, I miss seeing the old phone booths! The ones you posted about remind me of those on the movie Harry Potter! Nostalgic.

Neil Tasker said...

Ha!...... Coincidence or what? I just posted about telephone boxes the other day. Check it out, I'm sure you'll like it.

Sharon Rose said...

I LOVE those phone boxes! I would love to have one in the music room that is already decorated with funky accents!!!!! I saw the picture and I couldn't wait to click and read the story! Those things are . . . well....just something about them. . . LOVE THEM!

The Retired One said...

With all the cellphones, I suspect almost all telephone booths will disappear.Sad to see them go...they have a lot of character. Now, where will Superman change his clothes?

2 Dogs said...

When we lived in the Shetland Isles I found that so funny to see a phone booth out in the middle of no where.

cheshire wife said...

Not many red phone boxes left now. Vandals seemed to have a liking for them.