The classic red, British phone box is an increasingly rare sight, in town or country. In town, any public phones now tend to be in open booths – ‘self-cleaning’ when the wind blows. I didn’t check whether this phone in Rievaulx is in working order. It seems to still be connected.
In villages where the local box has been retired from service, some have been converted to miniature libraries, or book exchanges. BT is currently backing the Community Heartbeat Trust‘s initiative to install defibrillators in village phone boxes.
Phone boxes may be rare now but they’re not redundant. During the floods in Lancaster before Christmas, the town’s power supplies were cut off for two days and both broadband and mobile phone connections were out of action. Students from Lancaster university queued at one remaining local phone box, for many their first experience of using this convenient relic from the (recent) past.
A post for Thursday Doors.
December 31, 2015 at 5:49 pm
A good choice indeed – public phones in general are becoming a rare sight here these days as well.
Happy New Year and all the best for 2016!
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December 31, 2015 at 7:37 pm
Beyond the phonebox! Happy New Year.
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December 31, 2015 at 8:01 pm
Love it and I think Dr. Who just left. 🙂 We had, for a very long time, a rotary phone and our daughters’ friends didn’t always know what it was. Made me feel ancient, as I remember party lines!!
janet
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December 31, 2015 at 9:18 pm
As an American I adore the British phone box. They are the highlight of some of my favorite photos from visiting London and the Cotswolds – my favorite shot is a bright red box outside of an ancient Cotswolds church 🙂
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December 31, 2015 at 9:29 pm
A bit of colorful history. I like it a lot. 🙂
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January 1, 2016 at 3:39 pm
Some things need to remain.
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