by Azfar Shakil, Toronto: The red color public telephone booth locally called “Phone Box” in England has been seen as British cultural icon.
The original red “Phone Box” was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1924. It has served as a great public utility since then. With the advancement of digital communication means and subsequent increase of cell phones usage, the need for public phone box has decreased significantly, and so is the usage of it over the past years. Though a few might be still in use but many stand to this day without being operational.
Redundant Phone Boxes have been adopted and turned into a range of facilities from defibrillator units, libraries, local museums, mini art galleries etc, etc.
While travelling in a sub urban area in Birmingham-UK, I came across such a phone box on the road side. Found it to be a swap library with some famous books inside, free to take away or swap. Among others, located following two bestsellers on the shelves were,
1. ‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama
2. ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini
Instead of finding their fate at the hands of scrap dealers, these phone boxes are serving a noble purpose now.
The post also appears on his Facebook page.
