Putting you through now

Wow, it's the 1st of August already; where did July go? Those of you still playing along at home will know that last month I set Phone Boxes as August's photo challenge. Ben Dakin's brilliant book There Go the Pips was the inspiration to go out and photograph this endangered species of British street furniture. And, knowing I have a few dedicated followers dotted around, hither and thither, this sceptred isle, I was hoping for a good spread; I wasn't disappointed.

A timely image to kick proceedings off: Hull Images (a great Twitter feed documenting my home town) has come in with a Pride decorated box taken in the city last weekend. What a great way to start. A big thank you to Dave Wise.

I told you I had a readership scattered far and wide - Stevie at Charity Chic got in touch: ''Hi John, my phone box entry is from the wonderfully named Strathbungo district on Glasgow's Southside.'' Cheers, Stevie.

Rol at My Top Ten next. Unable to find anything in his archive, Rol told me he was forced to go out, phone in hand (oh, the irony), to visit one of the only few remaining boxes in the area. ''This one has been turned into a mini library. Not sure what the local charity shops make of this, but it's full of second hand books and DVDs.'' Thank you, Rol. A few round here have gone down the library route, in fact I've got one further down this piece.

Another cracking Twitter contributor next. Carl Thompson appears to spend much of his time documenting the cities of Salford and Manchester and his photo archive will, I'm sure, be invaluable to future generations of historians and psychogeographers alike. This image, however, was taken some 200 miles south: ''Gasping, dying, but somehow still alive. Phone box, Limehouse, London.'' I absolutely love this shot, Carl. Thank you.

The Number One Son has got in on the act this month. This came in a little earlier. (James & I were both listening to BBC's Test Match Special at the time - following the Oval Test): ''The two shitty old phone boxes I walk past every day covered in shitty 'street art' and rained on by the same shitty rain that cost England the Ashes.'' Thanks, James. File under grim.

Swiss Adam has been out and about in his hood: ''This one, an old K6, is in a front garden not far from us. The owner has a collection of signs and bits & bobs but the phone box is the centrepiece. And rightly so.'' Nice one, Adam

My friend Riggsby in America comes bearing bad news this month: Hi John, I've not found a single working box to contribute to this month's theme. I did snap an old fashioned (empty) British box but it's just an oddity outside an English pub on India Street in San Diego.'' As I told Richard, there appears to have been a worldwide cull on these once omnipresent communication icons. It's really quite dispiriting.

Another newbie: my friend David asks, ''Does this count? I think there's a phone in it.'' Of course it counts! Thanks, David.

A fellow blogger next. Khayem, from the excellent Dubhed site, writes: ''This one is in my home village on the high street next to a pub and a bus stop. Not the most inspired of shots, but quite sad with one of the 'telephone' signs smashed and lost.''

''Same phone, different angle, the hazy sunlight making it seem like the phone box has just landed a la Doctor Who's Tardis.'' K goes on to say, and I love this bit, ''Note the phone handset cord is twisted. I always found this when using phone boxes back in the day.'' Quite. Thank you, K. Good to see a working K8, even with a twisted cord! 

Martin at New Amusements, someone who was greatly missed at York's BlogCon 23, has not only a tasty photograph, but what Steve Wright would call, I'm sure, a factoid: ''The little red caps appearing on top of some phone boxes are a BT pilot to make Wi-Fi available for their customers when they're out and about; basically turning phone boxes into hotspots.'' Thank you, Martin. Every day's a school day and all that.

The Swede got in under the radar just as I was typing this: 'Sitting outside my local sorting office is this magnificent beast, which I'd assumed contained a defibrillator, but upon closer inspection is an actual working phone box - Marvellous!'' Marvellous, indeed! Thank you, TS. Always a pleasure doing business with you. 

Living in a large city I was able to find quite a few specimens, but I was mainly drawn to the scuzzier end of the spectrum and as you can see below this particular one (only a mile away from me) is, unsurprisingly, earmarked for a telephonic lethal injection.

It really is a pitiful sight...

Another quartet of dodgy phones, not always in dodgy areas, can I just say, but again, you wonder how long they've got left... 

Before I sign off I'll leave you with a couple of more upbeat images. A mini library that sits outside one of the University campuses in town (where I chanced upon a recent John Harvey). It also comes with a solar panel.

And finally, just around the corner from my auntie and uncle's place in Hull is one of the iconic Kingston Communications white K6 telephone boxes. Thank you to everyone who took the time to join in this month - see you next time...

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Next Month's Challenge

Imposing edifices: tall buildings, masts, towers, obelisks - you name it, if it's imposing I really want to see it. Ping them over to me by the 1st - that would be fab.

john[at]johnmedd[dot]com

There Go the Pips

You know that feeling when you see a book and realise immediately you've got to have it? Of course you do. Well, I've just blagged myself a copy of Ben Dakin's There Go the Pips...A Photographic Love Letter to Britain's Phone Boxes. It was published last year and if like me you're interested in social history and/or psychogeography (of course you are) then I honestly can't recommend this fabulous slice of modern Britain highly enough.

Here's an excerpt from Ben's foreword: ''I started taking photos of phone boxes almost by accident. I filled my Instagram feed with random photos of everyday minutia - shop signs, abandoned trolleys, discarded foodstuffs etc. - the backdrop to our everyday lives. Because they were in the right place, phone boxes started to make an appearance. Another factor in their favour is the inherent incongruity of their locations, like a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, their very presence is so at odds with their location and surroundings, they take on a volume which other urban street furniture cannot match. When I passed a location that I had posted previously and noticed the phone box had been removed in such a clinical manner as to leave no scar, I was intrigued. The more I looked for phone boxes the fewer I could find. So I decided to document some of those still standing...''

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Anyway, this book has quite nicely dropped August's photo challenge into my lap. Phone boxes. Ones that are still working, preferably. Yes, I know a lot of the red ones (the K6) have been turned into mini libraries, vape shops, cash machines & libraries; some even house defibrillators. But if you see a box where you can still make a call, or at least one that's not been reappropriated, I'd love to see it. 

And if you can get them to me by the 1st I'd be eternally grateful. Pip pip.

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Postscript 31.7.23 

I recently contacted Ben on Twitter and he kindly agreed to answer a couple of quick questions. (Though, thinking about it, I should really have phoned him from one of his boxes.)

* Did you not pay a visit to Hull - home of Kingston Communications and all the legendary white K6s?

* My interest was in the KX range that replaced most of the K9s and K6s, as it was these that BT are removing wholesale. They are unloved, unlike the K6s, which have whole websites and societies devoted to them! Sadly Hull, because of it's interesting telecoms history doesn't have the same KX box issue! 

* I know exactly why you’ve put Longitude/Latitude of the box locations, but why not also the town/area?

* The spread of boxes isn't from as wide a geographical area as I would have liked it to have been. I took photos of boxes where I saw them - I didn't travel the country to get them, so if I'd have put town/area it may have got a little repetitive and exposed areas I didn't go! Sadly I work for a living and so do not have the luxury of travel just to take photos!

* Wots yer next book?! 

* Well, I have just funded a book of closed down pubs (and a few shops) on Kickstarter, and that is on sale on my Etsy page. I have also completed the photos for another volume of phone boxes called, 'Can you call me back...' - and am just waiting on being able to afford to get it printed!

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PPS 1.8.23

You can now see the phone boxes that came back from August's Photo Challenge throw out.