Dad recently took an updated shot of the West Richmond Street phone box that I originally photographed nearly six years ago, after the Great Winter Run in January 2016. Originally logged here.
The door of the phone box was missing in 2016, so I’m glad that they have since replaced it! Otherwise it looks much the same, with its phone still intact.
One more (new) 2021 phone box to log next week.
When Geth and I were in Whitley Bay after the North Tyneside 10k in October, I finally had the chance to take some better photos of the K4 phone box there!
I originally logged this phone box here (and promised to investigate its insides – I didn’t quite have time to do that but there will be many more trips to Whitley Bay I hope).
Here’s another south-west Scotland find from Mum and Dad.
(Coordinates 54°98’52.7″N, 3°16’95.1″W.)
This phone box stands outside a recently opened museum, and makes a very nice feature outside it. There’s no phone inside, but there is one of those sad little notices saying they’re thinking about removing it. I hope it stays where it is as it does go very nicely with the museum sign!
Here’s another phone box found by Mum and Dad along the back roads of Dumfries and Galloway…
(Coordinates 54°98’40.8″N, 3°19’93.7″W.)
Interestingly, when the most recent Street View image was taken in June this year, the phone box was white apart from its door! Maybe they were in the process of repainting it and had put a white undercoat on…
The fact that there’s an unidentified drum of something or other inside the box and a ‘keep out’ chain on the door is fairly intriguing.
Another from Scotland next week!
I originally logged this phone box back in May 2019. It was red then.
But Mum and Dad drove past it recently and it had turned green!
It looks the same otherwise – it’s still in use as a defibrillator box, happily – but that’s a very interesting green repaint. I don’t think I’ve seen a phone box repainted that shade before!
Otherwise known as ‘the one that got away’.
When I followed the London Marathon route on Google Street View after doing the marathon for the first time in 2019 (and photographing all the phone boxes along the way!), I was surprised to find that I’d missed one. I promised myself that I’d go back and rectify this – as it was the closest phone box to the meridian I’d found yet (although doubtless there are closer ones elsewhere in London) – but for various reasons I did not have the opportunity until I was running past it while doing the London Marathon for a second time. It was at this moment that I realised why I had missed it the first time I’d done the marathon.
(Coordinates 51°48’11.9″N, 0°00’79.8″W.)
They put a muckle great marathon sponsorship banner in front of it, that’s why!
My photographing of this phone box during marathon take two was a bit farcical. In my drained state (mental energy in these situations, as you might imagine, is reserved for spending hours telling yourself you’re capable of running 26.2 miles), I thought maybe the banner material would be transparent enough to take a photo if I got right up close to it… and of course it wasn’t, and then suddenly I had a very concerned/sceptical race volunteer materialise in my face wondering what the hell I was doing. The eventual photo you see above was taken after I extracted myself from having to explain and made it a little further up the road.
Anyway, you can’t see much of it, but it’s there. If I ever manage to get back there on a non-marathon excursion, I will take a proper photo and update this post accordingly.
Here’s the other duo on the other side of the arch from last week!
(Coordinates 51°50’55.6″N, 0°08’36.7″W.)
An equally smart set of K2 boxes line the far side of the galleria arch through to London Bridge tube station. Again, they benefit from being under a roof!
More London Marathon (take two) adventures next week.
On the way to the start line of the London Marathon, I came across four very smart K2 boxes in the Hay’s Galleria centre next to London Bridge tube station! They stand as two pairs, guarding either side of the archway that leads through to the station entrance. I’ll log one pair today and the other next week.
(Coordinates 51°50’55.6″N, 0°08’36.7″W.)
Their distinctively large size and bulbous tops identify them as K2 boxes, a London-specific design, examples of which are generally listed and preserved by the city (in great contrast to the sad fate of many of the more-ubiquitous K6 boxes in the rest of the country!). It does help that these ones are under a roof, but you can see how smartly they are kept. Phones remain intact too.
We’ll stay in Hay’s Galleria and look at the other pair next week!
Here’s another London box from near our hotel. This one was tucked away on the walkway along St Katharine’s Docks, and while looking for it on Google Street View I found one or two more I’d missed. Something to remember for the next visit!
(Coordinates 51°50’77.7″N, 0°07’14.2″W.)
A largely empty box, but it does have a plaque inside (when zoomed in this appears to provide information about the various types of phone boxes). I missed that when photographing it as we were in a hurry for lunch! Another aspect to check next time we’re there.
We’ll be in London for a few more weeks yet…
Our recent trip to London yielded a fair few phone box finds. This first one was right behind our hotel! I grabbed a photo of it before we’d even made it to the lobby to check in haha.
(Coordinates 51°50’68.8″N, 0°07’39.3″W.)
Phone boxes in London are generally well-kept (I think the councils there understand that they’re a good tourist attraction) and this one is no exception, even though it’s tucked down a dingy underpass behind a hotel. The gold crowns have been painted over in red, probably fairly recently.
More London boxes to come over the next few weeks!