I pass by this classic K6 phone box at least four times a day; it sits outside the 'Peace Garden' where I take Billy for his walks.
It's no longer been an active phone box for quite some while, but its beauty has been retained.
It very recently underwent a total exterior restoration, it was properly rubbed-down, the cracked panes of glass replaced, and finished with the standard letter box red with gold crown. It looked splendid. The interior now has some electrical gubbins inside, but no phone. The door is locked. I don't know what purpose it now offers, but it does something or other.
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Sadly some Squiggle-merchants have just made a total mess of it. After only a few days of being beautiful, it now looks like something you'd find in parts of Brighton where I would never venture.
What a terrible shame. Totally pointless vandalism. These effing people need a bloody good punch in the mouth. Honestly, WHAT IS THE POINT?
When the police do their night-time 'Stop and Searches', anyone found with spray cans in their rucksacks should face instant prosecution; no matter what their excuses.
I agree about the stop and search. Armed with intent in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. What else would they have them for?
DeleteThat was a labor of love to refurbish it. I would be tempted to clean it up myself, there are products you can buy to remove graffiti.
ReplyDeleteI had admired its new look for several days; you can imagine how I felt when I saw it like this.
DeleteYou seem to be on a roll, Cro, to find things that annoy you. Can't be good for you. Take your yoga mat to the park and, whilst Billy roams, do the cat (it's a wonderful pose) - breathe in, breathe out.
ReplyDeleteMay I proffer, in the spirit of one of your recent posts, that those scribbles are "art". And there is no accounting for art. Tracy Emin didn't even bother to make her bed.
Before you misinterpret what I am saying, no I don't condone shit like that. But then, so I gather, a lot of people, alienated from life, do things you and I do not. Maybe they deserve pity and help rather than condemnation.
U
Anyone who is not annoyed at the moment must have no heart. Politics has gone crazy, we're about to have our electricity cut off for three hours a day, Putin is threating to nuke us, childish protesters are gluing themselves to anything valuable, and now some idiot sprays over a beautifully restored phone box. If you don't get annoyed occasionally, I can't help you!
DeleteI don't need your help, Cro. I am just one of those annoying(!) people who keep their cool in a crisis. I also look for solutions rather than foaming at the mouth. And, to top it all, I do shrug my shoulder at that which I have no influence over. If the world were coming to an end so what? Can't hear dinosaurs moaning about their demise.
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PS Your electricity being cut off for three hours a day is no hardship. Spare a thought for all the people who lived before electricity was invented.
This 'just let everyone do exactly as they wish' attitude will end in tears. Don't say you weren't warned!
DeleteWhat makes you think I have a "let everyone do exactly as they wish attitude" (laisser-faire in other words)? I don't. Never mind. One of my more ardent wishes that people would listen to each other/read properly. By which I mean, hear what the other person is actually saying.
DeleteU
Everything you ever write is against normal common sense thinking. If it's black you'll call it white. We're all used to you by now, and some have banned you. I tolerate you mostly, but don't ever expect me to agree with your half-baked lefty ideas.
DeleteHa! Three cheers for Ursula!!🙂
DeleteBig breaths cro big breaths
DeleteI despair.
DeleteSome people might see those squiggles as art but the phone box was a piece of art in itself. It didn't need defacing
ReplyDeleteSquiggle elsewhere! On your own front door .
I imagine that the squiggle merchants classify their own home walls as 'do not touch'
DeleteIn some rural communities pgone boxes have been retained and used for defibrilators, or book exchange or domething the community actually needs. We have even seen a cafe run out of a phone box - ok punter take their coffee away but all the makings are in a phone box. All reasons to cherish the thing.
ReplyDeletePs - have you tried cleaning the glass?
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't, but I did notice a 'Lost Cat' poster stuck on it this morning.
DeleteI suspect that if anyone were to clean it off the squigglers would just mess it up again.
ReplyDeleteSadly that is true. There's nothing they like more than a clean sheet.
DeleteSpray cans should not be openly sold. Here in several hardware stores cans of spray paint are in locked cabinets with wire mesh doors so you can see them, but can't just lift them off the shelf. If you look underage, you must show ID to purchase them, so at least the store has some idea of who bought them. Cans cannot be bought by those under 18.
ReplyDeleteYet still this graffiti goes on, so they must be getting them somehow.
Why do they do it? Who knows.
It's a horrible part of modern culture. I like to see well painted walls where an artist has been invited to decorate a building. What I cannot stand are all these squiggles on historic buildings etc.
DeleteThat's today's younger generation for you who probably don't even know what those phone boxes were for. They're part of our past...a piece of British nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteWe now have two of them in Hampstead High Street serving tea and coffee.
I rather like to see them put to other purposes. There are some electrical boxes and wires in the one above, but I have no idea what they do.
DeleteMorons! That is how I would describe the spotty teenage boys who perpetrated this crime. You can't even make out what they have "written" - but it is probably their pathetic name tags. I share your disgust, annoyance and lack of sympathy for these numbskulls. The good people who lovingly restored the phone box must be feeling very downhearted just now.
ReplyDeleteOnly Ursula can sympathise with such hooliganism. That tells you everything.
DeleteSenseless
ReplyDeleteTotally.
DeleteThat is so sad after it's just been restored. Pure vandalism.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame, and all for a few seconds of idiotic fun.
DeleteI truly don't understand what kind of enjoyment anyone gets from doing something like that.
ReplyDeleteNor me Jennifer. I would rather clean the windows than spray on them!
DeleteWe have one in the village,it still has a phone in it
ReplyDeleteTerrible. Will the city clean this mess?
ReplyDeleteThat remains to be seen, but I doubt it.
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