Telephone Line

The BT building on Fenton Street, advertising its own permanence via the brickwork.

I say 'permanence'. The truth is, I haven't used landline telephones all that much in the last decade. When I do, it's usually for one of several reasons: to contact some body of officialdom (i.e. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, the city council, the bank); to ring the emergency services; or to order takeaway. And the former and latter are rapidly becoming outdated; last week I ordered pizza via the internet for the first time, and I'm well aware that I could deal with HMRC and the council online too, although that would obviously deprive me of the pleasure of shouting at them. It'll only be so long until you can call yourself an ambulance or fire engine on the web too, filling in your address and the exact details of your injury/predicament/imminent death, before sending the SOS off into cyberspace.

I wonder if Alexander Graham Bell thought as far ahead as the twenty-first century when he first produced his working telephone system, whether he imagined it faltering, on the road to becoming obsolete. Or if he was just caught up in the excitement of the present day, and texting all of his mates to tell them what he'd just accomplished (Jst made da 1st fone!!! Im a fukin sick inventa!!! Lol).

Will the words "telephone exchange" in this wall outlive the land-based telephone itself? Will it even outlive the internet, and still be there when we're all beaming our thoughts directly into each other's brains?

When I find out the answer, I'll give you a thought-beam to let you know.