Life before phones

First day "solo" for quite some time so I took myself down to Flotterstone and marched up and down the hills. It was a good trip down memory lane for me, I haven't been there for over a year, good to remember that the wee hills can sometimes be steeper in places than the BIG hills ... tired out the body a bit and the head stopped thinking and relaxed for a change ~:-)

What do you suppose they used before Mr AG Bell made his discovery and invented the telephone. And now that we have mobiles how long do you thing these wires will be around for?