A local kid walking up Watsonia Road with his mum has asked “what’s that weird thing with the Wi-Fi symbol on top of it Mum?” The child then pointed to the telephone booth opposite the chicken shop.
Initially confused by the question, the mother paused, scanned the streetscape, and then said, “Oh, you mean that telephone booth?” to which the child replied “Telephone booth? What’s that?” The mother then attempted an explanation, interspersed with regular “But why?” questions from the child before eventually giving up and saying, “A very long time ago, a bit before mobile phones and just after the dinosaurs, people used to communicate to each other on public telephones that required silver coins to operate, and transmitted countless variations of ear-borne disease from person to person.”
The child was not satisfied with the explanation, but accepted that this public art installation was another relic of the past, like rewinding a VHS before taking it back to the “video store”, waving to motorists who let you through on a narrow street, and going into a bank to acquire cash money.
The Watsonia Bugle 