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Handbags   (The sad, the bad and the ugly. Non-productive stuff here.)

Started by: priscus (inactive)

Seeing mention of telephone boxes on thread concerning pen and ink reminded me of something.

Do you recall the pre-STD telephone boxes?

You put your four pennies (the latest tariff) in first, and they enabled connection of the dial and receiver.

If the party you were calling answered you pressed BUTTON A. This connected your microphone, and until you did this the person whom you had called could not hear you. It also released your money into the coin storage.

If you had not succeeded with your requirement, you could press BUTTON B, and get your four pennies back.

The returned coins fell into a receptacle into which you could insert your fingers to retrieve the coins.

By the 1950's, you would find three small holes in the base of the said receptacle. This was because in previous years kids had learned the trick of filling this receptacle with ink. The person pressing BUTTON B would usually abandon their four pence, rather than get their fingers covered in ink. The perpetrator would tour around the 'fixed' boxes collecting all the inky pennies!

Replied: 9th Dec 2019 at 02:30

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