IOM
Phoneboxes: Glen Elfin

The red
phonebox is a British landmark pre-dating WW2, found abundantly in
both urban and rural areas, and for several decades was the most
effective means of communication between the people of Great
Britain, alongside that of the Royal Mail Postage Service, which
also used to be operated by the General Post Office, encompassing
both postal and telephone communication. They have survived through
some harsh decades' worth of poor British weather, facing storm,
snow, torrential rain accompanied by blistering heat (though not as
much heat as the other weather variations!). The phonebox has been
with us almost as long as living human memory; however its downfall
is soon to come. They are too costly, too infrequently used, too
much a bother to the organizations which service them, to be of
much profitable value. Some have already been uprooted, taken away
and left for scrap, merely because of the small cost of electricity
required to power them, and with the era of the mobile phone
completely upon us, their demise can only be hastened.
However, it
is because of their cultural, sentimental and heartening value that
I have decided to create a series of caches which will (hopefully)
eventually include every phonebox left standing on the Isle of Man.
I would also like to dedicate this series to my loving uncle, a
part-time historian, who has documented the progression of human
communication including, with great reference, the British phonebox
in one of his books, and has also expertly taken the pictures to
accompany each one, throughout all seasons of the year.
From the
cache location the Albert Tower can be seen up upon Albert Mount,
above Lhergy Frissel Plantation. The 45-foot tower was constructed
after Prince Albert's visit to the Island in 1847, when he rowed
ashore at Ballure and then climbed the hill which was later
re-named in his honour.
The cache is,
by popular demand, situated inside the phonebox, which has recently
been re-painted. Though its location is not obviously visible, I
have attached something to the container with which you can pull it
out...