Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Small Find

In my constant search for treasures I found an old, grey, not much to look at, but absolutely wonderful public phone. What’s so special about it? First of all, it is a relic of Soviet era, in modern days of mobiles and I-phones, it looks almost antic. Secondly, those rectangular grey phones with spin or touch dial were a common feature of underground crossings and street corners of Moscow and finding one in Baku brought back a lot of memories. So many times I was stopped at the streets by people asking for two kopeks (the price of a phone call) or searched for those little coins myself. Those phones were the primal means of communication when people were out and about.

When I found this one in the underground crossing near the Puppet Theatre I was almost sure that it didn’t work, that it was just a part of decor. But no, I lifted the receiver and heard a familiar tone. I wonder if anybody uses it nowadays.

3 comments:

The Expatresse said...

The Puppet Theater in Baku? Because I live RIGHT next to the Puppet Theater in Moscow . . . and there's an underpass/podezd there, too, but no public phone that I have ever seen.

VC said...

I think that in Moscow those phones started to disappear after perestroyka; Baku being Baku does fall behind in a lot of ways.It is funny that you mentioned the Puppet Theatre in Moscow, I can easily visualize the place, it is a nice area to live.

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