A fellow in my running group divulges the fact we've re-introduced telegraph poles with which to furnish the communications network, presumably because it proves to be cheaper, easier and in many ways more long-lasting than burying cables under the ground where they've to compete with every other utility.
I'm all for it, being altogether the more eco-friendly solution on the one hand beside restoring a nostalgic feel to town and country. The lowest portion of pole features a coat of bitumen to guard against the deleterious effects of canine urine, and there's a label too and a set of steps within the reach of a ladder.
My childhood was peopled with telegraph poles, and on one occasion walking home from primary school and desperate as a canine to relieve myself, I was letting rip on the pole at the same moment one among my teachers drove past and clocked me. I think it merited a mention next day, but in truth it is something I'd largely forgotten until such time decades later that BT restored their fortunes.
Ed. Miserable bastards will be suggesting that the pole did not stretch to Dickens' period, though in fact the telegraph was invented in 1855 and was rapidly slung along railway lines (internet 2.1, internet 2.0 having been canals) on such poles as these. The author's last work appeared fifteen years subsequent, and this author nearly visited his childhood home in Portsmouth recently, except that it was closed.
