Another Side of Dubai #5 Phone Box

Phone boxes are retro. Which makes me feel old. This phone caught my eye for a few reasons.

My name is Matthew Baker and a Shaman in Malaysia once told me that my mother was inseminated by an alien. But that’s a story for another day. This story is about this particular phone box in Deira in Dubai.

This is part of my ‘Another Side Of Dubai.’ Series which I’ve wrote a number of articles about and which you can read at your leasure here:

https://vocal.media/wander/another-side-of-dubai-4-super-japan

But moving swiftly on, I’d been thinking about phone boxes recently because of Phobe Bridger. She has a song called Kyoto and the lyrics go like this.

“Day off in Kyoto

Got bored at the temple

Looked around at the 7-Eleven

The band took the speed train

Went to the arcade

I wanted to go, but I didn't

You called me from a payphone

They still got payphones

It cost a dollar a minute”

I really liked the lyric about payphones. When I went to Japan I noticed this as well that it was a bit weird. They were very 1980’s, Tron like in style, blue and silver. Which is a completely contrast to traditional UK phone boxes which are obviously red and are more for nostalgia than use.

This phone box has been designed in an Arabic style. Which I found odd to make a phone box seem retro, like we’ve always been able to call people all over the world. But maybe I’m being harsh on the designers there’s something maybe quiet romantic about a tip of the hat to the old times with the new inside them.

Again often scenes in Dubai I often find quite surreal. This statement phone box outside a Wimpy burger, which is one of the first burger chains to hit the UK. I remember it from my childhood, I vaguely remember crying because I didn’t like the food their when I was young.

So the image just evokes an odd combination of thoughts and memories that feel very jumbled all together. Which honestly how I feel about Dubai a jumble of very complex narratives smashed together between desert and see. There is a strange beauty to it.

You can follow me on Instagram @artistmattbakerphotography



For an archive of my work check out Phone boxes are retro. Which makes me feel old. This phone caught my eye for a few reasons.

My name is Matthew Baker and a Shaman in Malaysia once told me that my mother was inseminated by an alien. But that’s a story for another day. This story is about this particular phone box in Deira in Dubai.

This is part of my ‘Another Side Of Dubai.’ Series which I’ve wrote a number of articles about and which you can read at your leasure here:

https://vocal.media/wander/another-side-of-dubai-4-super-japan

But moving swiftly on, I’d been thinking about phone boxes recently because of Phobe Bridger. She has a song called Kyoto and the lyrics go like this.

“Day off in Kyoto

Got bored at the temple

Looked around at the 7-Eleven

The band took the speed train

Went to the arcade

I wanted to go, but I didn't

You called me from a payphone

They still got payphones

It cost a dollar a minute”

I really liked the lyric about payphones. When I went to Japan I noticed this as well that it was a bit weird. They were very 1980’s, Tron like in style, blue and silver. Which is a completely contrast to traditional UK phone boxes which are obviously red and are more for nostalgia than use.

This phone box has been designed in an Arabic style. Which I found odd to make a phone box seem retro, like we’ve always been able to call people all over the world. But maybe I’m being harsh on the designers there’s something maybe quiet romantic about a tip of the hat to the old times with the new inside them.

Again often scenes in Dubai I often find quite surreal. This statement phone box outside a Wimpy burger, which is one of the first burger chains to hit the UK. I remember it from my childhood, I vaguely remember crying because I didn’t like the food their when I was young.

So the image just evokes an odd combination of thoughts and memories that feel very jumbled all together. Which honestly how I feel about Dubai a jumble of very complex narratives smashed together between desert and sea. There is a strange beauty to it.

Arn’t phones amazing. It still seems like science fiction that I can just call anyone I know instantly. Or I can write, take pictures and get on the internet on something I can fit in my pocket. I suppose the phone boxes are a glimpse into the past in that respect. I suppose we’ll be the last generation to remember a time before mobile phones (and if your not you’re young go enjoy yourself).

Anyway here’s a little poem about it because I’ve run out of b*llshit about pay phones.

Payphone

He’s him

He’s here to ring

He’s here about the ring

He’s here to talk about the ring

He’s here with her number

He’s here about the finger for the ring

She’s her

She’s listening

She’s seeing the ring

She’s visualising it on her finger

She’s painting his words

She’s having him slip it on

She’s still on the line

They’re worried

There’s no answer to the call

There’s just a dial tone

They’re typing the number furiously

Their getting nothing

There’s a ringing

She wishes she could look him dead in the eye

He wishes he could look her dead in the eye

They’re left alone at the pay phone

The coins rattle

As he hits it over and over again

Ring Ring

You can follow me on Instagram @artistmattbakerphotography



For an archive of my work check out www.matthewbakerphotography.wordpress.com



Or on twitter @mattbaker133