Phone Lines

Do you ever wonder about the telephone lines in the States? Probably not, unless of course, you don’t have service and then, that’s all you can think about. Have you ever seen the phone lines? Probably not unless you’ve severed one while digging up a broken sprinkler head in your backyard. Now why the phone company would bury the phone line 6 inches from the surface right next to a sprinkler head is beyond me. And aren’t you supposed to call “Blue Stake” before digging in your backyard? That’s what someone told someone else when the issue was reported. But why would you think to call Blue Stake to repair a broken sprinkler head was they reply. But I digress…

Here you can actually see the phone lines. I really noticed it the other day when I was sitting in the courtroom and the phone rang. The ring was not one of those pleasant rings that we’re all used to. This was one of those old-fashioned harsh rings. As I looked at the phone, I noticed that the phone was sitting on a chair under a window and that the phone line ran from the phone, up the wall and out the window. That’s when I realized that all the wires I see strewn on the ground are probably phone lines. I’m not kidding. If you travel very far on this base, you’ll see blue wires snaking through the dirt towards the various buildings and I’m assuming end up attached to some antiquated phone somewhere.

Coming from the Corps command building, you can see dozens of these phone lines trailing down the hill, over the road and through the dirt, making their way to someone’s office.

I am still amazed that they don’t elevate the wires or even bury them. They’re just there, sitting out in the open where vehicles drive over them on a regular basis.

And they wonder why they have bad phone service.