Saturday, April 30, 2011

Victims of progress

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The main streets of Jerusalem and sometimes even the sidewalks got torn up to have track laid for the new light rail.
These poor victims of the tram-building have been here next to Safra Square on Jaffa Road for several years.
It makes me sad every time I walk by and see antique mailboxes on the ground like this.
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The cast-iron pillar boxes are reminders of Israel's British Mandate past.
Quite a few are still in service in Jerusalem.
Our modern collection boxes are still red, but rectangular and boring.
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These two uprooted mailboxes let me notice for the first time what is written on the bottom:
McDowall, Steven & Co. Ltd.
London and Falkirk
This was a firm of Glasgow-based iron founders.
The company's roots extend back to the early 19th century.
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City Daily Photo bloggers are posting their favorite mailboxes for our May 1 Theme Day.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
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To visit Jerusalem's Main Post Office, a big building built by the British in 1938, click here.
An artist's telling of Israel's history is in murals up to the ceiling!
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To read about the former Imperial Austrian Post Office in Jerusalem's Old City, see my post here.
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16 comments:

  1. Sorry to see those handsome, ol' British mailboxes uprooted! A perfect snap for the "mailboxes" theme day, Dina!

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  2. Ahhh that is sad. They look dead. They need to be restored in a museum.

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  3. What a joy it must be writing letters with a fountain pen still, sending them through these mailboxes ...

    May time and life treat them kind. Please have a good Sunday and nice new month as well.

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  4. Shame. I really like those old style post boxes.

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  5. they have style hopefully the government will reinstall them

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  6. This is a really interesting post. Thanks
    Clarence Valley Today

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  7. That is sad! They'll need a good lick of postbox red paint too when they finally get re-erected! Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  8. They definitely look like our British post boxes, shame they're not still standing.

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  9. This has to be the most original post on mailboxes today but how sad. I do hope they get reinstalled.

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  10. So interesting!
    Old style goes away, we can not stop changes. It is good. And bad, in a way.

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  11. It is really sad to see these mailboxes like that. These are identical to the British ones!
    The only missing part is the Royal cypher, or the monogram of the reigning sovereign. Today it would be ERII.

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  12. I'd like to have one in my garden and use it as a garden rubbish container, because the bottom of it is open and it looks nice.

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  13. These are beautiful and unique! The only public mail boxes left here are at the post office!

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  14. Too bad... They are really quaint mailboxes. I'd love to just put one up in front of my house. (At least they're termite proof.) Somebody must want them. They're antiques.

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  15. Yes, they are almost gone here too and I think it's a pity to get rid of such a great symbol...

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