The Phone I Really Wanted

When we headed out to buy a phone for our new landline, the thought occurred to me that maybe we should really go with something more traditional.  This might be a good chance to go the edges of Khan El-Khalili and browse the antique stores for an old Western Electric model 500.

We were downtown on Sunday walking past some of the clothing shops near Talaat Harb when I suddenly saw exactly what I had in mind.  Set upon a crate in a menswear shop as a decorative accessory was a dandy phone.  If it wasn't made by W. E., I'll bet it was made under license from them.


What glorious nostalgia.  I'm not sure if it reminded me more of the phone on my desk at Pillsbury in the 1970s or of the superbly creative Visual Merchandising department at Dayton's Department Store when I worked there in the 1980s.