Having seen said boxes, I can’t say they obscured my enjoyment of the locale at all. But the residents are of a very different mind. Dubbing the cabinets 'unsightly', they also claim that they impede access for pedestrians and obstruct doorways.

BT is working on a solution as we speak and plans to resume the now-abandoned trials quicksmart. But it’s people in the UK who still can’t get a broadband connection at all who we feel for in all this. It must really stick in the craw to see Londoners moaning about getting a super-fast service for pennies for the scant sacrifice of a couple of cabinets in your high street.