A cheery Brummie has just fixed our snap-crackle-pop-to-the-point-of-inaudibility land line. Corrosion of contacts in the box on the wall outside, & the cable leading into the house. & when he switched the line to an alternative circuit in the junction box for the house to avoid having to replace the corroded connectors, he uncovered a fault in the bigger box out in the street.
He got less & less cheery until he put it all back together & it worked. Then the grin returned. First call of the afternoon & he's well behind schedule, but he might make it up on the others.
The phone line is now clear as a bell. It was driving Naomi mad over the weekend, when she was talking to her family.