Confused by wiring.

Hi Guys,
Today a BT engineer came to my house and installed a new line. There had been one there before and so he cut the cable (flat pair of copper) as it entered the house. He then passed it through a junction box, but didn't use any of the chocs inside, instead he took the two copper strands and connected them to 2 of the four coloured wires via clear caps. This then went down to the new faceplace/socket at the floor. Here the two colour wires were connected up leaving the other 2 free.
So to the questions. Why did he use a chocblock/junction device when he didn't use any of the connectors, but instead would appear to have done it only to cover where he spliced the cable? What are the other 2 strands that go into the back of the socket for? They can't be important as they aren't connected to any thing.

Newhear

the two spare wires / one spare pair arises from the use of 2 pair cable. The clear crimp connectors are the method of choice, the box is to make it look presentable / protect it a bit.

So please excuse my stupidity, but what is a ringer wire if there are only two wires? I noticed an article here which mentioned removing the ringer wire. Better still, is there an article somewhere to explain all this?

Thanks.

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/wiring_info.htm

No third/ring wire before the NTE.