Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[3141]

In the 70s at least, it was an option to have paid cheques automatically returned with statements, and indeed I did.

They had stamps showing that they had been processed. Those which I had written for cash in Europe (which was mainstream then - using guarantee card) had impressive quantities of such stamps!

Up to the 70s as you say, and I can't remember when they stopped returning them with your statements.

When I was working in Zambia in 1969-72 many people obtained single lens reflex (SLR) cameras from shops in Aden or Hong Kong, where they were much cheaper than in Britain even after being transported to Zambia and paying Zambian import duty. I ordered a Minolta SRT101 from a store in Hong Kong, paying with a cheque drawn on my Barclays account in London. After several weeks nothing had arrived, and I wrote to the store to ask what was happening. They answered that they had no trace of my order. I contacted my bank to ask them to stop the cheque. They replied that it had been debited against my account, and they had just posted it along with my most recent statement. As they had used surface mail it took about three months to reach me. When it arrived I saw that it had been altered most brilliantly so that some individual could cash it. It had gone through several other banks on its way from Hong Kong to Barclays, with all their stamps as you've said above, and no-one had spotted the forgery. I returned it to Barclays with a letter pointing out the alterations that had been made, and eventually got my money back.

 

[Hadders]

I think anyone who has used a solicitor recently has written a cheque. They seem to still use delightfully old-school business methods. When I bought a property just last year the solicitor asked for my initial payment via cheque. At the end of the process, when it turned out there was money left over, they sent me a cheque for the remaining balance. Premium Bond wins as well - I had a £50 cheque from them around 6 months ago. My local bank still has a machine specifically for the paying in of cheques, that's how I paid mine in. Surely if there was no demand for that they'd have taken it out. So cheques definitely aren't dead yet!

That's not my experience of dealing with solicitors. I've done several transactions with various solicitors over the last five years involving:

House Purchase (deposit and conveyencing etc.)
Arranging a will
Applying for probate
Applying for Power of Attorney

And not once have I written a cheque!

 

[gswindale]

That's not my experience of dealing with solicitors. I've done several transactions with various solicitors over the last five years involving:

House Purchase (deposit and conveyencing etc.)
Arranging a will
Applying for probate
Applying for Power of Attorney

And not once have I written a cheque!

I think some solicitors are now catching up with the 21st century - at long last, I'm starting to see leases etc at work that have been completed using Docusign or similar software.

Others are, however, still stuck in their ways and using out dated 19th century practices.

 

[Bald Rick]

That's not my experience of dealing with solicitors. I've done several transactions with various solicitors over the last five years involving:

House Purchase (deposit and conveyencing etc.)
Arranging a will
Applying for probate
Applying for Power of Attorney

And not once have I written a cheque!

Same here. I’ve used 5 or 6 different solicitors for most of the above and several property / trust matters since 1997 and have never paid by cheque.

 

[AM9]

Sprinkling talcum powder in your hair when it was too greasy.

Dry shampoo is still available and has it's uses.

 

[GordonT]

Hoarding of every mortal piece of paperwork that passes through a person's hands for decades. Includes obsolete receipts, instructions and guarantees for long discarded household items. Sometimes filed/stored meticulously - sometimes not.
Some who have had the sad duty of having to go through a deceased elderly relative's house contents may have amassed and disposed of copious amounts of paperwork with no conceivable relevance dutifully conserved.
I know that some will still conserve every bit of domestic paperwork but I don't think the practice is as widespread as it once was and of course "everything being online" has probably transferred some of the phenomenon from boxes and attics to overloaded laptop hard drives.

 

[D6130]

Hoarding of every mortal piece of paperwork that passes through a person's hands for decaades. Includes obsolete receipts, instructions and guarantees for long discarded household items. Sometimes filed/stored meticulously - sometimes not.
Some who have had the sad duty of having to go through a deceased elderly relative's house contents may have amassed and disposed of copious amounts of paperwork with no conceivable relevance dutifully conserved.
I know that some will still conserve every bit of domestic paperwork but I don't think the practice is as widespread as it once was and of course "everything being online" has probably transferred some of the phenomenon from boxes and attics to overloaded laptop hard drives.

Sounds very much like my wife!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I do have a deed box at home that belonged to my dead wife that contains birth, marriage and death certificates from her family going back to the time of her great-grandfather.

 

[GordonT]

I do have a deed box at home that belonged to my dead wife that contains birth, marriage and death certificates from her family going back to the time of her great-grandfather.

A very worthwhile stash especially if someone is keen to determine their family history/compile a family tree at some point.

 

[adc82140]

Hoarding of every mortal piece of paperwork that passes through a person's hands for decades. Includes obsolete receipts, instructions and guarantees for long discarded household items. Sometimes filed/stored meticulously - sometimes not.

On this subject, getting utility bills in brown envelopes with the postman, and opening them with some trepidation as you had no idea what the amount was going to be

 

[Railcar]

Jumping onto the open rear platform of a Corporation bus, sitting down and paying your fare to a roving conductor

And jumping off the rear platform at a corner when the bus stopped to turn
And slip-streaming a bus when on a bike and being pulled along faster.
And smoking allowed on the top deck of a double-decker - ugh! (it put me off smoking for life)

 

[317 forever]

I still write 4 a year for Christmas and birthdays.

Talking of which, Christmas cards already to some extent seem anachronistic.

 

[DelW]

And jumping off the rear platform at a corner when the bus stopped to turn
And slip-streaming a bus when on a bike and being pulled along faster.
And smoking allowed on the top deck of a double-decker - ugh! (it put me off smoking for life)

I used to travel to and from school invariably on the top deck of a double decker, usually pretty full. In winter with the windows closed, the fug was so thick you could barely see the front windows from the top of the stairs (rear staircase in those days of course). I must have passively smoked a good many cigarettes before I left school.

 

[Killingworth]

I used to travel to and from school invariably on the top deck of a double decker, usually pretty full. In winter with the windows closed, the fug was so thick you could barely see the front windows from the top of the stairs (rear staircase in those days of course). I must have passively smoked a good many cigarettes before I left school.

The roof of the lower deck would be painted cream. So was the upper deck but it soon became brown - as it did in smoking compartments and carriages in trains.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Banking again.

Travellers cheques. I haven't used them for 20 years or more.

But before them, a World Letter of Credit. My wife's uncle arranged one of them from Lloyds Bank about 1966 when he was going to Germany to pick up new Mercedes. If memory serves correctly he got a large document that looked very like the one below. Most major banks did the same. Every branch authorised to make encashments against their agents letters had control documents with specimen examples like this so they could check authenticity and instructions on how to get reimbursement.

View attachment 165843

Letters of credit are still widely used in international commercial trade. There are moves to create an electronic version but meanwhile the paper version is still very much alive and kicking. They're seen as very secure, if somewhat expensive.

 

[Killingworth]

Letters of credit are still widely used in international commercial trade. There are moves to create an electronic version but meanwhile the paper version is still very much alive and kicking. They're seen as very secure, if somewhat expensive.

I had dealings with them when in banking some 45 years ago!! I can understand how international electronic standardisation would be difficult.

 

[Welshman]

i] Buying and cashing-in postal orders - indeed finding a "proper" post-office to transact the business and not just a hidden corner of a chain-store with ill-trained staff.
ii] Making arrangements to withdraw cash from the branch of your bank you were planning to use on holiday. When they'd checked your file they'd grudgingly hand over the cash as though it were coming from their own pockets.

 

[dangie]

This could be in ‘You know you’re getting old’ but Ceefax is 50 years old today. Remember it fondly.

 

[dk1]

On this subject, getting utility bills in brown envelopes with the postman, and opening them with some trepidation as you had no idea what the amount was going to be

Usually turns out to be HMRI with me. Not normally that bad though.

 

[najaB]

Usually turns out to be HMRI with me. Not normally that bad though.

HRMI or HMRC?

 

[DelW]

HRMI or HMRC?

I imagine letters from either are likely to be unwelcome

 

[dk1]

I imagine letters from either are likely to be unwelcome

Haha yes, mu bad. Just the friendly tax people.

 

[najaB]

Haha yes, mu bad. Just the friendly tax people.

Had wondered if you were going around derailing trains. Hahaha.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Even to the end period of my model railway hobby, I always made sure that the brake van was in its correct place in the goods train, dependant on the type of waggons being hauled.

 

[McRhu]

There was a thing - clockwork 00 locos by Jouef and others.

 

[Tester]

There was a thing - clockwork 00 locos by Jouef and others.

To be pedantic - Jouef = HO

Yes I had two of them!

 

[D6130]

To be pedantic - Jouef = HO

Yes I had two of them!

....and Jouef - under the name of their UK franchisee Playcraft - produced the first known model of a North British Type 2 (later Class 21) diesel-electric locomotive. It was pretty poor in both scale and detail though!

 

[Tester]

....and Jouef - under the name of their UK franchisee Playcraft - produced the first known model of a North British Type 2 (later Class 21) diesel-electric locomotive. It was pretty poor in both scale and detail though!

And indeed that was one of them!

 

[Calthrop]

At first glance, I thought that the above was a picture of one of those heavy-duty "key" implements; used, at need, by the police, to get into locked locations ...

 

[ian1944]

Usually turns out to be HMRI with me. Not normally that bad though.

HMIR, which I always called just Inland Revenue, having a pathological aversion to the concept of Majesty.