Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[AndrewE]

Machines or "rubber stamps" for franking/embossing/stamping paperwork. Old fashioned post-office counter staff tended to have a very assertive way of stamping documentation as I recall.

When I joined the LMR in Crewe in 1976 we used to send copies of special loco, unit and traincrew workings out via a reprographic department. We would stamp the master copies' serial numbers on with a device which notched up one each time (or every second time if there was a reference original kept.) They had their own ink pads in the mechanism... I don't think mine had "LMSR" on it but it might have dated from the '50s!

 

[najaB]

What are they called?

Do you mean a Vicks inhaler? Still very commonly used in the Caribbean. Not unusual to see someone walking around with one semi-permanently lodged in a nostril.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Credit cards in shops, where payment was taken on carbon triplicate paper, using those wonderful "click-clack" imprint machines.

 

[AndrewE]

Credit cards in shops, where payment was taken on carbon triplicate paper, using those wonderful "click-clack" imprint machines.

and the dubious "that imprint hasn't worked, I'll do another" - to which the reply is "Give me the first print then and I'll shred it."

Happened to me at the pub by Euston on Eversholt St. Luckily I had read about the scam and was ready. If they were innocent (or guilty) they couldn't object to handing it over to you.

 

[najaB]

Credit cards in shops, where payment was taken on carbon triplicate paper, using those wonderful "click-clack" imprint machines.

One miraculously appeared in Blackburn's Morrisons in 2016(ish) when the payment network went down.

(Which added to my impression that Blackburn is at least 20 years behind the rest of the country!)

 

[Killingworth]

Sealing wax.

 

[philthetube]

Sealing wax.

Currently used on Taskmaster.

 

[route101]

Credit cards in shops, where payment was taken on carbon triplicate paper, using those wonderful "click-clack" imprint machines.

Late 2000s I last seen one getting used at Morrisons Petrol Station when the system was down.

 

[PG]

Old-style cash registers where the price of every item being purchased had to be selected and "put through" from the relevant pounds, shillings and pence keys. Older tills had a handle on a wheel on the side of them. "Ker-ching" sound once the transaction was complete as the till drawer opened.

Reminds me of the infamous till in Open All Hours.

Image shows a GIF of the till in Open All Hours.

 

[AndrewE]

Reminds me of the infamous till in Open All Hours.

Image shows a GIF of the till in Open All Hours.

NCR machines in booking offices/travel centres anyone?

 

[D6130]

NCR machines in booking offices/travel centres anyone?

I remember them well.....I used the Southern Region NCR 21 machines to validate Edmondson card tickets back in the mid-1970s.

 

[Cross City]

What are they called?

Olbas Oil?

 

[PeterC]

If I remember correctly from my days with the Bullingdon Club, a black satin stripe is de rigueur for the black dress trousers (a.k.a. tuxedo trousers) which accompany dinner jacket / black tie attire. Next level compared to the red stripe on the bus crew or Travellers Fare issue pants.

The stripe is a hangover from military uniform. Members of the clergy should wear plain trousers with evening dress.

 

[AndrewE]

Olbas Oil?

You wouldn't want that up your nose, (and it too is still around) I think they are Vick's inhalers.

 

[najaB]

You wouldn't want that up your nose, (and it too is still around) I think they are Vick's inhalers.

They are, indeed (as noted a few posts back). FWIW, Olbas Oil inhalers also exist, though they are a different shape to Vicks.

 

[dangie]

The original Fiery Jack rubbing ointment. Would have mended a broken leg.
Or at least made it so hot you forgot about it….!!

 

[GordonT]

On the subject of "hot" concoctions and things that feel as if they should be of a past age but are probably still around "Fisherman's Friends" (aka Fisherman's Fiends) lozenges.

 

[Tester]

On the subject of "hot" concoctions and things that feel as if they should be of a past age but are probably still around "Fisherman's Friends" (aka Fisherman's Fiends) lozenges.

And Victory V

 

[najaB]

Was Shiling Oil ever a thing in the UK, or was that strictly limited to the colonies and possessions?

 

[Lloyds siding]

And Victory V

Yes, but you don't get the kick from the chloroform or ether like you used to do!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Jan 2025 ==

Wright's coal-tar vapourisers also added to the atmosphere of long ago.....

 

[Tester]

Yes, but you don't get the kick from the chloroform or ether like you used to do!

I haven't had any for ages - definitely chloroform and ether then!

 

[najaB]

I haven't had any for ages - definitely chloroform and ether then!

Reminds me of the edgy joke:

What's your most successful pick-up line?
Excuse me, does this rag smell of chloroform?"

 

[philthetube]

And Victory V

Yes, but you don't get the kick from the chloroform or ether like you used to do!

They have got the taste back close to the original though,

They were awful when the "interesting" ingredients were first removed.

 

[Tester]

They have got the taste back close to the original though,

They were awful when the "interesting" ingredients were first removed.

That is interesting - maybe I will try some!

 

[AndrewE]

That is interesting - maybe I will try some!

That's a bit like "Wright's Coal Tar soap." If you look at it now the smell has been blended up out of natural oils like tea tree and other stuff ("Amyl Cinnamal, Coumarin, Eugenol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene")

Unlike T-gel shampoo which really does still have coal tar in it!

 

[philthetube]

That is interesting - maybe I will try some!

let me know what you think.

 

[Tester]

let me know what you think.

Will do, but won't be until April - Australia and Japan until then, where I wouldn't expect to find them!

I tried them post removal and was unsurprisingly disappointed - basically wrote them off.

So we shall see

 

[AlterEgo]

If I remember correctly from my days with the Bullingdon Club, a black satin stripe is de rigueur for the black dress trousers (a.k.a. tuxedo trousers) which accompany dinner jacket / black tie attire. Next level compared to the red stripe on the bus crew or Travellers Fare issue pants.

Officers' mess dress often has a stripe, and it is often red!

 

[Harpo]

That's a bit like "Wright's Coal Tar soap.

Reminding me of those little things like miners’ lamps, the Wright’s coal tar vapouriser.

 

[DelW]

On the subject of "hot" concoctions and things that feel as if they should be of a past age but are probably still around "Fisherman's Friends" (aka Fisherman's Fiends) lozenges.

Definitely still around, I have a packet of them on my kitchen table left over from the last time I had a cold (sometime last autumn).