You must remember them. Bits of paper with weird numbers across the bottom, lines across the middle, and a short line in the top right with "19" printed near the end of it for some reason. You used to write a bunch of them with different dates for the rent, and then the landlord would go straight down the bank and cash them all early.Cheques...?
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Things that used to be common place in people’s homes
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Gloster
Established Member
Made out of rubber...at least many of mine were.Cheques...?
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
We have one like that. I think a lot of the tenements up here do - makes sense with the high ceilings and long walk to the back garden
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
We're in a 3 bed semi, though...
PG
Established Member
I'm guessing it wasn't an original fitting...
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Correct - we added it about 5 years ago.
Having said that, this house was built in 1898 so it may well have had one originally!
birchesgreen
Established Member
I haven't written a cheque for years. My mum pays me with a cheque after i do her shopping for her, luckily i can pay it in using my smartphone banking app which i always find amusing.Cheques...?
I'm in my mid-40s and have never written a cheque in my life, never even had a chequebook.
birchesgreen
Established Member
I'm 49, i've got a chequebook but i think i'm still on the same one my bank gave me when i was in my 20s!
Journeyman
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I still write them for things occasionally. Last regular use was for my kids' school dinners about ten years ago.
I'm a similar age and I think I've used up less than 2 chequebooks, so maybe 40 cheques. I think most of them were for rent/deposits on accomodation. I still have the stubs somewhere, but I can't lay my hands on them for some reason.
My parents still used them for everything for years after I did, though they've had to stop now as well
Half of my stair have exactly that model judging by the conversation that went round the group chat yesterday. They're gradually all disappearing because they won't pass an inspection if you want to rent the place
My house was built in 1980 and has a similar fuse box. Several neighbours have had theirs replaced with more modern circuit breaker types, but I still have the original box with the removable fuses.
We used to until maybe 12 or so years ago have the similar version to that but with wire until we finally got with the program and had a modern one fitted. I changed the fuses in there once or twice which was interesting. I seem to recall we had a clear out a few years ago and found some old coils of fuse wire in the garage still!
gg1
Established Member
Never seen one of those before. Were they an intermediate stage between the old style fuseboxes with fuse wire and the modern type?
Mine has similar looking fuse holders but they contain fuse cartridges, not fuse wire. The biggest is a 45amp cartridge for the cooker circuit.
Trendy now those, my mates wife has just bought one.
I use a clothes maiden my nan had in the 70s, the other half calls it the clothes airer.
Okay. The ones I've seen with cartridges are a bit smaller than that.
I wrote 2 cheqeues in 2020 both as gifts. It rather takes the surprise away if you ring up the recipient and ask for their bank details.
I have made too many fat thumb errors using my smartphone to trust myself with a banking app. Financial matters always go through the laptop.
Literally just had mine replaced a couple of months ago. Also finally got central heating fitted this week!
Our window cleaner accepts bank transfers.
The older fuse boxes will take either wire or cartridge fuse holders and even MCB's with the correct adaptor plate, although I believe the front of the cover that should be fitted should be removed when fitting MCB's.
We have two such unit's (albeit larger) made of what must be Bakelite or similar although one is redundant as it was for the n longer fitted storage heaters/off peak electricity. I believe that whilst they are frowned upon as they do not feature any RCD protection they are very much still allowed.
My gran also has two such units one would be original and one a later addition, one is 4 way and one two way that seems to just do the Kitchen sockets and probably the shower. Note that the extra fuse box also powers a double socket in the dining room below a hatch where there used to be a door into the kitchen, there's a reason why I know that, and it wasn't on purpose!
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We have two such unit's (albeit larger) made of what must be Bakelite or similar although one is redundant as it was for the n longer fitted storage heaters/off peak electricity. I believe that whilst they are frowned upon as they do not feature any RCD protection they are very much still allowed.
My gran also has two such units one would be original and one a later addition, one is 4 way and one two way that seems to just do the Kitchen sockets and probably the shower. Note that the extra fuse box also powers a double socket in the dining room below a hatch where there used to be a door into the kitchen, there's a reason why I know that, and it wasn't on purpose!
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PG
Established Member
One thing with the newer MCB fuseboxes is unlike the older removable fuse holders how does anyone working on the system prevent someone flicking the MCB back on!?
At least if you've removed a fuse and put it in your pocket you've got reassurance against the power suddenly being restored unexpectedly...
There are devices which are designed to prevent an MCB from being turned on and I believe there are little holes in the plastic either side of the switch to facilitate this, and on some the main switch has a piece of plastic that can be pulled out and a locking device put through it.
i.e https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/categories/switchgear-distribution-mcb-lockout-kits
eMeS
Member
I wrote a number of cheques last December as Xmas presents for grandchildren - not seen any of them since well before Covid. I ran out of cheques, and ordered a new cheque-book, and found a message on it saying that they're no longer sent out automatically. Before Covid I would have walked into a bank and transferred cash via bank transfers, but I wasn't confident that exposing myself to city-centre bugs was that sensible - I'm in one of the high risk categories.
Journeyman
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Eminently sensible. Being able to send cheques through the post is getting a bit niche these days, but still has plenty of uses.
pdq
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Are there any other ways to send money to relatives - particularly children - as a present, where it can be opened on the special day? As someone said up-thread, a bank transfer is a bit impersonal; cash isn't safe in the post. I assume Postal Orders are a thing of the past, and high street vouchers certainly aren't recommended any longer. I guess there are pre-paid Mastercards and Visas, but how can the recipient pay these into a savings account if that's what they choose to do? Cheques may be niche, but there are still uses for them.
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