Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[Westinghouse]

The versions of those machines that I remember from the early sixties had a substantial spring loaded tray, akin to a gin trap, that you pulled out to retrieve your Bazooka Joe/ Beechnut/ Fry's Five Boys/ Capstan Navy Cut, and then counted your fingers as it slammed back in.

Shoeshine boys/men. They would polish your shoes whilst they were astride a wooden box affair. Usually had an advert for Cherry Blossom Polish on the box. The last one I remember seeing was outside the Mersey Railway entrance at L'pool Central. Note "Mersey Railway". Not the inferior plastic replacement Merseyrail we are stuck with today !

 

[Killingworth]

Shoeshine boys/men. They would polish your shoes whilst they were astride a wooden box affair. Usually had an advert for Cherry Blossom Polish on the box. The last one I remember seeing was outside the Mersey Railway entrance at L'pool Central. Note "Mersey Railway". Not the inferior plastic replacement Merseyrail we are stuck with today !

Putting your shoes outside your hotel bedroom door at night and picking them up ready to wear all polished in the morning.

 

[Hadlow Road]

Shoeshine boys/men. They would polish your shoes whilst they were astride a wooden box affair. Usually had an advert for Cherry Blossom Polish on the box. The last one I remember seeing was outside the Mersey Railway entrance at L'pool Central. Note "Mersey Railway". Not the inferior plastic replacement Merseyrail we are stuck with today !

And still in Burlington Arcade, W1.

 

[Jimini]

And still in Burlington Arcade, W1.

Same in One Canada Square (Canary Wharf).

 

[EdinRH]

Pubs not admitting women - certainly near Ashington in November 1968.

There was a social club in Edinburgh that banned women from going to the bar by themselves. This applied not only at their own events, but also when the hall had been hired for a private event.

On a vaguely related matter, wasn't there a rule (possibly enshrined in law) at one point that under-14s could not approach a bar where alcohol was sold, even if not purchasing anything. I remember as a kid (late 80s/early 90s) being told by my dad in a restaurant where food was table service, but drinks were served at a bar that I would not be allowed to go to the bar even to establish what soft drinks were available.

I definitely remember reading a newspaper article stating that the minimum age to go into a licensed premises alone (if not buying alcohol) was 14. On Christmas night in 1997 (when I was 14) I went to the hotel bar near me alone and asked if it would be OK for me to come in. I was told yes, but that I would not be served alcohol. I bought a cola and a pack of crisps.

In February 1998, I returned and asked for a cola and some crisps again. This time I didn't ask if it was OK as it would have been my second solo visit and my fourth visit overall (having been in the bar in May 1994 at the age of 10 with my 8-year-old friend and my friend's mum then in July 1996 at the age of 12 with my own parents). The barmaid point blank refused to serve me and insisted that I would need to go to the corner shop (not the exact expression used). Several customers backed the barmaid and insisted that even if 14-year-olds could go into pubs, that I looked much younger than 14 anyway!

 

[GordonT]

Girls being sent home from school for wearing trousers as a rule existed in many schools that only boys were allowed to wear trousers. A school somewhere in the north of Scotland experienced something of a "mutiny" on this policy which reached the media and the school backed down claiming the concession was due to the colder weather in that part of the world.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Children's sit in/on rides outside shops: space rockets, cars, dinosaurs... the kind of thing you put a £ or two in, then a kid, and it jolted around and played music. Haven't seen one for a long time.

They are plentiful in my Hampshire locality

 

[dangie]

Girls being sent home from school for wearing trousers as a rule existed in many schools that only boys were allowed to wear trousers. A school somewhere in the north of Scotland experienced something of a "mutiny" on this policy which reached the media and the school backed down claiming the concession was due to the colder weather in that part of the world.

Wasn’t there one school where the boys turned up in skirts in support of the ban on girls wearing trousers?

 

[GordonT]

When it was custom and practice for dogs to defecate with the contents of their bowels being left wherever they happened to land.

 

[route101]

There was a social club in Edinburgh that banned women from going to the bar by themselves. This applied not only at their own events, but also when the hall had been hired for a private event.

On a vaguely related matter, wasn't there a rule (possibly enshrined in law) at one point that under-14s could not approach a bar where alcohol was sold, even if not purchasing anything. I remember as a kid (late 80s/early 90s) being told by my dad in a restaurant where food was table service, but drinks were served at a bar that I would not be allowed to go to the bar even to establish what soft drinks were available.

I definitely remember reading a newspaper article stating that the minimum age to go into a licensed premises alone (if not buying alcohol) was 14. On Christmas night in 1997 (when I was 14) I went to the hotel bar near me alone and asked if it would be OK for me to come in. I was told yes, but that I would not be served alcohol. I bought a cola and a pack of crisps.

In February 1998, I returned and asked for a cola and some crisps again. This time I didn't ask if it was OK as it would have been my second solo visit and my fourth visit overall (having been in the bar in May 1994 at the age of 10 with my 8-year-old friend and my friend's mum then in July 1996 at the age of 12 with my own parents). The barmaid point blank refused to serve me and insisted that I would need to go to the corner shop (not the exact expression used). Several customers backed the barmaid and insisted that even if 14-year-olds could go into pubs, that I looked much younger than 14 anyway!

I remember that under 14 rule too, I always thought it was a Glasgow thing. There was the no under 21 rule at some pubs too, not sure if that still exists.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

In the song "21 today", it was not until the person had reached the age of 21 that they were given "the key of the door".

 

[Ediswan]

Wasn’t there one school where the boys turned up in skirts in support of the ban on girls wearing trousers?

My recollection is that the ban was on boys wearing shorts (in hot weather).

 

[Sun Chariot]

When it was custom and practice for dogs to defecate with the contents of their bowels being left wherever they happened to land.

They are plentiful in my Hampshire locality.

 

[dangie]

My recollection is that the ban was on boys wearing shorts (in hot weather).

Whoops.

 

[Trackman]

I remember that under 14 rule too, I always thought it was a Glasgow thing. There was the no under 21 rule at some pubs too, not sure if that still exists.

A pub I go in there is a no under 25's rule, don't think it's ever been a law like no under 21s it's just the pub rules.

 

[Killingworth]

My grandfather trained as a grocer and later became a commercial traveller for Hartley's jams and other tinned foodstuffs. He'd go into a shop and if the owner was busy might volunteer to scoop sugar from the sack and weigh it into blue paper bags thus gaining his friendship leading to a sale.

I recall those blue bags made up at our local grocers, and cheese and butter both sliced into weighed packs wrapped in greaseproof paper - usually one large piece and smaller ones to get the weight just right!

 

[Merle Haggard]

My grandfather trained as a grocer and later became a commercial traveller for Hartley's jams and other tinned foodstuffs. He'd go into a shop and if the owner was busy might volunteer to scoop sugar from the sack and weigh it into blue paper bags thus gaining his friendship leading to a sale.

I recall those blue bags made up at our local grocers, and cheese and butter both sliced into weighed packs wrapped in greaseproof paper - usually one large piece and smaller ones to get the weight just right!

WhenI accompanied my mother on shopping trips as a small child the catchphrase was 'just a little over, is that all right?'. Even then, I noticed it was never 'just a little under, is that all right?'. Probably started my interest in probabilities....

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When I was very young, a man with a strange contraption called on houses to sharpen knives.

 

[OuterDistant]

Cars parked on a steep slope having a brick placed under one of the wheels. A friend's parents' Triumph Acclaim seemed to have one permanently in place when it was on their driveway.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Cars parked on a steep slope having a brick placed under one of the wheels. A friend's parents' Triumph Acclaim seemed to have one permanently in place when it was on their driveway.

My dad still uses wooden chocks for his car ( a 2019 registered one ) on his steep driveway.

 

[najaB]

My dad still uses wooden chocks for his car ( a 2019 registered one ) on his steep driveway.

Nothing wrong with a belt and braces approach!

 

[Trackman]

My dad still uses wooden chocks for his car ( a 2019 registered one ) on his steep driveway.

And leave it in gear. Used to live at the top of a hill decades ago.

 

[swt_passenger]

When I was very young, a man with a strange contraption called on houses to sharpen knives.

I think the strange contraption would be a treadle driven grinding wheel, same principle as the treadle driven sewing machine like your gran used to use…

 

[Bald Rick]

Cars parked on a steep slope having a brick placed under one of the wheels. A friend's parents' Triumph Acclaim seemed to have one permanently in place when it was on their driveway.

I saw an example of this yesterday!

 

[D6130]

I saw an example of this yesterday!

Yep....still used by several car owners on the steep hilly streets in Hebden Bridge.

 

[cool110]

And leave it in gear. Used to live at the top of a hill decades ago.

That one is still in the highway code

 

[MotCO]

That one is still in the highway code

Provided you know which gear to put it in

 

[billh]

I remember seeing Bradford trolley buses that had a wooden wedge for parking on steep hills. It was attached by a long chain to a fastening in the driver's cab. Doesn't say much for handbrake efficiency but I guess leaving it in gear had no effect! Manchester buses were not so fitted.

 

[Howardh]

When it was custom and practice for dogs to defecate with the contents of their bowels being left wherever they happened to land.

And now the dogs do it into plastic bags and leave it on a garden wall. If only humans would accompany them on their walkies to stop them....

 

[GusB]

WhenI accompanied my mother on shopping trips as a small child the catchphrase was 'just a little over, is that all right?'. Even then, I noticed it was never 'just a little under, is that all right?'. Probably started my interest in probabilities....

That takes me back to my days as a Q-Buster in Safeway (we were multi-trained in across any areas where there might be a queue, funnily enough ; checkouts, deli and coffee shop* in our case)

In the deli, if a customer asked for a product that was sliced and I said "it's just a little bit under", they'd usually advise to stick another slice on, whereas if it was a block of cheddar, they'd usually be content with what we'd cut. We'd usually have a few pre-cut and wrapped lumps of cheese in various sizes anyway so they could point and choose the one they wanted, but if it was especially busy we'd often have to cut a bit off the main block. We'd just transitioned from pounds and ounces to kilos, so we were all having to get used to the new measurements anyway.

*Whenever the coffee shop called for a Q-Buster it always meant that they needed someone to operate the dishwasher while they served customers as normal - I was more that happy to oblige as it meant I had a rare moment when I didn't have to deal with the public!