Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[Trackman]

That brings back a few memories, my first job after leaving Uni was with White Arrow for around 6 months as a temp in the late 90s, for a massive £3.65 per hour.

Think they were going in the 70s too. Catalogue businesses.
Didnt they have a card you could put in the window to say it was a 'safe drop off' if the recipient wasn't at home?

 

[Jimini]

Think they were going in the 70s too. Catalogue businesses.
Didnt they have a card you could put in the window to say it was a 'safe drop off' if the recipient wasn't at home?

How all good shell suits used to be delivered!

 

[gg1]

Think they were going in the 70s too. Catalogue businesses.
Didnt they have a card you could put in the window to say it was a 'safe drop off' if the recipient wasn't at home?

Yes, the bulk of their business was delivering for mail order catalogues, Great Universal and Kays I think (which probably deserve a place in this thread too). Big parcels were delivered directly by White Arrow, smaller parcels by self employed couriers in their own cars, much the same system as Evri, Yodel etc now. IIRC the couriers were paid 40p per delivery, even 27 years ago that was an awful rate when you bear in mind they had to pay for their own insurance and fuel.

 

[GusB]

Think they were going in the 70s too. Catalogue businesses.
Didnt they have a card you could put in the window to say it was a 'safe drop off' if the recipient wasn't at home?

Yes, the bulk of their business was delivering for mail order catalogues, Great Universal and Kays I think (which probably deserve a place in this thread too). Big parcels were delivered directly by White Arrow, smaller parcels by self employed couriers in their own cars, much the same system as Evri, Yodel etc now. IIRC the couriers were paid 40p per delivery, even 27 years ago that was an awful rate when you bear in mind they had to pay for their own insurance and fuel.

I certainly remember seeing White Arrow vans in the 70s. My mum was an agent for Great Universal back in the day and parcels were usually delivered that way.

Catalogue shopping was a fairly big thing back then. You bought goods and then paid a fixed amount per week with the weekly amount varying depending on the length of the repayment period.

It actually survived until fairly recently; I worked for Shop Direct (now the Very Group) for a time and had to deal with Kays and Littlewoods customers. At that point it wasn't possible to become a new agent, but there were still a few legacy agent* accounts around and dealing with them could be quite a challenge; apportion a payment to the wrong customer and there'd be hell to pay!

* For the unaware, an agent was someone who placed orders, took payments and handled returns on behalf of their own group of customers. They were paid commission for sales.

 

[Killingworth]

When motoring in the 60s, and until quite recently, I always kept a full set of bulbs in the glove box and was able to replace any quite quickly. I hadn't bought a set for the current car, and probably haven't carried one in the car for nearly 20 years, but I have several part used sets in the garage. Surprise, surprise, the bulbs I have left don't match the two that have failed on my current car.

Off to Halfords and selected suitable bulbs and accepted offer for them to be fitted. I'd looked in the handbook and it looked to be difficult. It was. They couldn't do it. Off to local garage who proceeded to dismantle all sorts of pieces in the front wing area. Apparently the offside headlight is a lot harder to fix than the nearside.

Replacing my own car lights seems very anachronistic now - I'll have to find an old Morris Minor. I could cope with that, and quite a lot of later cars.

 

[Egg Centric]

When motoring in the 60s, and until quite recently, I always kept a full set of bulbs in the glove box and was able to replace any quite quickly. I hadn't bought a set for the current car, and probably haven't carried one in the car for nearly 20 years, but I have several part used sets in the garage. Surprise, surprise, the bulbs I have left don't match the two that have failed on my current car.

Off to Halfords and selected suitable bulbs and accepted offer for them to be fitted. I'd looked in the handbook and it looked to be difficult. It was. They couldn't do it. Off to local garage who proceeded to dismantle all sorts of pieces in the front wing area. Apparently the offside headlight is a lot harder to fix than the nearside.

Replacing my own car lights seems very anachronistic now - I'll have to find an old Morris Minor. I could cope with that, and quite a lot of later cars.

Even having bulbs will probably be anachronistic in a couple of decades. The difference between a modern car on matrix LEDs and a decade old one on halogens is night and day (snigger)

 

[Brent Goose]

We don’t appear to have had a reference to ash trays in cars (and the associated lighter) along with the quip about changing car beca the ash tray was full.

Wikepedia suggest 1994 as when they started to disappear

 

[GordonT]

It still is, do you mean regional branding?

As well as the former greater prevalence of ITV Regions there was the onetime need for televisions to be tuned in to one or other of the many geographically named transmitters depending on the location of the television. Some folk who lived, for example, near the boundary of the areas served by two different transmitters were able to pick up a broader selection of programmes although one of the two "signals" tended to give a better quality of transmission than the other.

 

[Jimini]

As well as the former greater prevalence of ITV Regions there was the onetime need for televisions to be tuned in to one or other of the many geographically named transmitters depending on the location of the television. Some folk who lived, for example, near the boundary of the areas served by two different transmitters were able to pick up a broader selection of programmes although one of the two "signals" tended to give a better quality of transmission than the other.

Happy memories of this. We got Thames / LWT as standard, but could also get TVS (I think it was called) if we played around a bit

 

[GusB]

As well as the former greater prevalence of ITV Regions there was the onetime need for televisions to be tuned in to one or other of the many geographically named transmitters depending on the location of the television. Some folk who lived, for example, near the boundary of the areas served by two different transmitters were able to pick up a broader selection of programmes although one of the two "signals" tended to give a better quality of transmission than the other.

I had a black and white portable telly with a telescopic aerial and I was usually able to pick up two versions of each channel. Being in the north of Scotland, I didn't have a choice of ITV regions (it was Grampian only) but the ability to pick up more than one transmitter could be quite handy, especially during bad weather.

Rosemarkie was our main transmitter but I wasn't sure where the extra signal came from; the lights of Rumster Forest are visible on a clear night, but Knock More is probably closer. I also remember that occasionally there was an issue with interference on BBC2 - a faint diagonal pattern on the screen.

All obsolete: monochrome tellies, analogue signals, manual tuning, transmitter information broadcasts and in-vision continuity announcements!

We don’t appear to have had a reference to ash trays in cars (and the associated lighter) along with the quip about changing car beca the ash tray was full.

Wikepedia suggest 1994 as when they started to disappear

I don't know exactly when ashtrays disappeared from cars, but it was later than 1994; my old 2000 Citroen Xsara certainly had one.

 

[Western Lord]

There can't be that many of us left who experienced the concept of "The Front Room". In 1955 our family moved into a brand new three bed semi. Downstairs at the back were the kitchen with what was described as the dining room next to it. At the front, connected to the dining room by double doors was what was supposed to be the living room. We never used it as it was kept for "best". Occasional guests would be entertained there but otherwise it mouldered in unheated disuse except at Christmas when the doors would be ceremoniously opened and we had a lot more space to live in for about ten days before it was closed off again and we were confined to the dining room (we always called it that), and from 1959 (when the youngest was born) and 1963 (when the eldest got married and left home) there were five kids and mum and dad to accommodate. I never really understood the mindset that resulted in this absurdity, which continued for about fifteen years before common sense prevailed and the whole downstairs was used.

 

[AM9]

I had a black and white portable telly with a telescopic aerial and I was usually able to pick up two versions of each channel. Being in the north of Scotland, I didn't have a choice of ITV regions (it was Grampian only) but the ability to pick up more than one transmitter could be quite handy, especially during bad weather.

Rosemarkie was our main transmitter but I wasn't sure where the extra signal came from; the lights of Rumster Forest are visible on a clear night, but Knock More is probably closer. I also remember that occasionally there was an issue with interference on BBC2 - a faint diagonal pattern on the screen.

All obsolete: monochrome tellies, analogue signals, manual tuning, transmitter information broadcasts and in-vision continuity announcements!


I don't know exactly when ashtrays disappeared from cars, but it was later than 1994; my old 2000 Citroen Xsara certainly had one.

When I moved to Chelmsford, the easiest transmitter to receive was Sudbury for BBC East and ITV Anglia, but preferring London it was just possible to get reliable reception from Crystal Palace.At cvvertain times, ITV Southern from Dover on Ch 66 was just possible. On moveing to south-east Hampshire, Rowridge was the only practical source, the South Downs blocked anything from the north, however in a car I had, it had a very good Sharp radio that could keep Capital Radio on am (194m), perfectly listenable contuinuously from SW Essex through to the gap over Portsdown Hill where the A3 passes through, (at Widley, not the A3M gap at Farlington).

 

[PeterC]

When I moved to Chelmsford, the easiest transmitter to receive was Sudbury for BBC East and ITV Anglia, but preferring London it was just possible to get reliable reception from Crystal Palace.At cvvertain times, ITV Southern from Dover on Ch 66 was just possible. On moveing to south-east Hampshire, Rowridge was the only practical source, the South Downs blocked anything from the north, however in a car I had, it had a very good Sharp radio that could keep Capital Radio on am (194m), perfectly listenable contuinuously from SW Essex through to the gap over Portsdown Hill where the A3 passes through, (at Widley, not the A3M gap at Farlington).

I used to live just down the road in Billericay and received Thames TV but my M-i-L just over a mile away received Anglia.

 

[Indigo Soup]

Off to Halfords and selected suitable bulbs and accepted offer for them to be fitted. I'd looked in the handbook and it looked to be difficult. It was. They couldn't do it. Off to local garage who proceeded to dismantle all sorts of pieces in the front wing area. Apparently the offside headlight is a lot harder to fix than the nearside.

I believe on some cars it's necessary to remove a wheel in order to replace the corresponding headlight!

Rosemarkie was our main transmitter but I wasn't sure where the extra signal came from; the lights of Rumster Forest are visible on a clear night, but Knock More is probably closer. I also remember that occasionally there was an issue with interference on BBC2 - a faint diagonal pattern on the screen.

Some miles west of you (I believe) we couldn't get Channel 5 in the 2000s, as it was only carried on Rosemarkie and an inconveniently-located block of woodland meant we couldn't receive signals from it. The digital signal we received from Knockmore was so poor that my parents were eventually forced to get satellite TV in order to get any reception at all.

 

[bspahh]

I used to live just down the road in Billericay and received Thames TV but my M-i-L just over a mile away received Anglia.

In Abingdon in the late 90s, I used to buy the Daily Mail on a Saturday for the weekly TV guide, as it was the only paper that had the correct regions (BBC South East and Central for ITV).

 

[dgl]

Living on portland it's 70/30 whether you choose Stockland Hill (East Devon) or Rowridge (IoW) for your TV reception, the sea path can make getting a good signal a challenge sometimes.
My Gran in Crewkerne could get bothered the correct West BBC channels from the Mendip transmitter but also could get the BBC A multiplex from Wenvoe near Cardiff (so BBC 1/2 wales), was a problem before TV's had a region preference and you'd have to disconnect the antenna when doing a channel scan until you got past the Wenvoe frequencies. This was all despite the transmitters being in opposite directions and the use of a loft antenna.

Also talking of TV's, the simple loop antenna either built in or with an attachment for one on "portable" TV's and TV's with only an antenna input.
I got an old Fidelity 80's TV picking up a usable free view signal using it's built in loop antenna and an old video machine as a modulator for the digital TV receiver.

 

[AM9]

Living on portland it's 70/30 whether you choose Stockland Hill (East Devon) or Rowridge (IoW) for your TV reception, the sea path can make getting a good signal a challenge sometimes.
My Gran in Crewkerne could get bothered the correct West BBC channels from the Mendip transmitter but also could get the BBC A multiplex from Wenvoe near Cardiff (so BBC 1/2 wales), was a problem before TV's had a region preference and you'd have to disconnect the antenna when doing a channel scan until you got past the Wenvoe frequencies. This was all despite the transmitters being in opposite directions and the use of a loft antenna.

Also talking of TV's, the simple loop antenna either built in or with an attachment for one on "portable" TV's and TV's with only an antenna input.
I got an old Fidelity 80's TV picking up a usable free view signal using it's built in loop antenna and an old video machine as a modulator for the digital TV receiver.

When I moved to St Albans in the 1990s, there was an aerial fitted to the house that was (loosely) aligned to Crystal Palace from which teletaxt was quite unreliable. I rang the BBC Engineering dept (those were the days!) to discuss the issue and they were surprised as they though that it should be much better. The engineer eventualkly suggested that he only live a short distance away that when he next had the department Land Rover out, he would drop in and take a few measurements. I was at work on the day but the backed onto my driveway and put up a 10m telescopic mast and aerial. A few days later after another discussion he sent me the plots showing the path between here and the top of the transmitter mast at CP, which showed a slight intrusion from Elstree Hill but otherwise an adequate path for normal use. It also showed reception from the Hemel Hempstead, Sudbury, Sandy and even the local St Albans relay, (less than 300m from here). Unsurprisingly, the St Albans one was the worst as it comprised 4 log periodic antennas pointing away down the hill to Batchwood as that was in a dip.

 

[philthetube]

Sirens on fire stations to call in the part time crews, (Retained).

There used to be a fire station across from the church I attended as a child, the siren sounded similar to the stand down siren on an air raid siren, might have been the same. when this sounded during a service all the kids would jump up to watch the fire engines depart.

When I was at home when it sounded we used to be able to look out of the house and see a car come down the road, stop at a cross roads and watch 2 blokes jump into it, one from the left and one from the right. Worked like clockwork

 

[Ediswan]

Sirens on fire stations to call in the part time crews, (Retained).

Maroons (rockets) to call lifeboat crews. As well as calling the crew, they alerted the general public in the area to make way for responding vehicles and pedestrians.

 

[Bald Rick]

Maroons (rockets) to call lifeboat crews. As well as calling the crew, they alerted the general public in the area to make way for responding vehicles and pedestrians.

Still happens! I heard (and saw first) some last year.

 

[GordonT]

Are "Mivvis" still available? A kind of Ice Lolly/Ice Cream hybrid which used to be produced under the Lyons Maid brand. Never seen one for many years and wondering if "Soleros" are the modern equivalent.

 

[bearhugger]

Are "Mivvis" still available? A kind of Ice Lolly/Ice Cream hybrid which used to be produced under the Lyons Maid brand. Never seen one for many years and wondering if "Soleros" are the modern equivalent.

Yes, certainly had some last year. Work occasionally buy a selection of ice creams in when its hot & I always go for a mivvi.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Are "Mivvis" still available? A kind of Ice Lolly/Ice Cream hybrid which used to be produced under the Lyons Maid brand. Never seen one for many years and wondering if "Soleros" are the modern equivalent.

The 'Lyons Maid' business was taken over by Nestlé in 1992 and the "Mivvi" continued in production for several years thereafter, possibly until the mid/late 2000s, but it seems they are no longer being made, although near equivalents (with different brand names and/or made by other manufacturers) are still available.

 

[D6130]

The 'Lyons Maid' business was taken over by Nestlé in 1992 and the "Mivvi" continued in production for several years thereafter, possibly until the mid/late 2000s, but it seems they are no longer being made, although near equivalents (with different brand names and/or made by other manufacturers) are still available.

IIRC, the Walls version of the Mivvi was called the "Something Split"....as in "Raspberry Split", "Strawberry Split", etc.

 

[Brent Goose]

Still happens! I heard (and saw first) some last year.

Largely discontinued 20 years ago, crews use pagers instead

In a similar vein, up until 1998 BT used to operate a series of ‘ship to shore’ radio stations which could be contacted by a small craft at the time. People on the shore could similarly use them to contact a boat, if the radio call wasn’t responded to at the time then the name was added to a routine ‘traffic List’ much like in the OP.

I am told some mild amusement could be gained in listening into conversations such as those ringing their partner explaining their return would be delayed on account of the weather.

 

[AM9]

IIRC, the Walls version of the Mivvi was called the "Something Split"....as in "Raspberry Split", "Strawberry Split", etc.

The name was absorbed into rhyming slang many decades ago.