Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[dangie]

You could say the same about trains...

I will say the same about trains

 

[BingMan]

Yes, there used to be lots of rural and suburban houses purchased for the residence of local police officers. Some were specifically built and still carry the crest of the local force on their stone or brickwork so can still be identified today.

In my West Yorkshire youth we lived in a house owned by the woollen mill where my father was a manager
The house had originally been built for mill owner but he eventually got fed up of the pollution caused by his mill and moved to the country in Ilkley

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Nov 2024 ==

I recall hearing -- I suspect: from a particular late, loved trivia-crammed uncle of mine -- that "in the old days", beards were forbidden to British Army personnel; but at discretion, allowed for those in the Navy. Standard procedure was for the aspirant "beardie" to ask of his superior officer: "Permission to grow, sir?" One imagines hard-to-resist exchanges: involving a sailor of small stature making that request of the bod concerned; and a response along the lines of "knock yourself out, son -- for all the good it's likely to do you".

I think that was because of the difficulty of shaving in a ship bucking against a Force 9 gale. And the request was not "Permission to grow". It was "Permission to cease shaving"

 

[Ashley Hill]

Very true and to an extent often applies in public places generally including within congregating groups of relatively young children.

We have an 84 year old regular in my local pub who swears enough for the whole pub.

 

[dangie]

We have an 84 year old regular in my local pub who swears enough for the whole pub.

I don’t see age as an acceptable excuse (unless of course he has a medical problem). I’m only 73 and know others much older than me but they don’t swear in public.

In my local there was a man who couldn’t keep his swearing down. The gaffer told him that if he didn’t moderate his language then not to come in. ‘Ok’ he said ‘I won’t’. He barred himself.

A couple of weeks later he was back in. Now you very rarely hear him use bad language.

 

[Killingworth]

When you could go into a pub and not be subjected to hearing bad language as an ‘accepted’ part of conversation. I’m not saying for one minute it never happened, but before it was kept quietish, now the whole pub hears it.

My local is a Sam Smith's pub. It's been closed for several years after legendary Humphrey S. made an incognito visit and heard the f word. He told the induvidual he was barred and it all hacked off from there ending with the managers effectively being barred. No more f words. No open pub! But Sam Smith's could justify its own thread - and risk legal action.

 

[bearhugger]

Reminds me of the (very anachronistic) thin plastic film 45s that used to be given away in magazines - usually as promos and I think especially by Readers' Digest. (see also bone music records where X-Ray film was used instead of vinyl).

With a marked place on the film to place a coin to weigh the film down

 

[bspahh]

My local is a Sam Smith's pub. It's been closed for several years after legendary Humphrey S. made an incognito visit and heard the f word. He told the induvidual he was barred and it all hacked off from there ending with the managers effectively being barred. No more f words. No open pub! But Sam Smith's could justify its own thread - and risk legal action.

In September, the Daily Mail said he is due to retire:

his brewery, which owns more than 200 pubs across the land, is set to have a new boss at the helm.

Landlords across his estate have been told that Mr Smith, 79, plans to retire at the end of the year, when he turns 80 in December.

 

[D6130]

In September, the Daily Mail said he is due to retire:

....but if his son takes over, he may turn out to be just as bad - if not worse.

 

[Killingworth]

In September, the Daily Mail said he is due to retire:

Good, but the chances of successfully reopening what must now be hundreds of closed down businesses must be low. Selling many long empty properties could be difficult too.

 

[Calthrop]

I think the request procedure in the RN was to allow them to check you could actually grow a ‘full set” relatively quickly. While someone was initially growing a beard perhaps they were hidden away…

In that case -- if I'd been the supplicant; the response would have been, "no chance"...

 

[McRhu]

Being bought a balloon on a stick from Woolworth's - cost about 3d but provided a lifetime of fun* (or at least until it burst, or inadvertently bounced into the fire, or just shrivelled away).


*On reflection I suspect we were easily pleased in those days, but none the worse for that.

 

[Calthrop]

I think that was because of the difficulty of shaving in a ship bucking against a Force 9 gale. And the request was not "Permission to grow". It was "Permission to cease shaving"

Ah, well -- my uncle was very full of all kinds of lore; a fair bit of it, incorrect -- though you'd never have persuaded him of that .

 

[BingMan]

Ah, well -- my uncle was very full of all kinds of lore; a fair bit of it, incorrect -- though you'd never have persuaded him of that .

Mt Dad's lore trumps your Uncle's lore

 

[Calthrop]

Mt Dad's lore trumps your Uncle's lore

A current-affairs-type jest crossed my mind here; then I thought, "better not".

 

[GordonT]

The taboo in former days of open discussion or publicity of potentially life changing illnesses particularly types of cancer specific to males or those specific to females. Probably a reticence which inhibited early diagnosis in some cases.

 

[dangie]

Pub jukeboxes.
I personally don’t know of any pub in my area which has a jukebox.
By a jukebox I don’t just mean the classic disc jukebox of my younger days, but also the modern box on the wall music from the ‘cloud’ or wherever it comes from.

 

[Jimini]

Pub jukeboxes.
I personally don’t know of any pub in my area which has a jukebox.
By a jukebox I don’t just mean the classic disc jukebox of my younger days, but also the modern box on the wall music from the ‘cloud’ or wherever it comes from.

Plenty around here (Reading). You can use the app and play music in my local from anywhere in the world. I thoroughly enjoyed putting The Birdie Song on a few weeks ago when I was stuck at the office and all my mates were down there

 

[BingMan]

Being bought a balloon on a stick from Woolworth's - cost about 3d but provided a lifetime of fun* (or at least until it burst, or inadvertently bounced into the fire, or just shrivelled away).


*On reflection I suspect we were easily pleased in those days, but none the worse for that.

Being chastised for reading: "Get your head out of that book and go and get some fresh air" was the 50s equivalent of todays "Put that phone away"

 

[GordonT]

Being chastised for reading: "Get your head out of that book and go and get some fresh air" was the 50s equivalent of todays "Put that phone away"

Reading under the bedclothes using a torch as a means of trying to evade parental retribution.

 

[dangie]

Reading under the bedclothes using a torch as a means of trying to evade parental retribution.

Head under the bedclothes on a Sunday night (school tomorrow) listening to the Top 20 on Radio Luxembourg. For the younger forum members this was back in the 1960’s before pirate stations and Radio One.

Note: Due to poor reception you usually only got the beginning, end & maybe a bit in the middle of each song. Good times though.

 

[McRhu]

Head under the bedclothes on a Sunday night (school tomorrow) listening to the Top 20 on Radio Luxembourg. For the younger forum members this was back in the 1960’s before pirate stations and Radio One.

Note: Due to poor reception you usually only got the beginning, end & maybe a bit in the middle of each song. Good times though.

I remember the signal slowly fading in and out as if blown away by the wind. Michelle by (who else) always seemed to be playing on my little red Binatone in its leather case. Anachronistic too is the importance of radio to the weekly march of life as was. H.. H.. Hancock's 'Alf Hour, Julian and Sandy (Polari - another anachronism I believe), Much Binding, etc, etc. And just to prove that the forces of anachronism can be defied - Just a Minute.

 

[GordonT]

The "Solari" flappy arrival/departure boards at railway stations and airports. It was on one of those in Glasgow Airport that I first became aware of the placename Ibiza. It may have also been a Solari in Milan railway station on which I once looked in vain for Paris when I should have been looking for Parigi.

 

[Western Lord]

Head under the bedclothes on a Sunday night (school tomorrow) listening to the Top 20 on Radio Luxembourg. For the younger forum members this was back in the 1960’s before pirate stations and Radio One.

Note: Due to poor reception you usually only got the beginning, end & maybe a bit in the middle of each song. Good times though.

The peculiar thing about Radio Luxembourg's Top Twenty show (with your DJ BA, Barry Alldis) was that they started with the number one and worked their way down to number twenty, the opposite of the way Fluff Freeman did the top ten on Pick of the Pops (and almost all shows ever since, hence the chart countdown).

 

[simonw]

Car steering-wheel locks, I thought we're a thing of the past, until I saw my neighbour applying one to their electric car this morning.

 

[AndrewE]

Car steering-wheel locks, I thought we're a thing of the past, until I saw my neighbour applying one to their electric car this morning.

definitely back in fashion... my brother-in-law (from Bristol) always insists on applying his on our run even though I sometimes forget to even lock our car when it is not in the garage! No problems here for 10 years, if not 15 - the benefits of living in a small over-looked town! (Fingers crossed...)

 

[bspahh]

Car steering-wheel locks, I thought we're a thing of the past, until I saw my neighbour applying one to their electric car this morning.

I had a Stop Lock in the 1990s. One day, the key didn't unlock it anymore. It took me about 20 seconds with a big screwdriver to break the hinge. With practice, it wouldn't take much longer than using the key.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Been using the same steering wheel lock for over 30 years and 4 cars. My father still uses one too.

 

[BingMan]

Car steering-wheel locks, I thought we're a thing of the past, until I saw my neighbour applying one to their electric car this morning.

Given how easy it is to hack the keyless entry system on modern cars a mechanical lock makes sense.
I used to use one of those shepherds crook gadget which locked the clutch pedal to the steering wheel.
But no good on an EV

 

[AndrewE]

Given how easy it is to hack the keyless entry system on modern cars a mechanical lock makes sense.
I used to use one of those shepherds crook gadget which locked the clutch pedal to the steering wheel.
But no good on an EV

A Crooklock, I think. We had one for our Mini from 1974!
couldn't you run it from te steering wheel to the accelerator pedal instead?

 

[Bald Rick]

Car steering-wheel locks, I thought we're a thing of the past, until I saw my neighbour applying one to their electric car this morning.

Very popular on Range Rovers…