Things that used to be common place in people’s homes

[Mcr Warrior]

I don't know if there are many councils left now that still don't use wheelie bins:

Are wheelie bins usually to be found in people's homes?

 

[Gloster]

Yes, sometimes. A friend lived in a ground-floor flat where the bin was in a sort of annex to the kitchen, but inside the backdoor.

 

[GusB]

Are wheelie bins usually to be found in people's homes?

Considering last night's winds, it wouldn't surprise me if some wheelie bins did find their way into some homes!

 

[AY1975]

When I said cooker hoods I was meaning the type that seems to be fitted as standard to new builds and whenever someone has a new kitchen, which consists of an extractor fan and light i.e.

Rather than the old fashioned type which had a 'hood' for an eye level grill i.e.

Talking of eye level grills, I think they only became common in about the 1950s or 60s. Before that the norm was for the grill to be at waist level.

The 1950s/60s comedian Michael Flanders once said an eye level grill enables you to get hot fat squirted straight in your eyes without bending down.

When I was a kid in the late '70s and early '80s we still had an old-style cooker with a waist level grill. When it became life-expired we had it replaced by a modern one with an eye level grill, though.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Calderdale Council here in West Yorkshire don't use wheelie-bins. However, they no longer supply new plastic dustbins and lids, so many households - mine included - have to leave their refuse on the pavement/roadside tied-up in blue plastic sacks provided by the council's contractors and hope that dogs/cats/rats/foxes/deer, etc. don't tear them apart before the bin men arrive.

Cornwall Council, a Unitary Authority, don't presently use wheelie bins. When District Councils were replaced by Cornwall Council the fact that the majority had supplied wheelie bins was ignored and we went back to black sack collection, in a county surrounded by sea and, therefore, seagulls. Most people who had the wheelie bins before continue to use them, with the sacks inside, but in some of the more rural areas had to stop as the contractor to the council had managed to find a job lot of small dustcarts without bin-lifting capacity! Del Trotter lives.

Gosh I was glad to see the back of plastic bags left out on the street. Absolutely no regard to encouraging vermin and so should never have been allowed. Such an unhygienic mess producing use of plastic. I think the reasons councils went to disposable bags was so that the waste collection staff did not have to trek back on to the property to put the bin back where they got it from. That must have saved quite a lot of time and effort.

Round here in Croydon we have moved on to wheelie bins. They get left on the street of course and the council saves money by collecting once a fortnight so the bins get quite smelly in summer !. Does anyone else still have a weekly collection ?.

 

[D6130]

so the bins get quite smelly in summer !

There are firms in various parts of the country which specialise in cleaning and disinfecting wheelie bins....at the client's expense of course!

 

[Peter Sarf]

There are firms in various parts of the country which specialise in cleaning and disinfecting wheelie bins....at the client's expense of course!

If the rubbish is in the bin for two weeks the rubbish smells even if the bin itself was cleaned - by me.

Interesting point though. Did bin cleaning services exist back in the days of metal cylindrical bins ?.

 

[Ediswan]

Interesting point though. Did bin cleaning services exist back in the days of metal cylindrical bins ?.

My father used derris dust, now banned. Initially there was also hot ash to be disposed of, which could be put in metal bins. Between the two, never had a smelly bin.

 

[Busaholic]

. Does anyone else still have a weekly collection ?.

Almost reluctant to admit it, but we still have in Cornwall.It's only because they couldn't arrange terms with a contractor on the proposed new terms, as they couldn't save enough. In any case, covid intervened so it's all on hold.

 

[birchesgreen]

Does anyone else still have a weekly collection ?.

Birmingham does for general waste, fortnightly for recycle

 

[py_megapixel]

Birmingham does for general waste, fortnightly for recycle

Where I live, we have one bin for general rubbish, one for paper/cardboard and one for other recyclables, and every week two of the three bins are collected. In practice what this means is that each bin gets two weeks of being collected then one week where it's not collected. And yes, this does get infuriating if you have a load of paper to recycle just after the 2nd week of the paper bin going!

Also, food waste goes every week - presumably to stop it decomposing too much and creating an odour.

 

[ainsworth74]

Does anyone else still have a weekly collection ?

Depends on your definition. Round here there is a weekly bin collection but one week they come for general household waste the next week is recycling and garden waste. Is that a weekly collection or not?!

 

[ABB125]

Birmingham does for general waste, fortnightly for recycle

Does it? I never knew that, despite living here! Though to be fair, I'm not too sure what day of the week the bins are collected either (might be a Monday?)! Mind you, this being Selly Oak, anywhere outside the door is the bin as far as some of the students are concerned...

 

[gg1]

Birmingham does for general waste, fortnightly for recycle

As does Walsall and Dudley, we must be especially blessed in the field of rubbish collection in this part of the world.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Depends on your definition. Round here there is a weekly bin collection but one week they come for general household waste the next week is recycling and garden waste. Is that a weekly collection or not?!

I would call that fortnightly. It means you have to wait for two weeks for any bin to be emptied.

Croydon is General rubbish and also Paper/cardboard one week then Cans, Glass Bottles and Plastic the other week. So the general waste has a chance to get quite sweaty in summer. We do have a weekly food waste collection but the missus does end up putting food tinted rubbish (wrappers etc) in the general waste. Anything to avoid her contaminating the other recycling.

Fortnightly does lead to errors forgetting which week it is. I had that problem at school as it was a two week timetable. Most years I had PE on one or other Monday. Many kids used to end up getting it wrong which meant wearing the "spare" kit which was a bit erm used !. I got round it by taking my PE kit every Monday. So did anyone else have to endure a fortnightly school timetable ?.

 

[Trackman]

Birmingham does for general waste, fortnightly for recycle

The opposite in Lewisham. Recycling weekly and refuse fortnightly.
Everything was weekly up to about 3 years ago.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Has this thread morphed into a general discussion on waste collection frequencies?

Might need to ask a mod to carve-out a separate thread for this subject matter.

 

[Bertone]

How about gas pokers - or has that been previously mentioned?

 

[gg1]

Has this thread morphed into a general discussion on waste collection frequencies?

Might need to ask a mod to carve-out a separate thread for this subject matter.

They might rubbish your suggestion and refuse.

 

[D6130]

Has anyone mentioned 'Teasmade' yet?....combined alarm clock/kettle/teapot. All the rage back in the 'seventies - my parents bought one for each of my grandmothers.

 

[birchesgreen]

They might rubbish your suggestion and refuse.

Lets skip it.

 

[jfollows]

Has anyone mentioned 'Teasmade' yet?....combined alarm clock/kettle/teapot. All the rage back in the 'seventies - my parents bought one for each of my grandmothers.

I have a modern one, available from Argos and other places no doubt (https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9104653?clickSR=slp:term:teasmade:1:1:1), I don't have it in the bedroom but in the kitchen so that I can set it up the night before and my other half can turn it on to make tea when he's ready for it in the morning. Doesn't quite fit the modus operandi but it works for us.

 

[swt_passenger]

How about gas pokers - or has that been previously mentioned?

There or four times now I think, I’ve noticed quite a few since I suggested it in mid January

 

[gg1]

Has anyone mentioned 'Teasmade' yet?....combined alarm clock/kettle/teapot. All the rage back in the 'seventies - my parents bought one for each of my grandmothers.

Based on my memory of childhood holidays, they were also a standard feature in 1980s BnBs.

 

[adrock1976]

Based on my memory of childhood holidays, they were also a standard feature in 1980s BnBs.

A Teasmade/maid was also a common prize with Bully's Prize Board on Bullseye, back in the days of Jim Bowen and Tony Green.

Bullseye I remember it being a Central TV show, not from Birmingham but Lenton Lane in Nottingham (that was where correspondence was sent for the show).

 

[takno]

A Teasmade/maid was also a common prize with Bully's Prize Board on Bullseye, back in the days of Jim Bowen and Tony Green.

Bullseye I remember it being a Central TV show, not from Birmingham but Lenton Lane in Nottingham (that was where correspondence was sent for the show).

Correspondence like "where's my speedboat you cheating bull?"

 

[Strat-tastic]

Let's take a look at what you could've won.

Oh the cruelty

 

[ta-toget]

Fortnightly does lead to errors forgetting which week it is. I had that problem at school as it was a two week timetable. Most years I had PE on one or other Monday. Many kids used to end up getting it wrong which meant wearing the "spare" kit which was a bit erm used !. I got round it by taking my PE kit every Monday. So did anyone else have to endure a fortnightly school timetable ?.

Getting a bit off topic, but I had two-week timetables from age 13 (Year 9) at two different schools. At one school, the timetable was completely different each week, though at the other, there were very few differences between each of the two weeks. There first school had an antiquated timetable, based around the structure of the school when it was smaller, which no longer had any meaning when I was there.

 

[Gareth]

Those round bakelite light switches mounted on wooden blocks.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Those round bakelite light switches mounted on wooden blocks.

From the same era as those three pin round pin sockets I feel. I think the two pin shaver plug / socket is a hangover from that.

In fact even the more modern square version that was still a flick switch seem to be in decline. More positive than a rocker switch imo.