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

[A0wen]

True, digital PLL sync meant that the signal was much less likely to drift, but it was still possible. I definitely had a TV with a vertical sync control right up to the early 2000's (though it was NTSC rather than PAL so a generally inferior system).

Ah - NTSC = never twice same colour. The American system, which, for all its faults, did see widespread colour TV use a decade before the Europeans managed it......

Going back to things you don't see any more in people's houses - how about hard, shiny toilet paper and one of those knitted dolls which covered the spare toilet roll ?

 

[talltim]

Avocado bathroom suites. Or indeed any colour other than white.

Polystyrene ceiling tiles. Not good in a fire.

Telephone directories, yellow pages, Thompson Local.

20 years ago now, but our first doer- upper house had polystyrene tiles everywhere, including two layers on the ceiling of the sitting room, behine wooden panels on walls and even on the shelves of the pantry (including on the edges)

 

[najaB]

20 years ago now, but our first doer- upper house had polystyrene tiles everywhere, including two layers on the ceiling of the sitting room, behine wooden panels on walls and even on the shelves of the pantry (including on the edges)

Double-check the insurance, buy some matches...

 

[ainsworth74]

Going back to things you don't see any more in people's houses - how about hard, shiny toilet paper

My grandparents used to have that at their house. I believe there was a disagreement between them as to which to use so they ended up with one dispenser for hard toilet paper and one for the soft stuff we use now. My grandfather persisted in having the stuff after my grandmother passed until I think he just couldn't find it anymore in shops and finally conceded.

 

[Peter Sarf]

My grandparents used to have that at their house. I believe there was a disagreement between them as to which to use so they ended up with one dispenser for hard toilet paper and one for the soft stuff we use now. My grandfather persisted in having the stuff after my grandmother passed until I think he just couldn't find it anymore in shops and finally conceded.

Gosh that reminds me. Newspaper cut into approximate squares and threaded on to string. That was the loo paper in my Grandparents downstairs (almost outside) loo, circa 1980s.

 

[najaB]

Gosh that reminds me. Newspaper cut into approximate squares and threaded on to string. That was the loo paper in my Grandparents downstairs (almost outside) loo, circa 1980s.

Was that wartime economy, or a comment on the quality of journalism?

 

[talltim]

Printers? Virtually nobody I know has one anymore, and of the one or two that do, they're gathering dust.

I can see three from here, althoug they all belong to my wife. (she does various craft things with them. Mind you, at the moment used for the half a tree that home schooling seems to need printing every day.

 

[birchesgreen]

That’s what I was thinking.
something like this:

I have one of those in my kitchen, never used it though in the 21 years i've been here. I suspect it doesn't work anymore.

 

[Lloyds siding]

The Risograph (sp?). The copies always had a funny vaguely solvent smell, and were somewhat less sharp than the originals, as though someone had traced using a fountain pen on blotting paper. Always fun when the originals had been lost and the teacher handed out third or fourth generation copies, they could be unreadable.
At least one machine in our school could do several colour on the page - definitely green and red in addition to the usual purple, possibly blue too though I'm not sure.

No ours was an Agfa, using diffusion transfer, but gave good quality b&w copies. It was also at school, so going off topic...but certainly small enough to be in the home...but probably too expensive. Xerox machines superseded these wet photocopiers (from the Greek 'xeros' meaning dry.

 

[dgl]

So I procrastinate as the old boiler seems VERY reliable - Potterton Flamingo. Mind you that is two pilot lights I would eliminate so saving gas but then the hot water would no longer work in a power cut !. The old things were simple, well made and so more reliable.

I think I've mention this before but it's probably similar but probably slightly more modern than the Kingfisher 2 that was at my auntie and uncles (looking online the Flamingo was the last boiler with a pilot light from Potterton), will probably get changed by the new owner when the house is sold, it's a floor standing model so not so easy to replace.

And as for lava lamps, until recently I did not know they were invented in Dorset, not only that the original company, Mathmos, is still in business making lava lamps in various styles in Poole.

Lastly on the colour TV front NTSC was not first, Baird had a colour system that was ~1000 lines, so pretty much HD. Unfortunatly they wanted to get a TV service quickly restarted after the war and going for a new system was not seen as a good idea. The death of Baird didn't help either. Not only that but Baird had invented a two colour 3d system as well.

 

[xotGD]

Free-standing kerosene-fueled room heaters. My grandparents had one in their kitchen.

 

[Journeyman]

Free-standing kerosene-fueled room heaters. My grandparents had one in their kitchen.

aka Portable Towering Inferno.

 

[Gloster]

Free-standing kerosene-fueled room heaters. My grandparents had one in their kitchen.

I can remember them. As my room was heated by the effect of a fire in the adjacent room, which cooled during the night, I leapt at the chance of warmth. A couple of nights of having everything permeated by the smell of kerosene meant that I chose to be cold. We did get central-heating later, but I was still out at the wrong end of the system.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Was that wartime economy, or a comment on the quality of journalism?

Good point - maybe more time was spent on the pages after they were cut up than before. I remember a problem was that the newsprint would rub off - I used to avoid using the sheets that had pictures on them.

Free-standing kerosene-fueled room heaters. My grandparents had one in their kitchen.

Still got one, well we called it a "paraffin heater". Came out of my mothers house about 18 months ago. Could come in useful if I can find a source of paraffin. It says use "Esso Blue" inside - and I remember the advert "Boom Boom Boom Boom, Esso Blue".

aka Portable Towering Inferno.

As a very young lad I remember a wee accident with what I now know is flammable liquid .

 

[eoff]

Going back to things you don't see any more in people's houses - how about hard, shiny toilet paper and one of those knitted dolls which covered the spare toilet roll ?

Are you talking about this sort of thing?

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I seem to recall white tissue in yellow boxes, popular in public buildings (schools and swimming pools) but I'm really surprised anyone had that at home and out of choice.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Are you talking about this sort of thing?

JEYES - SQUARE TOILET TISSUE HOLDER - VINTAGE - CERAMIC - WITH ORIGINAL TISSUES! | eBay

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I seem to recall white tissue in yellow boxes, popular in public buildings (schools and swimming pools) but I'm really surprised anyone had that at home and out of choice.

I remember "IZAL medicated" on a roll. I am sure that or similar was what the railways used. Linky.

 

[Gloster]

It says use "Esso Blue" inside - and I remember the advert "Boom Boom Boom Boom, Esso Blue".

I always used to conflate the Esso Blue and the Opal Fruits adverts: “Esso Blue. Made to make your mouth water.” Not a good idea. (Don’t try this at home.)

 

[Peter Sarf]

I always used to conflate the Esso Blue and the Opal Fruits adverts: “Esso Blue. Made to make your mouth water.” Not a good idea. (Don’t try this at home.)

 

[PG]

Are you talking about this sort of thing?

JEYES - SQUARE TOILET TISSUE HOLDER - VINTAGE - CERAMIC - WITH ORIGINAL TISSUES! | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for JEYES - SQUARE TOILET TISSUE HOLDER - VINTAGE - CERAMIC - WITH ORIGINAL TISSUES! at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

I seem to recall white tissue in yellow boxes, popular in public buildings (schools and swimming pools) but I'm really surprised anyone had that at home and out of choice.

These days you can get softer varieties in square boxes to fix those holders.

Image shows a square box containing individual sheets of toilet paper.

 

[MattA7]

I remember "IZAL medicated" on a roll. I am sure that or similar was what the railways used. Linky.

my mother said when she was younger a few of her aunts used the medicated toilet paper because they believed using soft paper was sinful

 

[trainophile]

I remember a funny quip I heard or read with regard to Izal type loo paper - "it chases everything around but doesn't take any prisoners". Could never understand why our dad preferred it and continued with it even after the soft stuff became readily available. Probably cheaper.

I lived in a staff flat with two other girls when I worked in a hotel and the shared bathroom only had one of those over-bath (which swivelled to serve the washbasin too) water heaters. I thought it was a huge novelty, and it worked pretty well. No waiting for the water to re-heat after someone else had had a bath.

Still use a tea cosy, wouldn't be without one. Always make tea in a pot and have two cups each.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I remember a funny quip I heard or read with regard to Izal type loo paper - "it chases everything around but doesn't take any prisoners".

The version I remember hearing was...

What was the difference between John Wayne and Izal toilet paper?

Answer: None. Both were as tough as ***k and neither would take any s*** !

 

[Butts]

The version I remember hearing was...

What was the difference between John Wayne and Izal toilet paper?

Answer: None. Both were as tough as ***k and neither would take any s*** !

As well as at home most Public Toilets were supplied with Izal "sandpaper" - strangely no one used to steal it !!

Leaves more on than it takes off was very apt.

 

[181]

Free-standing kerosene-fueled room heaters. My grandparents had one in their kitchen.

I have one in the garage (spare from my parents' garage a few years ago -- my father still uses a more modern one there). I don't use it often, but from time to time it's useful for taking the chill off if I'm doing bicycle maintenance on a cold winter day. The garage is draughty enough that fumes aren't a major problem.

 

[Bevan Price]

Good point - maybe more time was spent on the pages after they were cut up than before. I remember a problem was that the newsprint would rub off - I used to avoid using the sheets that had pictures on them.

Still got one, well we called it a "paraffin heater". Came out of my mothers house about 18 months ago. Could come in useful if I can find a source of paraffin. It says use "Esso Blue" inside - and I remember the advert "Boom Boom Boom Boom, Esso Blue".

As a very young lad I remember a wee accident with what I now know is flammable liquid .

My parents used to have something similar, called a Tilley heater.(or similar name). You had to use methylated spirits (+ a match) to get it ignited. It was useful if you needed to heat an extra room when only one room had a coal fire, but in retrospect, it must have been a potential fire hazard.

 

[GusB]

Calor Gas heaters were fairly commonplace, but I haven't seen any in use in homes for a long time.

 

[MattA7]

Calor Gas heaters were fairly commonplace, but I haven't seen any in use in homes for a long time.

I was away to mention those calor gas heaters. At first I thought they may have been banned due to fears of carbon monoxide poisoning however they are still manufactured.

my parents had one in our old fashioned all electric flat when I was growing up but they got rid of it when we moved to a modern home with central heating.

 

[Journeyman]

Calor Gas heaters were fairly commonplace, but I haven't seen any in use in homes for a long time.

I've seen them in workshops and garages and stuff, places that don't have handy mains supplies.

 

[najaB]

It was useful if you needed to heat an extra room when only one room had a coal fire, but in retrospect, it must have been a potential fire hazard.

There were a lot more potential fire hazards back in those days, but I suppose there was a lot less to set fire to.

Calor Gas heaters were fairly commonplace, but I haven't seen any in use in homes for a long time.

I had one up to three years ago, give or take.

 

[Journeyman]

There were a lot more potential fire hazards back in those days, but I suppose there was a lot less to set fire to.

It'll be interesting to see if house fires are less common than they were.