Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[The exile]

The term "Robin Reliant" is very irritating. You wouldn't go around saying that you drive a "Mondeo Ford"

Stems presumably from the fact that to the average person in the street, the company is known for one (very famous) product and that there’s nothing particularly obvious about either name that says “company” or “product”. In terms of the first of those, for a long time “VW” basically meant “Beetle” (unless you were in to Campervans) - accurately reflecting company history if not current model range.

 

[Western Lord]

Stems presumably from the fact that to the average person in the street, the company is known for one (very famous) product and that there’s nothing particularly obvious about either name that says “company” or “product”. In terms of the first of those, for a long time “VW” basically meant “Beetle” (unless you were in to Campervans) - accurately reflecting company history if not current model range.

Until Only Fools and Horses brought it to prominence I don't think all that many people were particularly aware of Reliant's three wheelers. The company also made the Reliant Scimitar GTE, one of which was driven by Princess Anne, and I would suggest that this had more prominence pre OFAH.

 

[The exile]

I wonder how long it will take to lose the 21st century and speak of in the 2000s? 20th century, in the 1900s?

Well “the Xth century” is still common parlance when referring to all the others (especially since it can be used adjectivally), so probably never.

 

[GordonT]

Is there anywhere in the UK that still uses the traditional galvanised two-handled "proper" dustbins for domestic waste purposes?

 

[Indigo Soup]

Is there anywhere in the UK that still uses the traditional galvanised two-handled "proper" dustbins for domestic waste purposes?

It may well have changed now, but when I lived in a tenement in Glasgow about ten years ago the galvanised steel dustbins were still in use - the layout of many was such that bins had to be carried up and down flights of stairs from the back court, which couldn't be done with a full wheelie bin.

 

[najaB]

Is there anywhere in the UK that still uses the traditional galvanised two-handled "proper" dustbins for domestic waste purposes?

They'll be few and far between since they're more difficult to handle than wheelie bins.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Green Shield stamps.
And the books with page after page of the darn things, still not enough to purchase anything of usefulness...

 

[75A]

They'll be few and far between since they're more difficult to handle than wheelie bins.

In Northern Ireland everyone appears to have 3 coloured wheelie bins.
Blue for recycling, Brown for food & garden waste and Black for everything else

 

[PG]

Green Shield stamps.
And the books with page after page of the darn things, still not enough to purchase anything of usefulness...

At least with the Co-op stamps you were able to use full books as part payment for your shopping.

 

[AndyPJG]

Traffic lights with "Stop" on the red lenses, and controlled by rubber pads set into the road surface.

 

[AM9]

Traffic lights with "Stop" on the red lenses, and controlled by rubber pads set into the road surface.

... and he posts painted in black and white bands.

 

[dangie]

Green Shield stamps.….

Reminds me of ‘Only Fools & Horses’

Boycie: How can you drink with Slater? That's the man who stitched you up with them knocked-off green shield stamps and sent you away for 18 months!

Trigger: I know. But when I came out I got an electric blanket and a radio with 'em.

 

[AY1975]

In 1996, I looked at a Victorian terraced house in Wantage where the plumbing consisted of a cold tap in the kitchen and an outside toilet.

Gosh, I would have thought that the number of houses left with no bathroom and only an outside toilet would have been negligible by the 1990s, as I believe that most such houses were modernised and had bathrooms and inside toilets installed (or were demolished) in the 1970s and 80s.

 

[Indigo Soup]

Gosh, I would have thought that the number of houses left with no bathroom and only an outside toilet would have been negligible by the 1990s, as I believe that most such houses were modernised and had bathrooms and inside toilets installed (or were demolished) in the 1970s and 80s.

I remember some of my extended family living in a house a similar arrangement at around that time. It may even have been a council house; certainly it was built as one. I was quite young, so I didn't realise quite how unusual it was, but I remember thinking I'd never seen it before.

 

[Killingworth]

When in 1946 my doctor uncle and his wife took over his father's East Riding practice they moved into the old 6 bed roomed house in which he'd grown up. My aunt was a bit shocked to find there was still a pump behind the kitchen for water. Priority No 1 was mains water around the house. It was good fun playing with it until it was eventually removed.

 

[bspahh]

When in 1946 my doctor uncle and his wife took over his father's East Riding practice they moved into the old 6 bed roomed house in which he'd grown up. My aunt was a bit shocked to find there was still a pump behind the kitchen for water. Priority No 1 was mains water around the house. It was good fun playing with it until it was eventually removed.

In the 1990s, the social club at Cadburys Bourneville had a cottage up the valley from Corris in Wales, where the plumbing was a spring in the back garden for drinking water, a stream at the front for washing, and a chemical toilet which you had to empty by tipping the waste down a disused mine shaft.

 

[Amos]

Gosh, I would have thought that the number of houses left with no bathroom and only an outside toilet would have been negligible by the 1990s, as I believe that most such houses were modernised and had bathrooms and inside toilets installed (or were demolished) in the 1970s and 80s.

My grandad only had a bathroom and inside toilet installed in 1994.

 

[swt_passenger]

Gosh, I would have thought that the number of houses left with no bathroom and only an outside toilet would have been negligible by the 1990s, as I believe that most such houses were modernised and had bathrooms and inside toilets installed (or were demolished) in the 1970s and 80s.

My grandparents (later grandmother only) did absolutely nothing to their terraced house in Alnwick with similar facilities, they lived in it between 1936 and about 1996, when she went into sheltered accommodation. Although improvement grants had been available for about 30 years or more by then, the local council were never proactive in requiring anything to be done. I suppose people never missed what they had never had. It wasn’t the only unmodernised house in the street either. I wonder if local councils concentrated on their own rental properties?

 

[Sun Chariot]

The Robertsons Jam "Golly"

 

[GordonT]

Penicillin ice lollies once given to child tonsillitis sufferers.

 

[Jimini]

Penicillin ice lollies once given to child tonsillitis sufferers.

Blimey, was that really a thing?

 

[AM9]

Blimey, was that really a thing?

I don't remeber getting tonsillitis but do remember having my tonsils out at age 4 3/4. There in hospital, they gave us ice cream, which felt like ground glass* as we swallowed it.

* I've luckily never had ground glass so it's likeness is a guess.

 

[Jimini]

I don't remeber getting tonsillitis but do remember having my tonsils out at age 4 3/4. There in hospital, they gave us ice cream, which felt like ground glass* as we swallowed it.

* I've luckily never had ground glass so it's likeness is a guess.

Adrian Mole anecdote incoming -- wasn't the logic there that you could only leave hospital after having your tonsils removed once you'd successfully consumed a bowl of Corn Flakes?

 

[AM9]

Adrian Mole anecdote incoming -- wasn't the logic there that you could only leave hospital after having your tonsils removed once you'd successfully consumed a bowl of Corn Flakes?

That sounds familiar, - I think I was there for about 3-4 days. Do they still remove tonsils?

 

[najaB]

Do they still remove tonsils?

Yes, though not with anything like the regularity that they did in the past.

The "better out than in" mentality that applied to tonsils, appendixes, uteruses, etc isn't nearly as prevalent as it used to be.

 

[GordonT]

Yes, though not with anything like the regularity that they did in the past.

The "better out than in" mentality that applied to tonsils, appendixes, uteruses, etc isn't nearly as prevalent as it used to be.

Tonsillectomy in tandem with adenoidectomy was very common practice in the 1960s.

 

[najaB]

Tonsillectomy in tandem with adenoidectomy was very common practice in the 1960s.

Removal of both being a case of "while we're here..."

 

[GordonT]

Removal of both being a case of "while we're here..."

On the basis that if you no longer have them they won't cause you any future problem.

 

[Statto]

Still around in many shops. They don't do sachets though, so you're more likely to see HP over Daddies in most establishments.

The Daddies ketchup is quite nice with chips too.

Funnily enough Daddies & HP sauces were invented by the same person, Frederick Gibson Garton, he invented HP sauce first but got into debt with a supplier, which forced him to hand over the name & recipe, he then later invented Daddies sauce.

HP Sauce - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Indigo Soup]

The Robertsons Jam "Golly"

My grandmother still can't understand why they got rid of them.