Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[najaB]

…and the sun glasses which clipped onto normal glasses.

I don't doubt that Polaroid made them, but they were and are still available from other manufacturers. Just search for "polarised clip-on sunglasses".

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Polo Gummies....circular wine drops with the hole in the middle.

 

[simonw]

Polaroid products such as the (almost) instant (but low quality) photographs and the sun glasses which clipped onto normal glasses.

The Polaroid technology is still available

Polaroid UK | Official Online Store

We create beautiful tools to capture the meaningful moments in life. Welcome to the beautifully imperfect world of Polaroid photography.

www.polaroid.com

Website that allows you to order Polaroid cameras and films

 

[AndrewE]

Polo Gummies....circular wine drops with the hole in the middle.

Or just Polos, fruit-flavoured boiled sweets shaped as described. In the past, but not "anachronistic," just sadly in the past.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Or just Polos, fruit-flavoured boiled sweets shaped as described. In the past, but not "anachronistic," just sadly in the past.

No those you describe were the hard candy ones...the ones that I meant were of the same consistency as normal fruit gums.

 

[najaB]

The Polaroid technology is still available

Indeed. Though, it's worth noting that the current incarnation of the Polaroid company is a Phoenix that has risen from the ashes of the original company.

 

[GordonT]

The Polaroid technology is still available

Polaroid UK | Official Online Store

We create beautiful tools to capture the meaningful moments in life. Welcome to the beautifully imperfect world of Polaroid photography.

www.polaroid.com

Website that allows you to order Polaroid cameras and films

I think I'll pass on that.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Wakes Weeks in the Lancashire mill towns. There was a film called "Hindle Wakes" which had those periods as the time setting of the storyline.

 

[simonw]

Indeed. Though, it's worth noting that the current incarnation of the Polaroid company is a Phoenix that has risen from the ashes of the original company.

Which is why I said the technology is still available.

 

[jupiter]

Creosote.

Callard & Bowser (I think) butterscotch in a white packet and treacle toffee in a black one.

 

[simonw]

Creosote.

Can You Still Buy Creosote in the UK? - East Coast Fencing

www.eastcoastfencing.com

Still available, just not for amateurs.

 

[Ediswan]

The Polaroid technology is still available

Reading around, there seem to be two answers.

Newly made film for some original Polaroid cameras, chemistry unclear.

New 'Polaroid' cameras, Fuji chemistry.

 

[adc82140]

Junior Disprin. Dissolved in lukewarm water, and tasted foul. More than once, my plan to have a sick day off school was thwarted by this. "If you're not feeling well you'll have to have a Disprin". Going to school was by far preferable.

 

[GordonT]

Collecting tadpoles and imprisoning them within a goldfish bowl.

 

[PeterC]

Wakes Weeks in the Lancashire mill towns. There was a film called "Hindle Wakes" which had those periods as the time setting of the storyline.

It used to be similar on the Eastern edge of London with Ford's shutdown. In office it meant that priority for leave was given to the spouses of Ford workers regardless if what it said in the staff manual.

 

[GusB]

I remember my grandmother was obsessed with giving us a dose of milk of magnesia before bed to "keep you regular". It was always in a blue bottle with encrusted contents around the top. Tasted horrible.
It was the one thing I disliked about a visit to my grandparents.

I remember there being a bottle of Milk of Magnesia in the medicine box, but I don't ever remember it being used. It must have been well over 20 years old when it disappeared.

Leather patches on teachers' jacket elbows.

I can think of at least three teachers who had leather elbow patches. Mr R the maths teacher and Messrs C an R in the physics department all had them!

 

[Harpo]

I can think of at least three teachers who had leather elbow patches. Mr R the maths teacher and Messrs C an R in the physics department all had them!

With corduroy trousers and hush puppy shoes??

 

[GordonT]

Woollen underpants known as "long johns".

 

[D6130]

Women wearing stockings and suspenders (other than for 'leisure' purposes!). I well remember as a small child going with my mother to a ladies' outfitters where she would examine and purchase suspender belts from a knowledgeable middle-aged assistant.

 

[BanburyBlue]

I remember there being a bottle of Milk of Magnesia in the medicine box, but I don't ever remember it being used. It must have been well over 20 years old when it disappeared.


I can think of at least three teachers who had leather elbow patches. Mr R the maths teacher and Messrs C an R in the physics department all had them!

Olive oil used to be in the medicine box, rather than the kitchen.

 

[D6130]

Olive oil used to be in the medicine box, rather than the kitchen.

Ah yes....but it wouldn't have been Extra Virgin in those days!

 

[GordonT]

Surgical appliance shops which advertised the sale of "trusses" for the supporting of hernias.

 

[D6130]

Surgical appliance shops which advertised the sale of "trusses" for the supporting of hernias.

I wonder whether they could also have been used for supporting lettuces?.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I am not sure if these were country-wide, but at the cinema, I recall during the period of two films being shown, there were the Pearl and Dean colour advert film clips advertising local businesses.

 

[Calthrop]

I am not sure if these were country-wide, but at the cinema, I recall during the period of two films being shown, there were the Pearl and Dean colour advert film clips advertising local businesses.

My italics -- the name sometimes corrupted, micky-takingly, to "Pearls for Swine".

 

[GordonT]

Enormous international and national airline timetable books utilised by travel agents. UK wide BR timetable book and network wide timetable book for National Express. The old BR Regional timetables and working timetables. Timetable books for every bus company some of which were massive and with a large folded network map included.

 

[Ediswan]

I am not sure if these were country-wide, but at the cinema, I recall during the period of two films being shown, there were the Pearl and Dean colour advert film clips advertising local businesses.

Them, or Rank Screen Advertising. Often library footage showing Indian or Chinese food, with details of the local restaurant spliced on the end.

 

[MotCO]

travel agents.

You don't see many travel agents these days. Remember Coop Travel Agents, Blue Sky (British Caledonian), Thomas Cook, Hogg Robinson?

 

[GordonT]

You don't see many travel agents these days. Remember Coop Travel Agents, Blue Sky (British Caledonian), Thomas Cook, Hogg Robinson?

And Cosmos, Lunn Poly and Intasun.

 

[AM9]

Them, or Rank Screen Advertising. Often library footage showing Indian or Chinese food, with details of the local restaurant spliced on the end.

Then there was also:

the local 'Indian' restaurant with the flock wallpaper in sitar music​

the local tyre and exhaust centre with a Morris Minor leaving the forecourt​

the local furriers with ladies wearing full length fur coats​

the local undertakers offering funeral services​

and rows of women with their heads under hair dryer hoods at the local hairdressers​

each ending with the reassuring message that all of these wonderful businesses were just yards from the door of this cinema!