Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[GordonT]

Whatever happened to white dog poo?

Less bone meal in post-1990s dog food apparently is the main reason for its disappearance.

 

[AM9]

The "National Health" glasses with the round frames.

Often seen with pink elastoplast holding the hinge together.

... Also you had to remember where your pencil was!

Or 'BIC' ball point pen.

I didn't back then! I just bought the cheapest.

I tended to buy BASF, as I was use to their 1/4 inch reel-to-reel stuff in the '60s.

 

[PeterC]

It was a brave person that put a 120 minute cassette in the player in the car.

Another thing missing is unwound cassettes thrown out of car windows

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Vic 20 and a special 16K ram pack

 

[GordonT]

The extensive use of microfilm and microfiche and their respective readers. Older model film readers required the film to be wound manually on their reels but power-assisted versions were also available. No doubt the technology still is used for stuff like family history research in libraries and other resource centres but I'm not sure where else it will have survived the development of information technology.

 

[dangie]

I don't know if they still exist, but Bus Ticket Inspectors.
I use the bus quite a fair bit, but haven't seen a ticket inspector get on the bus for many years.
Probably since they did away with conductors and made them driver only.

 

[stuartl]

I don't know if they still exist, but Bus Ticket Inspectors.
I use the bus quite a fair bit, but haven't seen a ticket inspector get on the bus for many years.
Probably since they did away with conductors and made them driver only.

First in Sheffield have recently reintroduced them. Have twice seen them catch someone.

 

[Trackman]

Vault/Tap rooms in pubs, and a cheaper pint.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ladies hairnets....Ena Sharples had vast stocks of them.

 

[Howardh]

Cameras with film seem to be making a comeback! Wonder if video cameras will return en masse? No idea why they should as the quality will arguably be less than digital 4k and upwards, but then again what quality can a video get to? Help..

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ladies bloomers.

 

[GordonT]

Plus Fours as relatively frequently seen attire.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Hearing someone being called a big girls blouse.

 

[Ostrich]

Knock-knock jokes .......

 

[Tom B]

I don't know if they still exist, but Bus Ticket Inspectors.
I use the bus quite a fair bit, but haven't seen a ticket inspector get on the bus for many years.
Probably since they did away with conductors and made them driver only.

It was a fairly common occurrence to see a bus ticket inspector when I used to regularly catch the buses (with TfL from 2011, and LRT between 2007-11). Indeed, on average, I would get checked once a month on the bus or tube. However at some point they seemed to disappear - maybe 2015ish?

 

[DiscoSteve]

Waiting till 6pm before driving into the Congestion Charge Zone in Central London - I had a works grace and favour flat in Lambeth which on the way in I couldn't get to until the 6pm deadline before I could park it and get it tucked safely away from the TfL cameras

 

[Tester]

Waiting till 6pm before driving into the Congestion Charge Zone in Central London - I had a works grace and favour flat in Lambeth which on the way in I couldn't get to until the 6pm deadline before I could park it and get it tucked safely away from the TfL cameras

Related to that, simply driving in London!

 

[AM9]

Cameras with film seem to be making a comeback! Wonder if video cameras will return en masse? No idea why they should as the quality will arguably be less than digital 4k and upwards, but then again what quality can a video get to? Help..

The return of film for still photography is part nostalgia and part an attempt to recreate art qualities of the past. Many modern digital cameras can exceed the resolution and gamut of film and can apply the characteristics of 'classic' film stocks of the past. As far as dedicated video cameras go, they are still ubiquitous in professional use but for casual clips, mobile phone provides adequate quality for most people at zero marginal cost.
Interestingly, there are a few top cinema filmakers who still shoot with film stock, Christopher Nolan springs to mind, that is at astronomical cost!

 

[GordonT]

Fabric badges for sewing onto clothes e.g. anoraks. Typical examples were places the wearer had visited comprising the place name and some emblem or landmark relevant to the location.

 

[najaB]

Fabric badges for sewing onto clothes e.g. anoraks. Typical examples were places the wearer had visited comprising the place name and some emblem or landmark relevant to the location.

While not as common as they might have been in the past, you do still see them.

 

[McRhu]

Are half-sovereigns in living memory? I believe they went out of circulation circa the First World War so any members over 110 might remember them. Anyway - the reason I tenuously raise the matter that I was out in my garden last night at dusk, right where the badgers have been digging, and there, unearthed at my feet was an 1849, solid gold half-sovereign. Anachronistic or not, a lovely little blessing for an autumn evening.

 

[Merle Haggard]

I listed up-thread those shops with a formica and stainless steel frontage and the three mysterious letter 'U C P' on the facia.

There was a London shop chain with a similarly enigmatic name - 'A. B. C.' It stood for Aerated Bread Company, and presumably inflated dough rather than used yeast when making 'bread'. The 'baked In store' supermarket bread also eschews the use of yeast, and from experience has a life of about 24 hours before it has the consistency of clay when chewed; was A.B.C.'s any batter?

 

[MotCO]

Are half-sovereigns in living memory? I believe they went out of circulation circa the First World War so any members over 110 might remember them. Anyway - the reason I tenuously raise the matter that I was out in my garden last night at dusk, right where the badgers have been digging, and there, unearthed at my feet was an 1849, solid gold half-sovereign. Anachronistic or not, a lovely little blessing for an autumn evening.

Gold is currently selling at £1,950 per ounce at the moment - I've not seen it so high for some time.

 

[dangie]

Fabric badges for sewing onto clothes e.g. anoraks. Typical examples were places the wearer had visited comprising the place name and some emblem or landmark relevant to the location.

Maybe with the expensive Gore-tex (plus others) fabrics, users don’t want to puncture them.

 

[McRhu]

Gold is currently selling at £1,950 per ounce at the moment - I've not seen it so high for some time.

That's good to know. Thanks.

 

[dangie]

Gold is currently selling at £1,950 per ounce at the moment - I've not seen it so high for some time.

How heavy is a wedding ring?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Not so long ago, I had to have my 55 year old gold engagement signet ring widened as my hand had swollen over the years, recommended during one of my hospital visits. It was done by the same city centre Manchester jewellers on the corner of St Ann's Square (opposite the big Marks and Spencer store) where the ring was originally purchased and the cost of cutting off the ring, adding more gold to widen it and the reinstating and polishing it came to a large three figure sum.

 

[AndrewE]

Gold is currently selling at £1,950 per ounce at the moment - I've not seen it so high for some time.

It has never been this high... £1965 now! See https://www.chards.co.uk/gold-price/ounce/gbp/25-year

 

[EdinRH]

Are half-sovereigns in living memory? I believe they went out of circulation circa the First World War so any members over 110 might remember them. Anyway - the reason I tenuously raise the matter that I was out in my garden last night at dusk, right where the badgers have been digging, and there, unearthed at my feet was an 1849, solid gold half-sovereign. Anachronistic or not, a lovely little blessing for an autumn evening.

Sovereigns and half-sovereigns are still minted. I believe they can still theoretically be spent, although their worth to a collector is far more than their face value of a pound and 50p respectively.

 

[AndrewE]

Sovereigns and half-sovereigns are still minted. I believe they can still theoretically be spent, although their worth to a collector is far more than their face value of a pound and 50p respectively.

which is about twice the intrinsic value of the gold in them. Chards (linked above, no connection) deal in "Bullion sovereigns" and are completely open about the mark-up they apply. Prices for all sorts and grades of sovereigns are at https://www.chards.co.uk/category/buy-coins/a/gold/sovereign/full