Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[PG]

The same used to apply to most trains in the days before guards were required to undertake commercial duties.

If by commercial duties you mean checking tickets then guards did that when loco hauled trains were still ten a penny, and the lights were rarely on in daytime.

 

[Sun Chariot]

1981, my family travelled by train to Blaenau Ffestiniog north station (the former LNWR site, which closed March 1982). As we rattled into Blaenau tunnel, I dimly recall the equally dim light inside our DMU (MetCam I  think); I remember not being able to make out facial features of my family sitting opposite me. BR economy measures were in force that day!

 

[D6130]

If by commercial duties you mean checking tickets then guards did that when loco hauled trains were still ten a penny, and the lights were rarely on in daytime.

I think I'm going back a wee bit further in time than that....to when guards sat in the brakevan, watched the signals, through a periscope or a side-ducket, kept a close eye on the mailbags, sorted the railway letters....and switched the train lights on and off when entering and leaving tunnels. In those days almost every station had a staffed ticket barrier and the occasional on-train ticket checks were carried out by gold-braided travelling ticket inspectors.

 

[najaB]

Buses in passenger service during daylight hours that, unless going through a tunnel, had interior lights switched off, feels that all buses in service nowadays have interior lights switched on regardless of time of day, even in the4 middle of summer.

In the days of incandescent or even fluorescent tubes the energy saving and additional life you'd get out of the fixtures probably made it worth it. These days with LEDs the electricity budget for lighting on a bus probably gets lost in the noise and it gives the driver one less thing that they need to think about instead of driving.

 

[GordonT]

Folk of average wealth with no significant infirmity engaging a "home help" to come in to their house to spruce it up once or more times a week purely to save "the lady of the house" aka "the good lady" (anachronistic terms in their own right) a bit of the domestic burden. The male "head of the house" would perhaps be a bit vague about the details of the arrangement as the timing of the visits of the "home help" would tend to be when he was out working so as not to disturb him whilst he was in the house.

 

[Killingworth]

Folk of average wealth with no significant infirmity engaging a "home help" to come in to their house to spruce it up once or more times a week purely to save "the lady of the house" aka "the good lady" (anachronistic terms in their own right) a bit of the domestic burden. The male "head of the house" would perhaps be a bit vague about the details of the arrangement as the timing of the visits of the "home help" would tend to be when he was out working so as not to disturb him whilst he was in the house.

Houses built in middle class suburbs pre WW1 might have provision for a day servant with bell system into back kitchen from lounge, dining room and main bedrooms. There would be an outside toilet for said day servant - in our house it had been converted into a coke cellar.

 

[GusB]

Folk of average wealth with no significant infirmity engaging a "home help" to come in to their house to spruce it up once or more times a week purely to save "the lady of the house" aka "the good lady" (anachronistic terms in their own right) a bit of the domestic burden. The male "head of the house" would perhaps be a bit vague about the details of the arrangement as the timing of the visits of the "home help" would tend to be when he was out working so as not to disturb him whilst he was in the house.

Houses built in middle class suburbs pre WW1 might have provision for a day servant with bell system into back kitchen from lounge, dining room and main bedrooms. There would be an outside toilet for said day servant - in our house it had been converted into a coke cellar.

"Home help" services were available to a much wider range of people than just the middle classes. I recall that we had a lady coming in a couple of times a week to help with washing and cleaning while my mum was ill. My mum then went on to work for the social work department and provided the same services to others, as well as having a private arrangement. In the latter case, the elderly lady in question had someone who came in to take care of the personal needs, while my mother was only required to toast a bit of bread and fry an egg at tea-time.

I wouldn't have been permitted to tag along for the "official" duties, but Mrs M was more than happy for my mum to bring me along in the evening. She also didn't seem to mind me having a tinkle on the (very out of tune) ancient upright piano with the built-in candlesticks. She was sharp as a tack and had a few tales to tell!

Sadly, proper care for the elderly seems to be a bit anachronistic these days.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Those egg shaped switches , hanging over a bed , so one could switch off the main bedroom light , without getting out of said bed.

 

[DelW]

Those egg shaped switches , hanging over a bed , so one could switch off the main bedroom light , without getting out of said bed.

I remember as a child unscrewing one of those, and discovering (for the first but not last time!) what 240v 50Hz felt like.

 

[Indigo Soup]

Folk of average wealth with no significant infirmity engaging a "home help" to come in to their house to spruce it up once or more times a week purely to save "the lady of the house" aka "the good lady" (anachronistic terms in their own right) a bit of the domestic burden. The male "head of the house" would perhaps be a bit vague about the details of the arrangement as the timing of the visits of the "home help" would tend to be when he was out working so as not to disturb him whilst he was in the house.

Still not entirely uncommon: probably about half of the people on my street pay for a cleaner. It's very useful in a household with two wage-earners, though admittedly a luxury. Modern labour-saving devices (and the absence of coal fires) do mean that weekly or fortnightly visits are usually adequate.

 

[dangie]

Still not entirely uncommon: probably about half of the people on my street pay for a cleaner.….

A friend of ours has been a house cleaner for many years. She has a regular income from daily/weekly houses she cleans. She makes quite a good living from it. Funnily her husband does the cleaning in their house.

 

[Ediswan]

Houses built in middle class suburbs pre WW1 might have provision for a day servant with bell system into back kitchen from lounge, dining room and main bedrooms. There would be an outside toilet for said day servant - in our house it had been converted into a coke cellar.

My great aunt and uncle owned such a house. They mostly lived in the 'parlour' during the day, keeping the two main downstairs rooms for special occasions. Prior to getting married, my aunt had been 'in service'.

 

[GordonT]

My great aunt and uncle owned such a house. They mostly lived in the 'parlour' during the day, keeping the two main downstairs rooms for special occasions. Prior to getting married, my aunt had been 'in service'.

Parlours, drawing rooms and sculleries are possible anachronistic room descriptors these days.

 

[ThirteenArches]

And the pantry. We didn't have one, but the posh Drivers did. And they had a car.

Bacon slicers. The zing when the cutting disc retracted to the sharpening stone. A pound of smoked back, thick sliced, Mrs Baxendale? Our local grocer was lacking several fingers (probably war service), and the kids rumoured that he'd caught them in the blade.

 

[dangie]

Bacon slicers.

From Peter Kay (maybe)

Man walks into a butchers and says what's happened to your apprentice butcher?
Had to sack him for putting his nob in the bacon slicer, replied the butcher.
Oh what have you done with the bacon slicer? Asks the man
I've sacked her too, said the butcher.

 

[GordonT]

The days when the nation had to struggle by without the benefit of best before and use by dates.

 

[Brent Goose]

The roads being policed by specially trained officers rather than other members of the public’s dash or helmet cameras

 

[Indigo Soup]

The roads being policed by specially trained officers rather than other members of the public’s dash or helmet cameras

Fifteen or twenty years ago, I remember someone on Radio 4 talking about how traffic police were invariably the first target in any cuts, as they're unpopular with drivers and are seen as not helping deal with 'real crime'. Back then they were cut to the bone, and it won't have gotten any better.

 

[GordonT]

Regular enjoyment of traditional board and dice games such as Ludo.

 

[simonw]

Regular enjoyment of traditional board and dice games such as Ludo.

I don't play board games, but I know they are very popular and have seen them in quite a few pubs.

 

[Trackman]

Bacon slicers. The zing when the cutting disc retracted to the sharpening stone. A pound of smoked back, thick sliced, Mrs Baxendale? Our local grocer was lacking several fingers (probably war service), and the kids rumoured that he'd caught them in the blade.

Trying to find a picture of a 1960/70s bacon/meat slicer!

From Peter Kay (maybe)

Man walks into a butchers ....

It was.

Regular enjoyment of traditional board and dice games such as Ludo.

Like snakes and ladders and the such. Remember over 50 years ago, I got a 'Games Compendium' as a Christmas present. You had draughts, snakes and ladders, dominos and all sorts of other games.

I don't play board games, but I know they are very popular and have seen them in quite a few pubs.

I've seen them in a few pubs. I've even seen KerPlunk in one! You have to ask for them, not sure if there is a deposit.

 

[Jimini]

I've seen them in a few pubs. I've even seen KerPlunk in one! You have to ask for them, not sure if there is a deposit.

I played Kerplunk against Vanessa Feltz at the Askew Arms, back in the day (2003 or so).

Loads of pubs have board games available, these days! Some of them even base their business model on it.

 

[THC]

I played Kerplunk against Vanessa Feltz at the Askew Arms, back in the day (2003 or so).

Loads of pubs have board games available, these days! Some of them even base their business model on it.

That was my local at the time (when it was open - it kept changing hands) - I lived just off the top of Askew Road between 2002-09. Never saw her in there though.

I once had a game of pool with Sadie Frost in O'Donoghue's on Goldhawk Road, which is close but no Kerplunk!

THC

 

[Noddy]

The US being the leader of the free world.

 

[Amos]

Tops of plastic bottles not being attached to the bottle.

 

[AndyPJG]

The US being the leader of the free world.

and respected?

 

[AndrewE]

the lights were rarely on in daytime.

When I had a slight involvement with a carriage shed in about the mid-80s it was emphasised to me that the train had to go into service with all the lights switched on because hot bulbs were less likely to be tampered with than cold ones.
Maybe some lines had old coaches with dying batteries, or the trains didn't run far or fast enough to keep them charged up, in which case I could believe that staff turned the lights off when not actually needed to conserve what little charge they had.

 

[DelW]

From Peter Kay (maybe)

Man walks into a butchers and says what's happened to your apprentice butcher?
Had to sack him for putting his nob in the bacon slicer, replied the butcher.
Oh what have you done with the bacon slicer? Asks the man
I've sacked her too, said the butcher.

Trying to find a picture of a 1960/70s bacon/meat slicer!

It was.

It certainly wasn't invented by Peter Kay, though, I first heard it at school in the 1960s

 

[Cross City]

Regular enjoyment of traditional board and dice games such as Ludo.

Board games are incredibly popular lately and have seen a big resurgence since even before COVID, probably spurred on since lockdown actually. There are a few trendy bars around Brum which specifically cater to board games.

 

[317 forever]

Tops of plastic bottles not being attached to the bottle.

Or even rings that you would pull off cans and dispose of separately, or keep in your other hand until you finished your drink.

It was 1987 when I noticed this replaced so that the ring stays on the can when you have opened.

I miss my tradition of pulling the ring open and inserting it into the can before drinking.