Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[dangie]

Most recently mentioned in this thread back in September.

Fits in quite nicely with the title of the Thread

 

[GordonT]

Something which used to flare up occasionally, usually in smaller close-knit communities, were "poison pen letters" - anonymous, malicious missives either distributed only to the person under "attack" or to a selection of recipients.
Perhaps social media has unfortunately provided far greater encouragement and opportunity to those disposed to writing malign messages?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now. Just about every electrical item that a certain Alan M Sugar ever sold?!

 

[Indigo Soup]

Just about every electrical item that a certain Alan M Sugar ever sold?!

Oddly enough, Amstrad became so dominant in (and dependent on) the satellite TV market that Sky bought the entire company in 2008 to bring development and manufacturing of set-top boxes in-house.

Although when's the last time you saw a set-top box on top of a TV, rather than underneath it?

 

[PeterC]

Possibly associated, or possibly not, is the decline of people actually ringing the doorbell when delivering a parcel. My experience is that most choose to knock on the door or rattle the letterbox (ignoring both the traditional doorbell and the video one), and a few just abandon parcels on the doormat without announcing their presence at all.

Supposedly this is because a lot of householders don't actually get notified when their 'smart' doorbell is rung, which seems like a pretty fundamental error on their part.

Using the doorbell certainly seems to be a thing of the past.

 

[75A]

Possibly associated, or possibly not, is the decline of people actually ringing the doorbell when delivering a parcel. My experience is that most choose to knock on the door or rattle the letterbox (ignoring both the traditional doorbell and the video one), and a few just abandon parcels on the doormat without announcing their presence at all.

Supposedly this is because a lot of householders don't actually get notified when their 'smart' doorbell is rung, which seems like a pretty fundamental error on their part.

Or if it's DPD they throw it over the wall, ignoring the letterbox or the gate, then again it was only a £500 mobile phone!

 

[GordonT]

Using the doorbell certainly seems to be a thing of the past.

I wonder if it's partly due to unreliability of the generation of bells which typically preceded the current ringtones i.e.battery/electronic/cordless. Sometimes there was uncertainty from the doorstep as to whether the bell was audible inside or not working and this perhaps has encouraged knocking or rattling as the preferred default.
User friendly (from the point of view of those outside trying to post through them) letterboxes are also in the decline with modern types which seem designed to resist deliveries even in some cases to the extent of ripping the skin off the deliverer's hand as he/she struggles to post the item(s).

 

[Brent Goose]

Fits in quite nicely with the title of the Thread

Last September was a bygone age where my S&S ISA looked a lot more rosy and there was some measure of sanity across the pond

 

[Harpo]

When schools had a ‘Mr/Mrs ….., Head Of Maths.’

Now -

Doctor* ….., Director Of Learning (Mathematics).


* PhD version of course, not an actual ‘Doctor’.

 

[AM9]

Oddly enough, Amstrad became so dominant in (and dependent on) the satellite TV market that Sky bought the entire company in 2008 to bring development and manufacturing of set-top boxes in-house.

Although when's the last time you saw a set-top box on top of a TV, rather than underneath it?

Not sure what you mean by 'in-house' because the first Sky set-top boxes were made under the Amstrad name by a part of the UK defence industry because of their experience of microwave circuit design and manufacture.

 

[PeterC]

I wonder if it's partly due to unreliability of the generation of bells which typically preceded the current ringtones i.e.battery/electronic/cordless. Sometimes there was uncertainty from the doorstep as to whether the bell was audible inside or not working and this perhaps has encouraged knocking or rattling as the preferred default.
User friendly (from the point of view of those outside trying to post through them) letterboxes are also in the decline with modern types which seem designed to resist deliveries even in some cases to the extent of ripping the skin off the deliverer's hand as he/she struggles to post the item(s).

Vicious letterboxes are nothing new. I had my fill of them as a temporary Christmas postman in 1968.

 

[GusB]

Vicious letterboxes are nothing new. I had my fill of them as a temporary Christmas postman in 1968.

I've experienced more than my fair share of vicious letterboxes, the last time being when I spent a week delivering Yellow Pages (another anachronism)!

 

[johntea]

Not sure what you mean by 'in-house' because the first Sky set-top boxes were made under the Amstrad name by a part of the UK defence industry because of their experience of microwave circuit design and manufacture.

There was quite an interesting interview with Sugar on the BBC recently, basically he told satellite dish manufacturers to 'bugger off' in his typical style when they advised what the cost may be to produce them (£30 - £60 I think) and went to dustbin lid manufacturers instead at about £3 a piece!

Amol Rajan Interviews - Alan Sugar

Amol Rajan sits down with Lord Alan Sugar to discuss the future of Britain and explore the incredible past that made him one of the UK’s greatest entrepreneurs.

www.bbc.co.uk

Lord Alan Sugar, a man famed for his straight-talking and no-nonsense approach to interviews, sits down with Amol Rajan to discuss the future of Britain and his own incredible career.

Arguably the UK's most famous rags to riches story, he was the working-class kid from Hackney who went on to become a billionaire with a seat in the Lords and his face all over television.

An electronics entrepreneur who piled them high and sold them cheap, he gave the man on the street access first to his famous hi-fi tower, and then the Amstrad home computer. And it was Lord Sugar who changed the face of suburbia by making satellite dishes for Sky.

Now, more than half a century since he launched himself on the business world, what does the host of The Apprentice think about the current state of the country where he’s achieved so much? And what insights can he share about the path forward for Britain's economy, British businesses, and British society?

In a wide-ranging interview exploring his greatest triumphs and his greatest regrets - from the highs of high society to the lows of leading Tottenham Hotspur - Amol Rajan seeks to reveal the man behind the sometimes blunt public figure. His views are often controversial, but could Lord Sugar hold the secrets to success? And are there a few more deals yet to be done before the 77-year-old calls it a day?

 

[AM9]

There was quite an interesting interview with Sugar on the BBC recently, basically he told satellite dish manufacturers to 'bugger off' in his typical style when they advised what the cost may be to produce them (£30 - £60 I think) and went to dustbin lid manufacturers instead at about £3 a piece!

Amol Rajan Interviews - Alan Sugar

Amol Rajan sits down with Lord Alan Sugar to discuss the future of Britain and explore the incredible past that made him one of the UK’s greatest entrepreneurs.

www.bbc.co.uk

The metal dish is the easy bit, he was right, almost any metal bashing firm should be able to make a properly designed microwave dish aerial. The so called LNB (low noise block) was the difficult bit to make for a slaeable price in the early days.

 

[BingMan]

Not sure what you mean by 'in-house' because the first Sky set-top boxes were made under the Amstrad name by a part of the UK defence industry because of their experience of microwave circuit design and manufacture.

My first under the TV Sky box was made by Grundig

 

[AM9]

My first under the TV Sky box was made by Grundig

Badged Grundig, it depends when it was made, but Sky itself has always been a media organisation.

 

[GordonT]

Regional Evening Newspapers and additional Saturday Sport Editions, the latter sometimes printed on green or pink paper have become something of an endangered species. I also remember in Glasgow the vendors of the Evening Times (since rebranded as the Glasgow Times) and the long defunct Evening Citizen. The vendors often had the characteristics of
a) Being of quite cheery demeanour;
b) Reciting the names of their wares loudly and usually compressing their recitation into one word as in "TimesSuttzinFineaaaaaale" with an ultra prolonged last syllable;
c) Having ruddy, weather-beaten "whisky-drinking" faces.

 

[GusB]

Regional Evening Newspapers and additional Saturday Sport Editions, the latter sometimes printed on green or pink paper have become something of an endangered species. I also remember in Glasgow the vendors of the Evening Times (since rebranded as the Glasgow Times) and the long defunct Evening Citizen. The vendors often had the characteristics of
a) Being of quite cheery demeanour;
b) Reciting the names of their wares loudly and usually compressing their recitation into one word as in "TimesSuttzinFineaaaaaale" with an ultra prolonged last syllable;
c) Having ruddy, weather-beaten "whisky-drinking" faces.

I'd completely forgotten about those! We used to have the Green Final, published by Aberdeen Journals (responsible for the Press & Journal and Evening Express). I remember there was a guy in town who sold the evening papers from a portable kiosk.

There was also ScotAds, which was a weekly paper devoted containing classified advertisements.

I also remember evening papers being carried on local bus services, the bundles being lobbed out of the window or door at various locations along the way!

 

[75A]

The Sportsmail was the Portsmouth Evening News's Saturday special, printed on pink paper.
It was alright for home games, but if you'd been away you had to wait until Sunday morning to buy it as non of the local paper shops stayed open particularly late.

 

[Indigo Soup]

Or if it's DPD they throw it over the wall, ignoring the letterbox or the gate, then again it was only a £500 mobile phone!

My best yet was a Christmas present delivered to a recycling bin. Not my recycling bin, and no clues provided as to whose it was.

* PhD version of course, not an actual ‘Doctor’.

Surely you mean an actual doctor, not a mere physician or surgeon with an MBBCh?

Not sure what you mean by 'in-house' because the first Sky set-top boxes were made under the Amstrad name by a part of the UK defence industry because of their experience of microwave circuit design and manufacture.

By the mid-2000s, most of them were made by Amstrad under contract to Sky. Sky then bought out Amstrad entirely in 2008.

Regional Evening Newspapers and additional Saturday Sport Editions, the latter sometimes printed on green or pink paper have become something of an endangered species.

True regional newspapers at all are rather threatened these days.

 

[PG]

I also remember evening papers being carried on local bus services, the bundles being lobbed out of the window or door at various locations along the way!

Older buses were generally easier for lobbing rolled up papers out the door without stopping (surprisingly not covered on the PSV test ) since they lacked the middle-of-the-doorway pole which somewhat impeded matters. Always remember an aloof drivers disparaging comment, I don't know why they bother sending papers to [a certain town] anyway - none of them can read!

 

[Ken X]

Regional Evening Newspapers and additional Saturday Sport Editions, the latter sometimes printed on green or pink paper have become something of an endangered species. I also remember in Glasgow the vendors of the Evening Times (since rebranded as the Glasgow Times) and the long defunct Evening Citizen. The vendors often had the characteristics of
a) Being of quite cheery demeanour;
b) Reciting the names of their wares loudly and usually compressing their recitation into one word as in "TimesSuttzinFineaaaaaale" with an ultra prolonged last syllable;
c) Having ruddy, weather-beaten "whisky-drinking" faces.

Reminds me of the Morecambe and Wise
"MORNY STANNIT" sketch

 

[Killingworth]

My country doctor uncle, sole practice, self dispensing, retired in 1970. The NHS wouldn't fund a successor and his practice was split between surgeries in neighbouring towns. In remote parts such practices may still exist.

He made up prescriptions at the end of a surgery appointment. After a home visit or for a repeat he'd make it up and leave it on the waiting room table, wrapped in white paper and sealed with sealing wax, ready for collection.

Some of the prescriptions were sent by bus from the village pub to the pub or shop in the next villages for collection. No ID, no signatures, just an assumption of trust.

It was a more organised world than younger readers might imagine and it mostly worked.

 

[Harpo]

My country doctor uncle……After a home visit

You might need to explain ‘home visit’ to younger members!

 

[Bald Rick]

b) Reciting the names of their wares loudly and usually compressing their recitation into one word as in "TimesSuttzinFineaaaaaale" with an ultra prolonged last syllable;

I had a theory, never tested impirically, that the different street vendors of the Birmingham Evening Mail all had a different way of announcing their wares (“Evening Moil”, “Final”, etc) so that any of the passing public with a sight impairment knew where they were and could fairly accurately locate themselves through triangulation. The bloke at the bottom of the ramp on New St was always “FINA-MAE!!”

 

[pitdiver]

Mention has been made of Amstrad hifi towers. Back in the day I had an Amstrad amp, 25 watts per channel sounded fantastic. No I have a Yamaha amp four times the power (RMS)

 

[Indigo Soup]

Older buses were generally easier for lobbing rolled up papers out the door without stopping (surprisingly not covered on the PSV test ) since they lacked the middle-of-the-doorway pole which somewhat impeded matters. Always remember an aloof drivers disparaging comment, I don't know why they bother sending papers to [a certain town] anyway - none of them can read!

The evening papers where I grew up were chucked out of a van, rather than the local bus. This usually happened as I was walking past the village shop on my way home from primary school*, whereupon being an upstanding member of the community I would bring them into the shop.

*Unescorted, of course - imagine the horrors I faced!

 

[Altrincham]

Nightclubs in suburban towns that stayed open until 2am. These were discos with a DJ and a packed dance floor.

I think these started to fizzle out by the mid 90’s. There were quite a few of these types of nightspots in the suburbs of Manchester throughout the 70’s and 80’s.

 

[GusB]

Nightclubs in suburban towns that stayed open until 2am. These were discos with a DJ and a packed dance floor.

I think these started to fizzle out by the mid 90’s. There were quite a few of these types of nightspots in the suburbs of Manchester throughout the 70’s and 80’s.

Your definition of "suburban town" is going to cause a bit of debate - perhaps you could name a specific place by way of example?

I think I know what you're getting at, though. My "main" nearby town used to have a few nightclubs, one of which was once very well known for its place in the Scottish "rave scene". One of the clubs succumbed to a "tragic fire" and the site is now about to be redeveloped into flats; the "ravey one", essentially the function room of a hotel on the edge of town, has long gone.

I'm not really sure about the others, though; going into town for a night out means forking out at least £50 in taxi fares before I spend money on anything else, so I've absolutely no idea about what's still open and when. I think the venue with the sticky carpet is still going, but it'll probably keep going for eternity regarless of what happens.

 

[THC]

Your definition of "suburban town" is going to cause a bit of debate - perhaps you could name a specific place by way of example?

I think I know what you're getting at, though. My "main" nearby town used to have a few nightclubs, one of which was once very well known for its place in the Scottish "rave scene". One of the clubs succumbed to a "tragic fire" and the site is now about to be redeveloped into flats; the "ravey one", essentially the function room of a hotel on the edge of town, has long gone.

I'm not really sure about the others, though; going into town for a night out means forking out at least £50 in taxi fares before I spend money on anything else, so I've absolutely no idea about what's still open and when. I think the venue with the sticky carpet is still going, but it'll probably keep going for eternity regarless of what happens.

Plenty of clubs in otherwise innocuous towns ended up with new leases of life thanks to different genres within the rave scene. Orbit in Morley, a suburb of Leeds, was synonymous with techno; Tall Trees in Yarm catered for house and trance; the Emporium in Coalville likewise; and the Sanctuary in Milton Keynes took care of jungle and drum 'n' bass. Many a good night I spent in each of them over the years (and too old for all of that now!)

THC