Things that used to be common place in people’s homes

[najaB]

Phones that you had to rotate the dial for each number....and god help you if you need to use one now. 'Please press option 3 for customer services' 'ARGHHHH!'

I've never tried it but I'd be surprised if most IVRs weren't set up to react to pulse dialling. If not, you can (or at least used to be able to) purchase DTMF tone generators that you can hold up to the handset mouthpiece.

 

[birchesgreen]

Dial phones are perfect for those annoying phone queue systems, you can go straight to a human operator and save some time.

 

[Spaceflower]

I've never tried it but I'd be surprised if most IVRs weren't set up to react to pulse dialling. If not, you can (or at least used to be able to) purchase DTMF tone generators that you can hold up to the handset mouthpiece.

Dial phones are perfect for those annoying phone queue systems, you can go straight to a human operator and save some time.

They aren't, I've tried it. Alot contact centres will now divert to the 'thanks for calling' line if no response has been received.

 

[birchesgreen]

They aren't, I've tried it. Alot contact centres will now divert to the 'thanks for calling' line if no response has been received.

They can be, i have tried it as well. My land line phone is a (red) GPO 746. To be honest i don't call a lot these days.

 

[Spaceflower]

They can be, i have tried it as well. My land line phone is a (red) GPO 746. To be honest i don't call a lot these days.

TBF, I've only tried to call one contact centre on the old style phone and it was a government line and it was having none of it.

But I used to always do it using my mobile and ignoring the options to try and get through to someone. It used to work quite well but rarely does these days I'm afraid.

 

[Peter Sarf]

They can be, i have tried it as well. My land line phone is a (red) GPO 746. To be honest i don't call a lot these days.

Dial phones are perfect for those annoying phone queue systems, you can go straight to a human operator and save some time.

Yes. I have noticed how being dumb gets you through to a human. You don't need a dial phone to achieve it though - I can be dumb with a one phone.

Remember - "your call is valuable to us"..........

 

[Acey]

Hot water bottles

 

[Jimini]

Hot water bottles

My missus (32) is very much a hot water bottle lover still!

 

[birchesgreen]

My missus (32) is very much a hot water bottle lover still!

So has mine. My mum has one too. I didn't realise they were a rarity now?

 

[D6130]

So has mine. My mum has one too. I didn't realise they were a rarity now?

My wife (65) still has one of the old-fashioned stone ones, although it's only used as an ornament nowadays. I remember as a kid in the early 1960s seeing them still in use at my grandparents'. I believe that they're very collectable now....you often see them in antiques shops.

 

[DelW]

So has mine. My mum has one too. I didn't realise they were a rarity now?

I bought a new one just a few days ago. At least two of our local chemists had them in stock (an independent and Superdrug).

 

[WesternLancer]

My wife (65) still has one of the old-fashioned stone ones, although it's only used as an ornament nowadays. I remember as a kid in the early 1960s seeing them still in use at my grandparents'. I believe that they're very collectable now....you often see them in antiques shops.

Yes, bought one at an antiques shop (it was not pricey) a few years ago to test how effective they might be / have been. Cracked it with water too hot... so wonder how hot the water was that they could tolerate.

 

[takno]

I bought a new one just a few days ago. At least two of our local chemists had them in stock (an independent and Superdrug).

I use the microwave gel packs. Designed to work as heat or ice packs on injuries, but they warm the bed up a treat

 

[johnnychips]

This thread is so long, so I’m sure someone must have mentioned electric (bed warming) blankets? I had one when I was a kid, but that was when ‘Jack Frost’ appeared on your bedroom window; it was so cold before central heating.

Do you think they are still allowed?

Edit: we had this thing we called a ‘fan heater’ which sucked air from the top vent, passed it over an electric bar, then blew warmth out of the bottom. It smelt terrible and looked dangerous, especially as all the plastic case seemed to warp. But if my mum was in a good mood, which she almost always was, she would put it in the bedroom ten minutes before bedtime, so I could change into my pyjamas in relative warmth.

 

[najaB]

Do you think they are still allowed?

Still allowed and still sold. Had one up until fairly recently.

 

[johnnychips]

Still allowed and still sold. Had one up until fairly recently.

Well, well! Erm I always wondered if you left it on by accident - I was always told to turn it off once you got in bed and got warm - what happened if you wet the bed?

 

[najaB]

Well, well! Erm I always wondered if you left it on by accident - I was always told to turn it off once you got in bed and got warm - what happened you wet the bed?

Depends on if it's an under-blanket or over-blanket. Over-blankets (basically heated duvets) have to be turned off after you get into bed but many under-blankets are designed to be left on all night. They're very well (electrically) insulated so it's unlikely that anything would happen to you if you happened to wet the bed.

 

[johnnychips]

Depends on if it's an under-blanket or over-blanket. Over-blankets (basically heated duvets) have to be turned off after you get into bed but many under-blankets are designed to be left on all night. They're very well (electrically) insulated so it's unlikely that anything would happen to you if you happened to wet the bed.

Wish you had been my fairy godfather fifty years ago and told me this. I never forgot to turn the blanket off in case I wet the bed and electrocuted myself - I was really scared. I never wet the bed either, until my student days but that’s another story.

 

[D6130]

what happened if you wet the bed?

Perhaps you should ask @43096 !

 

[ChiefPlanner]

A theme not mentioned before - "chamber pots" under the bed......certainly my grandparents had them.

They had a wooden outside toilet a safe distance from their very rural cottage. Using the lav was not for the faint hearted in the middle of a dark and stormy Carmarthenshire night.

 

[43096]

Perhaps you should ask @43096 !

Go and hide behind the sofa!

 

[Busaholic]

Yes, bought one at an antiques shop (it was not pricey) a few years ago to test how effective they might be / have been. Cracked it with water too hot... so wonder how hot the water was that they could tolerate.

My mother said they should be called warm water bottles for that very reason.

 

[WesternLancer]

My mother said they should be called warm water bottles for that very reason.

Thanks. I reckon that is very sound advice! I wished they had told me that in the shop....

 

[MattA7]

Not so much in peoples homes but I remember steering locks used to be common in peoples cars to deter theft. Not seen a car with one in years.

A theme not mentioned before - "chamber pots" under the bed......certainly my grandparents had them.

They had a wooden outside toilet a safe distance from their very rural cottage. Using the lav was not for the faint hearted in the middle of a dark and stormy Carmarthenshire night.

When did indoor toilets start becoming the normal thing and what was the bathroom used as before it was a bathroom.

my house was built in 1908 and I have off wondered what the room that is now the bathroom was used for when the house was first constructed.

 

[bspahh]

Not so much in peoples homes but I remember steering locks used to be common in peoples cars to deter theft. Not seen a car with one in years.

I had a Stoplock Classic. You can still get one for £30 at Amazon

One day, I lost the key and found that it only survived 30 seconds when I levered a screwdriver into the hinge.

 

[birchesgreen]

Not so much in peoples homes but I remember steering locks used to be common in peoples cars to deter theft. Not seen a car with one in years.

I don't have it in my car (modern steering wheels are too thick for it) but i have an old steering lock next to my bed intended to whack any intruder over the head!

 

[dgl]

Of course when steering wheel locks were common few cars had immobilisers and car locks were hardly what you would call secure!

 

[DelayRepay]

When did indoor toilets start becoming the normal thing and what was the bathroom used as before it was a bathroom.

my house was built in 1908 and I have off wondered what the room that is now the bathroom was used for when the house was first constructed.

When I lived in a Victorian terrace, they'd taken space from one of the bedrooms to make the bathroom. This meant that rather than two good sized bedrooms, we had one bedroom and a small box room. Later, someone else had compensated for the loss of a bedroom by converting the loft. The outside loo was still there at the bottom of the garden, and still worked. It saw occasional use when we had BBQs in the summer.

In my sister's house of a similar age, they'd built a small extension on the back to house the bathroom, which meant it was downstairs. I'm not keen on downstairs bathrooms but it was quite common, in South Yorkshire at least.

I had a Stoplock Classic. You can still get one for £30 at Amazon

One day, I lost the key and found that it only survived 30 seconds when I levered a screwdriver into the hinge.

I also had a Stoplock. When the thieves broke into my car, they tried to remove it and ended up pulling the steering wheel off. So they decided to put the car in neutral, release the handbrake and let it roll down the hill. My car (which was old and worth virtually nothing) was written off and one of the neighbours needed a new garden wall as a result. Would probably have been better if they'd just stolen the car, to be honest.

 

[takno]

When did indoor toilets start becoming the normal thing and what was the bathroom used as before it was a bathroom.

my house was built in 1908 and I have off wondered what the room that is now the bathroom was used for when the house was first constructed.

By 1908 most houses were being built with indoor plumbing of some kind. I don't think indoor toilets were at all unusual. The fact that outdoor toilets in cities persisted until after the war was largely due to older, poorer slums.

Where conversions have happened, it's pretty variable depending on the type of house, and often you'll find that the original structure of the house has changed completely. The kitchen, which was usually just the range in the main living room of poorer houses, has often been separated. In larger houses servants quarters have been brought into the main house, and the house may have been subdivided into flats. In poorer houses various subdivisions will have been joined into single houses or flats. Cold presses, where food was stored away from heat, and coal bunkers have been converted to utilities, toilets and bathrooms. Some houses will have had sculleries, which is halfway to a bathroom anyway.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

By 1908 most houses were being built with indoor plumbing of some kind. I don't think indoor toilets were at all unusual. The fact that outdoor toilets in cities persisted until after the war was largely due to older, poorer slums.

Where conversions have happened, it's pretty variable depending on the type of house, and often you'll find that the original structure of the house has changed completely. The kitchen, which was usually just the range in the main living room of poorer houses, has often been separated. In larger houses servants quarters have been brought into the main house, and the house may have been subdivided into flats. In poorer houses various subdivisions will have been joined into single houses or flats. Cold presses, where food was stored away from heat, and coal bunkers have been converted to utilities, toilets and bathrooms. Some houses will have had sculleries, which is halfway to a bathroom anyway.

Remember , Queen Victoria lost her beloved Prince Albert partly due to defective drains at one of the palaces. Once the well named Thomas Crapper had invented the flushing water closet in the 1860's (or so) , the rich began to install indoor toilets, a factor which eventually trickled down to the better class of suburban housing as the century went on. One of the best books ever written is the seminal work by Alan A Jackson on "Semi Detached London" which illustrates the development of suburban development , where the seperation of sanitation and cooking were designed in , partly aided by powers given to local authorities and so on.

Certainly , did not much appear for much "working class" housing , which specialized in garden privies until well into the 1960's !.

My brother in law has just decommissioned his "outdoor" lavatory , a 1908 build , detached from , but attached to the main structure of the kitchen and house. Photos were taken.