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

[WelshBluebird]

Are there any other ways to send money to relatives - particularly children - as a present, where it can be opened on the special day? As someone said up-thread, a bank transfer is a bit impersonal; cash isn't safe in the post. I assume Postal Orders are a thing of the past, and high street vouchers certainly aren't recommended any longer. I guess there are pre-paid Mastercards and Visas, but how can the recipient pay these into a savings account if that's what they choose to do? Cheques may be niche, but there are still uses for them.

If I was doing it I'd probs do a bank transfer (to their parents if they are too young to have a bank account) and send a small card.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I assume Postal Orders are a thing of the past

Still available. Max value is £250. Fee is a tad pricey at 12.5% of face value above £10.00 (capped at a max fee of £12.50).

 

[simonw]

Are there any other ways to send money to relatives - particularly children - as a present, where it can be opened on the special day? As someone said up-thread, a bank transfer is a bit impersonal; cash isn't safe in the post. I assume Postal Orders are a thing of the past, and high street vouchers certainly aren't recommended any longer. I guess there are pre-paid Mastercards and Visas, but how can the recipient pay these into a savings account if that's what they choose to do? Cheques may be niche, but there are still uses for them.

Postal orders still exist. Not that I have seen one in 50 plus years but a quick Google shows they exist.

 

[matacaster]

Electric travel iron that had no thermostat (just got hotter and hotter), no earth and plugged into a bedside lamp.

 

[eoff]

I'm using cheques more often as it is now more hassle to set up single payments with my bank.

 

[Ediswan]

I assume Postal Orders are a thing of the past

Apparently not https://www.postoffice.co.uk/postal-orders

 

[takno]

Are there any other ways to send money to relatives - particularly children - as a present, where it can be opened on the special day? As someone said up-thread, a bank transfer is a bit impersonal; cash isn't safe in the post. I assume Postal Orders are a thing of the past, and high street vouchers certainly aren't recommended any longer. I guess there are pre-paid Mastercards and Visas, but how can the recipient pay these into a savings account if that's what they choose to do? Cheques may be niche, but there are still uses for them.

Much as I'm loathe to suggest it, Amazon vouchers are pretty safe, and have the highest chance of the recipient being able to find something to buy.

 

[Cowley]

Ah. This thread was meant to be about things you used to see in people’s homes yet we seem to have headed off down a cheques and vouchers discussion somehow.
Probably best to get back on topic please everyone.
Thanks.

 

[pdq]

When I was little, our house had a washbasin in each bedroom. We moved house in 1986,so I wonder if they are still there, or in similar houses in the street.

 

[xotGD]

When I was little, our house had a washbasin in each bedroom. We moved house in 1986,so I wonder if they are still there, or in similar houses in the street.

I rented a room that had a wash basin in the corner. I have to confess that I may have used it for other purposes than washing when caught short in the early hours!

 

[Journeyman]

Much as I'm loathe to suggest it, Amazon vouchers are pretty safe, and have the highest chance of the recipient being able to find something to buy.

Anyone sending me Amazon vouchers gets them returned with an explanation as to why I won't shop with the tax-dodging scumbags.

 

[MotCO]

Alexa, pour the tea...

On second thoughts Alexa, put the cup under the spout, then pour the tea!

The very first line in that spirit duplicator link says "Banda Machine" - so yes, we are thinking of the same thing.

Wasn't there also Gestetner copiers?

 

[Journeyman]

Wasn't there also Gestetner copiers?

Aren't they the ones where you'd make stencils using a typewriter, and could then make lots of copies from the stencil? Apparently they worked with dot matrix printers too.

 

[najaB]

Wasn't there also Gestetner copiers?

Banda and Gestetna were spirit duplicators and mimeographs respectively. Similar looking machines but completely different in operation.

 

[eoff]

• Torches with the big square battery.
• TVs that produced decent sound and had mysterious picture adjustments (horizontal and vertical hold).
• Coin-operated TVs.

 

[A0]

Haven't seen any mention of gas fired water heaters. My late grandparents lived in a post-war New Towns house which didn't have central heating - at least until the mid 1980s - so there was a gas fire in the lounge, a hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard and in the kitchen a this gas fired hot water heater which was used for washing - as it was easier than heating a whole cylinder of hot water - and washing up.

Another couple of other things you don't see very often nowadays - again thinking back to my late grandparents - tea cosies to keep your pot of tea warm, though whether it did is a moot point. And, in part due to the decline in smoking, tobacco tins being used for storing screws, nuts, bolts etc in the shed - my late grandfather had a stock of 'Golden Virginia' tins which had been repurposed for such storage.

 

[Mag_seven]

TVs that produced decent sound and had mysterious picture adjustments (horizontal and vertical hold).

That were attached to internal aerials that you had to move around to get a decent picture.

 

[dgl]

Haven't seen any mention of gas fired water heaters. My late grandparents lived in a post-war New Towns house which didn't have central heating - at least until the mid 1980s - so there was a gas fire in the lounge, a hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard and in the kitchen a this gas fired hot water heater which was used for washing - as it was easier than heating a whole cylinder of hot water - and washing up.

Another couple of other things you don't see very often nowadays - again thinking back to my late grandparents - tea cosies to keep your pot of tea warm, though whether it did is a moot point. And, in part due to the decline in smoking, tobacco tins being used for storing screws, nuts, bolts etc in the shed - my late grandfather had a stock of 'Golden Virginia' tins which had been repurposed for such storage.

Apologies vis-à-vis the previous post, it decided to save the post before I had finished (or really even started it!)

Static caravans without central heating still have gas fired water heaters for all their hot water needs.
My gran still has tea cosies and tobacco tins for things like fuses and picture hooks.

And in regards to torches, my gran had one that took a huge 12V lantern battery, the torch sat on the top of the battery with the two screw terminals poking through and was held on with thumb screws.

https://www.batterycentralmall.com/Batteries/Duracell/images/rayovac-918.jpg

 

[najaB]

Torches with the big square battery.

Lantern batteries are still sold fairly widely so there must be a market for them.

TVs that produced decent sound and had mysterious picture adjustments (horizontal and vertical hold).

Those (the hold controls) would have completely disappeared when analogue TV was turned off. They don't exist in the digital world.

 

[Westcountryman]

Built-in 'kettles' above sinks. We had these in our university hall kitchens in the early 70s, and were used both to supply hot water for washing up and for making tea and coffee. all very well until someone was washing up in the sink and someone else decided to boil water for a hot drink, then allowing the boiling waster to pour onto the washer-upper's hands. It certainly happened to me. Health and safety would not be happy nowadays.

 

[najaB]

Built-in 'kettles' above sinks. We had these in our university hall kitchens in the early 70s, and were used both to supply hot water for washing up and for making tea and coffee.

If you mean this sort of thing:


They're still pretty common in businesses and shared kitchens, not sure how common they ever were in homes generally.

 

[trebor79]

The last time I saw one of those was at a hotel/bunkhouse in New Zealand. It had a plastic pipe sticking out underneath and the nozzle on the handle wasn't very prominent, so at first glance it looked like the water came out the plastic pipe (turns out it's actually some sort of overflow). So I held my mug under it and pulled the handle, at which point boiling water poured onto my hand holding the mug.
Two minutes later my friend made the exact same mistake!
Only time I've ever seen a gas fired water boiler was a home made affair on a converted double decker bus at a gliding club.

 

[nlogax]

If you mean this sort of thing:
View attachment 88984

They're still pretty common in businesses and shared kitchens, not sure how common they ever were in homes generally.

I recall much older versions, usually in small bathrooms of old businesses where no-one had thought to run hot water to the sink. In fact I'm fairly sure I've been in station loos that have used them though can't remember where.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Haven't seen any mention of gas fired water heaters. My late grandparents lived in a post-war New Towns house which didn't have central heating - at least until the mid 1980s - so there was a gas fire in the lounge, a hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard and in the kitchen a this gas fired hot water heater which was used for washing - as it was easier than heating a whole cylinder of hot water - and washing up.

Another couple of other things you don't see very often nowadays - again thinking back to my late grandparents - tea cosies to keep your pot of tea warm, though whether it did is a moot point. And, in part due to the decline in smoking, tobacco tins being used for storing screws, nuts, bolts etc in the shed - my late grandfather had a stock of 'Golden Virginia' tins which had been repurposed for such storage.

Still got one of those - a Corvec Brittany (or is it Brittony ?). Been very reliable f 30 years and useful in power cuts as has not got any electrical equipment in it. I do have central heating but the gas boiler for that is at the other end of the house in a fireplace - no balanced flue !. My plan is to get rid of the boiler that breathes from the room - I bet that is not allowed nowadays ?. Means replacing the Corvec Brittany with a combi boiler and then enlarging the radiator circuit to 22mm at the new boilers end of the CH circuit because the old boiler was at the opposite end of the house. So I procrastinate as the old boiler seems VERY reliable - Potterton Flamingo. Mind you that is two pilot lights I would eliminate so saving gas but then the hot water would no longer work in a power cut !. The old things were simple, well made and so more reliable.

 

[A0]

Lantern batteries are still sold fairly widely so there must be a market for them.

Those (the hold controls) would have completely disappeared when analogue TV was turned off. They don't exist in the digital world.

I think those lights used by motorway service crews that you see mounted on road cones use such batteries.

On the 'hold' controls - they'd disappeared as user controls on pretty much all new sets by the mid 1980s as sets improved and were able to automatically compensate. I *think* the move to LCD sets removed the need for it more than the move to digital did because the technology to display an image on an LCD screen is completely different to that of a CRT screen.

 

[najaB]

I recall much older versions, usually in small bathrooms of old businesses where no-one had thought to run hot water to the sink. In fact I'm fairly sure I've been in station loos that have used them though can't remember where.

The over-sink water heater was a bit different. For one thing they normally only heat the water to a comfortable hand-washing temperature, rather than a couple of degrees below boiling. Plus they usually have a spout or spigot so that the water is dispensed directly over the sink, sometimes with a spray nozzle.

 

[Mag_seven]

If you mean this sort of thing:
View attachment 88984

They're still pretty common in businesses and shared kitchens, not sure how common they ever were in homes generally.

A "geyser"?

 

[Trackman]

A "geyser"?

That’s what I was thinking.
something like this:

 

[najaB]

On the 'hold' controls - they'd disappeared as user controls on pretty much all new sets by the mid 1980s as sets improved and were able to automatically compensate.

True, digital PLL sync meant that the signal was much less likely to drift, but it was still possible. I definitely had a TV with a vertical sync control right up to the early 2000's (though it was NTSC rather than PAL so a generally inferior system).

I *think* the move to LCD sets removed the need for it more than the move to digital did because the technology to display an image on an LCD screen is completely different to that of a CRT screen.

The way the control worked would have changed since you weren't tuning a RC circuit for the deflection coils, but the need for the controls would still be there. Even with an LCD display there was still the chance for the scan rate of the incoming signal and the redraw rate of the LCD to be slightly out of sync. That's not going to happen with a digital signal since there's no sync pulse to match up with.

 

[talltim]

Lava Lamps

My kids have one, put it on every bedtime