Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[Falcon1200]

1. Spend a Scottish £50 note somewhere in England, Wales, or NI.
2. Spend a Bank of Scotland £100 note somewhere in Scotland.
3. Spend a Bank of Scotland £100 note somewhere in England, Wales, or NI.

My mother-in-law believed refusal, or reluctance, to accept Scottish notes in England was an example of anti-Scottishness and a reason for independence! However, having (unlike her) having worked in a cash-dealing role in England, IMHO the issue is more one of unfamiliarity with the notes, especially with there being not one but three varieties of Scottish note, with the higher denominations being seen even less often.

 

[styles]

My mother-in-law believed refusal, or reluctance, to accept Scottish notes in England was an example of anti-Scottishness and a reason for independence! However, having (unlike her) having worked in a cash-dealing role in England, IMHO the issue is more one of unfamiliarity with the notes, especially with there being not one but three varieties of Scottish note, with the higher denominations being be seen even less often.

Yeah no, I'm not on a crusade or anything, I just want to see what'll happen!

You're right that it's unfamiliarity with the notes. Though £50 notes there's this myth about them being the most forged or whatever as well, when in reality that's £20 notes.

In fact about a year ago I confused a Scottish barmaid by handing her an Ulster Bank £10 note. She nearly put it in the till then did a double take on it. I wasn't actually trying to catch her out or anything - I'd just returned from a trip to Ireland and barely even clocked it myself when I handed it over. She gave it some additional scrutiny then took it fine.

My suspicion is I might get the Scottish £50 taken somewhere eventually, a casino if nothing else. But spending a £100 note I imagine will be very difficult even up here in Scotland.

 

[Falcon1200]

But spending a £100 note I imagine will be very difficult even up here in Scotland.

Indeed - Like you I live in Scotland but do not recall ever having seen a Scottish £100 note, and not many £50 notes either.

 

[styles]

Indeed - Like you I live in Scotland but do not recall ever having seen a Scottish £100 note, and not many £50 notes either.

I think some family members have given £100 notes as gifts to kids turning 18 etc here but I seem to recall them saying they've been framed or given as a lucky charm rather than any intention to actually spend it.

I reckon even the casinos in Edinburgh and Glasgow might not accept them. Probably the kind of thing you have to take to a bank to exchange for scores if you want to spend them.

Be interesting to try though. There will be a pub in town somewhere with an owner or manager who will take it for the sheer novelty is my guess, but not before having it rejected in dozens of places who want nothing to do with it.

 

[Calthrop]

I have a friend, one of whose hobbies is collecting banknotes -- attaching great importance to the serial numbers thereof -- and fooling around with them generally. He any rate often talked of his plan to get a Scottish £100 note, for the purpose of offering it for a purchase in a shop / pub / whatever in England, and seeing what would happen -- not sure if he has ever in fact made the experiment.

 

[styles]

I have a friend, one of whose hobbies is collecting banknotes -- attaching great importance to the serial numbers thereof -- and fooling around with them generally. He any rate often talked of his plan to get a Scottish £100 note, for the purpose of offering it for a purchase in a shop / pub / whatever in England, and seeing what would happen -- not sure if he has ever in fact made the experiment.

I think I'm going to give it a go.

Though I don't actually have a bank account with any Scottish bank so I'm not sure if the English bank branches up here will have them. Not sure I want to open a new bank account for the sole purpose of getting a single banknote.

 

[sprunt]

I reckon even the casinos in Edinburgh and Glasgow might not accept them.

I reckon they would - gambling establishments in my experience are the least choosy organisations around when it comes to what they accept.

 

[styles]

I reckon they would - gambling establishments in my experience are the least choosy organisations around when it comes to what they accept.

If I try it, I'll report back.

 

[cb a1]

Indeed - Like you I live in Scotland but do not recall ever having seen a Scottish £100 note, and not many £50 notes either.

In the 1980s I worked at the Head Office for the M6 Tebay Services. Over 95% of transactions were cash and all that money made its way to the Head Office for counting and banking.

The southbound services in particular would have a lot of people travelling from Scotland and from Northern Ireland (and a small number from Ireland) and even back then, filling up a vehicle with fuel was reasonably expensive and thus staff were familiar with every UK banknote (and other currencies too - it's very difficult to remove fuel from a vehicle, so easier to take the punts, francs, dollars, etc.)

I did collect some of the rarer banknotes for a while and actually opened my first bank account with a £100 Scottish note (can't mind which bank issued it now). Despite moving to Scotland in 1992 that was the last time I ever saw a Scottish £100 note!

 

[styles]

In the 1980s I worked at the Head Office for the M6 Tebay Services. Over 95% of transactions were cash and all that money made its way to the Head Office for counting and banking.

The southbound services in particular would have a lot of people travelling from Scotland and from Northern Ireland (and a small number from Ireland) and even back then, filling up a vehicle with fuel was reasonably expensive and thus staff were familiar with every UK banknote (and other currencies too - it's very difficult to remove fuel from a vehicle, so easier to take the punts, francs, dollars, etc.)

I did collect some of the rarer banknotes for a while and actually opened my first bank account with a £100 Scottish note (can't mind which bank issued it now). Despite moving to Scotland in 1992 that was the last time I ever saw a Scottish £100 note!

Tebay I stop at regularly as I have family in North Wales, and I live in Scotland. Not once had an issue spending Scottish notes. Maybe this is the place to try the £100 note!

Keeping it on-topic, I wish more motorway services had 'home cooked' meal services on china plates and metal cutlery like you get a Tebay and the rest of their group. Little Chef was popular for a reason!

 

[izvor]

I know. I'm not suggesting a legal tender transaction. Just seeing if anywhere will actually accept them.

I would!

 

[Sun Chariot]

On a loosely related thread -

Another cash denomination that seems so antiquated now (in Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation years under Robert Mugabe), was the incredible One Hundred Trillion Dollar note.

Yes, really. I have an early AA- series note, it's brand new and uncirculated.

No sooner had those notes been printed, Zimbabwe took the decision to revalue its currency; resulting in those brand new notes becoming obsolete.

 

[GordonT]

Something which I don't think has been mentioned so far in any of the 109 pages. Residences with outside toilets.

 

[Tester]

Something which I don't think has been mentioned so far in any of the 109 pages. Residences with outside toilets.

Do you mean instead of inside, or as well as?

I have the latter.

 

[Trackman]

Have we had physical telephone directories yet? plus Yellow Pages and Thomson local?

 

[dcbwhaley]

My mother-in-law believed refusal, or reluctance, to accept Scottish notes in England was an example of anti-Scottishness and a reason for independence! However, having (unlike her) having worked in a cash-dealing role in England, IMHO the issue is more one of unfamiliarity with the notes, especially with there being not one but three varieties of Scottish note, with the higher denominations being seen even less often.

Scottish notes are bank notes rather than the English treasury notes.
In principle the Scottish bank could go bust making the note worthless.
Whereas the English notes are backed by the government

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Have we had physical telephone directories yet? plus Yellow Pages and Thomson local?

Yes. Some three times previously, already.

 

[GordonT]

Something which I don't think has been mentioned so far in any of the 109 pages. Residences with outside toilets.

Do you mean instead of inside, or as well as?

I have the latter.

I should have said residences whose only toilet is outside the building itself.

 

[3141]

Do you mean instead of inside, or as well as?

I have the latter.

My parents bought a new 3-bed semi in North London when they got married in 1937. There were two designs of house in the road. The one my parents bought had a s toilet upstairs separate from the bathroom, and one we knew as the cloakroom which was downstairs and fitted under the curved staircase. The other design also had two toilets. One was upstairs, but the downstairs one, though part of the house, was only accessible by going into the back garden. It always seemed strange to me that a modern house should have been designed in this inconvenient way.

 

[johnnychips]

I should have said residences whose only toilet is outside the building itself.

In the early 80s I asked my class (as part of a lesson on urban development) who had an outside toilet. There was just one student out of 30. This was in a Yorkshire pit village; nobody took the mick out of him for it.

In the early 60s, my great-grandparents had their ash toilet at the top of the yard replaced by a flushing toilet, but it was still outside. The ‘po’ that was under the bed remained in use.

And indeed, in Belgium in an old house in Gent in 2008, the only toilet was still outside - there was a row of them, each with the house number on the door.

 

[Killingworth]

My parents bought a new 3-bed semi in North London when they got married in 1937. There were two designs of house in the road. The one my parents bought had a s toilet upstairs separate from the bathroom, and one we knew as the cloakroom which was downstairs and fitted under the curved staircase. The other design also had two toilets. One was upstairs, but the downstairs one, though part of the house, was only accessible by going into the back garden. It always seemed strange to me that a modern house should have been designed in this inconvenient way.

The teraced hoise I grew up in was built about 1907 with outside and inside toilets. The outside was for the day maid. After WW1 society changed and day servants became much rarer. After WW2 houses like ours had converted the outside toilet to a tool shed - in our case a coke store.

 

[dcbwhaley]

In the early 80s I asked my class (as part of a lesson on urban development) who had an outside toilet. There was just one student out of 30. This was in a Yorkshire pit village; nobody took the mick out of him for it.

In the early 60s, my great-grandparents had their ash toilet at the top of the yard replaced by a flushing toilet, but it was still outside. The ‘po’ that was under the bed remained in use.

And indeed, in Belgium in an old house in Gent in 2008, the only toilet was still outside - there was a row of them, each with the house number on the door.

My mother -born 1921 - used to boast that she had never lived in a house without an inside toilet.
In working class West Yorkshire that was very unusual.

 

[MicroLithium]

It is very important if you are taking cross bearings on distant landmarks to check your position

Rather circular though, since you’re never going to do that on a device screen, which has already located you to six figures plus an estimate of error! I’m very pleased I don’t have to do triangulation anymore, always ended up in a cocked hat

 

[Mogz]

I should have said residences whose only toilet is outside the building itself.

Ah! My Dad grew up in one of those.

It got demolished in a slum clearance in the late 60s.

 

[Benters]

Dark transparent plastic 'shades' that clipped over the top of prescription glasses to turn them into 'sunglasses'.Said shades were also prone to scratches. Now happily superseded by photochromic lenses and prescription sunglasses

 

[GordonT]

The 'Ten Pound Poms' exodus i.e. folk from the UK who emigrated to Australia for many years following World War 2 on the Australian government's assisted passage scheme. The point of the scheme was to enlarge Australia's population and supply an infusion of labour to facilitate industrial growth.

 

[bspahh]

In the early 80s I asked my class (as part of a lesson on urban development) who had an outside toilet. There was just one student out of 30. This was in a Yorkshire pit village; nobody took the mick out of him for it.

In the early 60s, my great-grandparents had their ash toilet at the top of the yard replaced by a flushing toilet, but it was still outside. The ‘po’ that was under the bed remained in use.

And indeed, in Belgium in an old house in Gent in 2008, the only toilet was still outside - there was a row of them, each with the house number on the door.

I viewed a Victorian terraced house in 1996 in Wantage. The plumbing consisted of a cold tap in the kitchen and an outside toilet.

 

[dangie]

The 'Ten Pound Poms' exodus i.e. folk from the UK who emigrated to Australia for many years following World War 2 on the Australian government's assisted passage scheme. The point of the scheme was to enlarge Australia's population and supply an infusion of labour to facilitate industrial growth.

My older brother was a 'Ten Pound Pom'. He came out of the RAF, worked on a farm for a couple of years then went to Australia for what was going to be two years, but he married there and never came back to Blighty.

He'd been there about 25 years when I visited him at his home in Sydney. I asked him why he'd never come back for a holiday. He said he was scared to, as even after all these years in Australia, he thought that if he came back to England he wouldn't want to go back to Australia.

 

[Tester]

My older brother was a 'Ten Pound Pom'. He came out of the RAF, worked on a farm for a couple of years then went to Australia for what was going to be two years, but he married there and never came back to Blighty.

He'd been there about 25 years when I visited him at his home in Sydney. I asked him why he'd never come back for a holiday. He said he was scared to, as even after all these years in Australia, he thought that if he came back to England he wouldn't want to go back to Australia.

Interestingly, more than once I've come across ten pound poms in Australia who are convinced that the UK is still however it was when they left - industrial relations havoc/three day week etc. No amount of real news seems to sway them!

 

[sor]

Perhaps a tangent, but for the three years I've lived in Scotland, I've never had any issues spending Scottish banknotes south of the border. All except two occasions which were both on forum meets!

Similarly, when I've had poker winnings and been given £50 notes, I've found most places accept them fine.

I'm tempted to run three experiments:

1. Spend a Scottish £50 note somewhere in England, Wales, or NI.
2. Spend a Bank of Scotland £100 note somewhere in Scotland.
3. Spend a Bank of Scotland £100 note somewhere in England, Wales, or NI.

Of course not one of those people filming it for YouTube, or kicking off and shouting 'legal tender' at minimum wage service workers, but simply to see if they're accepted!

My dad once had a load of RBS fifties (the nature of his business means it might have been payment from a Scottish tourist, I guess). This was in Cornwall so it's not exactly a regular sight. When he spent them I almost wanted to get the popcorn out but "sadly" they accepted it without a hint of complaint.