Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[GordonT]

I know I had a science teacher who had changed the colour of one of her bathrooms walls to match a specific colour of a new loo roll she liked, only for that colour to no longer be stocked in the 4 packs she brought.

Also gone out of fashion - the knitted toilet roll covers which were often a lady.

 

[DelW]

Also gone out of fashion - the knitted toilet roll covers which were often a lady.

The people who made them have moved on to bigger things - postboxes. I even saw one a couple of days ago atop a traditional red phone box.

 

[52290]

Also gone out of fashion - the knitted toilet roll covers which were often a lady.

There's one still in use in my house!

 

[The exile]

A few teachers did things that way as they remain facing the class and thus maintain an eye on them more easily than if they turn their back to write on the white/black-board.

If using a roll of acetate you also had a record of what you’d written and could (in theory) go back to it. Also (like a roller-board) “here’s one I prepared earlier”.

 

[jfollows]

I presume you mean trimphone. Banned now because they were slightly radioactive....

Probably less than a banana!

 

[Amos]

Also gone out of fashion - the knitted toilet roll covers which were often a lady.

This beauty was given to me as a Christmas present a couple of years ago.The dress was made by a costume designer on a TV show and has been placed on a Barbie type doll.Toilet roll was included, otherwise I would have been really confused.
Picture shows Victorian lady type toilet roll cover wearing a pink dress.

 

[WesternLancer]

View attachment 191323

There's one still in use in my house!

Stylish example!

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This beauty was given to me as a Christmas present a couple of years ago.The dress was made by a costume designer on a TV show and has been placed on a Barbie type doll.Toilet roll was included, otherwise I would have been really confused.
Picture shows Victorian lady type toilet roll cover wearing a pink dress.

This looks like top quality of the genre!

 

[GordonT]

Really lengthy lists of relatives and friends in UK and beyond to whom the compiler felt an annual obligation to post a Christmas card based largely on those who traditionally sent one to the compiler.

 

[PeterC]

Really lengthy lists of relatives and friends in UK and beyond to whom the compiler felt an annual obligation to post a Christmas card based largely on those who traditionally sent one to the compiler.

I had one of those. The reason that I stopped was nothing to do with the practice bring out of date and more to do with my age. Most of the recipients are dead.

 

[Welly]

Really lengthy lists of relatives and friends in UK and beyond to whom the compiler felt an annual obligation to post a Christmas card based largely on those who traditionally sent one to the compiler.

Given the price of stamps nowadays - are we surprised?

 

[AM9]

Given the price of stamps nowadays - are we surprised?

The rise in 'stamps' are a consequence of lower demand for postal collection and delivery with increasing staff pay. Harold Wilson nailed it in the '60s with "one man's wage rise is another man's price increase". It irritates me that there are continual TV programmes (mainly ch. 5) and you tube videos showing how much things cost in the '60s or '70s compared to now, yet completely ignoring the vast increases in average in come over the same period.
On the subject of greetings, etc., actually sending cards by post now competes with phone calls, e-mail, texts and Whatsapp messages, all of which have marginal costs of zero for almost everybody.

 

[WesternLancer]

I had one of those. The reason that I stopped was nothing to do with the practice bring out of date and more to do with my age. Most of the recipients are dead.

I still help my elderly parents send about 70+ cards out to longstanding friends at Christmas time. Though of course sadly the numbers decline each year for reason you mention.

It feels an important way to keep in contact with people some of whom don’t use other technology to keep in touch, or now find other technology not so easy to use as they once did (eg due to age related confusion for example).

Tradition plays a part in continuing to do it but I know that pleasure is gained by receiving cards and news in the other direction, but of course the same can be said for phone calls and chats.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

Locks that could be placed on the dial of the telephone.
Often used by parents trying to stop their teenage offspring running up telephone bills the size of an average countries GDP.

 

[Phil Anthtropy]

Really lengthy lists of relatives and friends in UK and beyond to whom the compiler felt an annual obligation to post a Christmas card based largely on those who traditionally sent one to the compiler.

My mum still does this, but at 70+ the list gets smaller every year sadly.

She still used to send a card to a neighbour that we had 30+ years ago up until that old neighbour passed away a couple of years ago.

 

[Egg Centric]

Really lengthy lists of relatives and friends in UK and beyond to whom the compiler felt an annual obligation to post a Christmas card based largely on those who traditionally sent one to the compiler.

My 97 year old (but highly capable, still drives, only retired a couple of year ago etc) grandmother still does this. Takes up much of December writing them. And costs a small fortune. I send mail so little now that I'm always aghast at the cost of a stamp, they're still 19p in my head.

 

[The exile]

My 97 year old (but highly capable, still drives, only retired a couple of year ago etc) grandmother still does this. Takes up much of December writing them. And costs a small fortune. I send mail so little now that I'm always aghast at the cost of a stamp, they're still 19p in my head.

That "small fortune" is probably helping her maintain a tenuous contact with loads of people where it might otherwise have been lost and you never know when circumstances might change and that "once a year" reminder of someone's existence re-blooms into something else. The ritual of doing it at Christmas helps a) to jog people's memories and b) to keep it at "diplomatic relations" level if that's all that is wanted.

 

[Egg Centric]

That "small fortune" is probably helping her maintain a tenuous contact with loads of people where it might otherwise have been lost and you never know when circumstances might change and that "once a year" reminder of someone's existence re-blooms into something else. The ritual of doing it at Christmas helps a) to jog people's memories and b) to keep it at "diplomatic relations" level if that's all that is wanted.

Oh sure, I'm just amazed at how much stamps are!

If you wanted to be like a Victorian lady or gentleman of letters these days it would cost you 5 figures a year.

 

[WesternLancer]

That "small fortune" is probably helping her maintain a tenuous contact with loads of people where it might otherwise have been lost and you never know when circumstances might change and that "once a year" reminder of someone's existence re-blooms into something else. The ritual of doing it at Christmas helps a) to jog people's memories and b) to keep it at "diplomatic relations" level if that's all that is wanted.

Yes. This is my thinking with my parents, especially as other aspects of life become more difficult eg reduced mobility etc.

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Oh sure, I'm just amazed at how much stamps are!

If you wanted to be like a Victorian lady or gentleman of letters these days it would cost you 5 figures a year.

Totally agree with this! Superb your grandmother can still maintain her activities and correspondence.

 

[DelW]

I had one of those. The reason that I stopped was nothing to do with the practice bring out of date and more to do with my age. Most of the recipients are dead.

My address book* is a salutary reminder of the passage of time. First family members of your grandparents' generation get crossed out, then your parents' generation, now I'm starting to cross out my contemporaries.

*itself an anachronism of course, I doubt if any/many people under thirty have such a thing.

 

[ian1944]

My address book* is a salutary reminder of the passage of time. First family members of your grandparents' generation get crossed out, then your parents' generation, now I'm starting to cross out my contemporaries.

*itself an anachronism of course, I doubt if any/many people under thirty have such a thing.

My list of names, addresses and contact details is on individual cards in a box alphabetically, much easier for insertions/deletions/amendments. All books as such have become a total mess of scratched out old entries and squeezed in new ones.

 

[Buzby]

All books as such have become a total mess of scratched out old entries and squeezed in new ones.

Perhaps so, but it remains a valuable reminder of who’s been lost. By removing a car, they just become invisible!

 

[Bread & cheese]

Perhaps so, but it remains a valuable reminder of who’s been lost. By removing a car, they just become invisible!

You could always move such cards to a 'gone but not forgotten' section.

 

[GordonT]

Perhaps so, but it remains a valuable reminder of who’s been lost.

And if some addresses have been changed one or more times over the years this can also be of interest years down the line.

 

[ian1944]

You could always move such cards to a 'gone but not forgotten' section.

Which I so. The active ones are grouped between lettered dividers, the others are in a single group at the back. The box has not filled yet, if it did the old ones would be thinned out appropriately (do you really want a card on Aunt Hannah who died in 1974?)

 

[GordonT]

Which I so. The active ones are grouped between lettered dividers, the others are in a single group at the back. The box has not filled yet, if it did the old ones would be thinned out appropriately (do you really want a card on Aunt Hannah who died in 1974?)

Generally not but if you or any descendants or other relatives at some point want to research your family tree it could be useful.

 

[dgl]

At one point I had a system for my mums cards that could automatically print the name(s) of the recipient in each card and print off a label for the envelope. Saved a lot of time, and if required a family photo could be included in the card.

 

[AM9]

At one point I had a system for my mums cards that could automatically print the name(s) of the recipient in each card and print off a label for the envelope. Saved a lot of time, and if required a family photo could be included in the card.

Sounds like Mr Tom Champagne's frequent congrats by mail.

 

[PeterC]

Sounds like Mr Tom Champagne's frequent congrats by mail.

That is something that I had forgotten.

 

[swt_passenger]

Sounds like Mr Tom Champagne's frequent congrats by mail.

Often thought to be a made up name, but apparently he was a real person, at least he has newspaper obituaries recording his death. Born in Reading in 1943, it’s the only entry I could find in FreeBMD for a Thomas Champagne.

 

[contrex]

Locks that could be placed on the dial of the telephone.
Often used by parents trying to stop their teenage offspring running up telephone bills the size of an average countries GDP.

My dad did this, but being a bit of an electrical and electronics hobbyist, I knew that you could make the the loop-disconnect pulses by tapping down the little plungers that the handset rested on when not in use. This was easier on the GPO type 706 phone that we had than the earlier Bakelite ones that were still around, mostly black, with shiny metal dials, although I once saw a film on the telly in which Diana Dors, playing a stylish showgirl, used what looked like a white one. I think you had to pay more for these. When my dad retired to a bungalow in Coulsdon, he got a Trimphone.