Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[EdinRH]

Isn’t there a Scottish equivalent Take The High Road or something?

Never heard anyone in England mention that

Take the High Road changed its name to High Road in 1994, and ended in 2003. It was a primetime show in the Scottish Television and Grampian regions only. Elsewhere it was a daytime show.

 

[WesternLancer]

Take the High Road changed its name to High Road in 1994, and ended in 2003. It was a primetime show in the Scottish Television and Grampian regions only. Elsewhere it was a daytime show.

That fits the thread title at least

 

[Howardh]

IIRC mine sold savings stamps. I didn't participate as I had a TSB savings account.

Savings stamps are another thing that are long gone

Green Shield.

I'm only three stamps short of getting that toaster.

 

[JGurney]

Savings stamps are another thing that are long gone

Not completely - the Co-op still runs it's Christmas saving stamps. The idea is that from late January each year the thrifty customer buys a £1 saving stamp along with the rest of their shopping and sticks it on a card. By Christmas they have 48 stamps on the card, and the card is then accepted as payment for £50 worth of goods, thus obtaining a 4% discount. Details at the Co-op website:

Pardon Our Interruption

www.coop.co.uk

 

[WesternLancer]

Not completely - the Co-op still runs it's Christmas saving stamps. The idea is that from late January each year the thrifty customer buys a £1 saving stamp along with the rest of their shopping and sticks it on a card. By Christmas they have 48 stamps on the card, and the card is then accepted as payment for £50 worth of goods, thus obtaining a 4% discount. Details at the Co-op website:

Pardon Our Interruption

www.coop.co.uk

gosh - I thought those went out of fashion a few years ago when a retailer went bust and all the people who had saved in their xmas scheme lost or were likely to lose their savings. Can't recall the retailer name at the mo.

I can see why such schemes are attractive - but no FSC savings protection I assume....

 

[cool110]

gosh - I thought those went out of fashion a few years ago when a retailer went bust and all the people who had saved in their xmas scheme lost or were likely to lose their savings. Can't recall the retailer name at the mo.

That was Farepak food hampers 20 years ago.

 

[The exile]

Woukd hope the Co-op is ethical and savvy enough to hold that money in some kind of bond or ring-fenced account, whether or not they are required to do so by law.

 

[AM9]

Green Shield.

I'm only three stamps short of getting that toaster.

... or three (Kensitas/Embassy) stamps short of getting that iron lung!

 

[WesternLancer]

That was Farepak food hampers 20 years ago.

Thanks - yes that was it

 

[Bank Foot AM]

Does anyone remember the time you had to pay for to reserve a seat on British Rail services (think it was £1 on top of your ticket), it was only services that had compulsory reservations that reservations were free, then advance fares came in?

My first seat reservation (and probably the only one for the next ten years or so) was in 1983 from Newcastle to Edinburgh on one of the overnight trains which were advertised as having compulsory reservations. Having bought my All Line Rail Rover at the Travel Centre at Central Station, it was then necessary to walk along the concourse to the little office at which seat reservations were made. It was somewhere near (beyond?) the Metro station entrance and had limited hours of opening. It turned out to be pointless as the train was full and standing (or, more accurately, lying on the floor) and I didn't get my seat. I didn't bother with compulsory reservations after that.

There were three or four different types of hand-written seat reservation tickets which came in a pad of 100, about the size of a CCST ticket. The ones for chargeable reservations (two types - one seat or one to four seats) were accountable at £1.00 each, so it was necessary to retain spoilt tickets and record them as non-issues.

 

[The exile]

Does anyone remember the time you had to pay for to reserve a seat on British Rail services (think it was £1 on top of your ticket), it was only services that had compulsory reservations that reservations were free, then advance fares came in?

Very definitely- both from doing it myself and from the palaver that was involved when trying to do it over the counter at a rail appointed travel agency in the days when that incomes the travel agent having to ring up more than one station before he found an allocation that still had 3 seats together!

 

[Killingworth]

IIRC mine sold savings stamps. I didn't participate as I had a TSB savings account.

Savings stamps are another thing that are long gone

I used to have a savings book from the Post Office and particularly loved collecting 2/6 squirrels. I thought the 6d stamps had acorns but I can't find a copy of one of them, just Britannia from the 1951 Festival of Britain period. I had more sixpenny ones in my book.

However I remember being disappointed when both were replaced in 1953 by two children. I didn't have the same enthusiasm - possibly because I was saving at Eva's, the local toy shop, to buy new Hornby-Dublo trucks! Do shops still offer Christmas savings clubs?

 

[Peter C]

I used to have a savings book from the Post Office and particularly loved collecting 2/6 squirrels. I thought the 6d stamps had acorns but I can't find a copy of one of them, just Britannia from the 1951 Festival of Britain period. I had more sixpenny ones in my book.

However I remember being disappointed when both were replaced in 1953 by two children. I didn't have the same enthusiasm - possibly because I was saving at Eva's, the local toy shop, to buy new Hornby-Dublo trucks! Do shops still offer Christmas savings clubs?

That squirrel design is lovely. And I expect you already know but those two children are Prince Charles and Princess Anne! (I had to look it up to be sure...)

-Peter

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I thought the 6d stamps had acorns but I can't find a copy of one of them,

Think the Irish Post Office (in conjunction with their "Cyril the Squirrel" marketing campaign) had one Euro savings stamps with an acorn design on them, which suggests it was after 1999.

 

[The exile]

Think the Irish Post Office (in conjunction with their "Cyril the Squirrel" marketing campaign) had one Euro savings stamps with an acorn design on them, which suggests it was after 1999.

Or even after 2002. I know in theory national currencies in the Eurozone were only “convenient Euro equivalents” after 1999, but I should have thought that in that period anything would at most have been dual denominated.

 

[WesternLancer]

I used to have a savings book from the Post Office and particularly loved collecting 2/6 squirrels. I thought the 6d stamps had acorns but I can't find a copy of one of them, just Britannia from the 1951 Festival of Britain period. I had more sixpenny ones in my book.

However I remember being disappointed when both were replaced in 1953 by two children. I didn't have the same enthusiasm - possibly because I was saving at Eva's, the local toy shop, to buy new Hornby-Dublo trucks! Do shops still offer Christmas savings clubs?

Lovely graphics there.

 

[Bald Rick]

The Archers, an every day story of country folk. Transmitted twice a day 6 days a week with additional podcasts and still running after 75 years with 5 million listeners.

Dan and Doris wouldn't recognise the Ambridge of today. By surviving so long and still listened to by so many, yes, it must be an anachronism.

A dear old family friend used to play a fairly major part in The Archers, I forget which character. Made a decent living from his few trips a month up to Pebble Mill to record it. However, he would walk down his local high street and no one had the faintest idea who he was, despite being in one of this country’s most popular dramas / soap operas for years. Sometimes he would go to fan conventions, and sign autographs etc, which brings me to….

Autographs. In a world of selfies (and “ussies”), is asking for an autograph largely a thing of the past?

 

[sprunt]

Autographs. In a world of selfies (and “ussies”), is asking for an autograph largely a thing of the past?

I don't think people tend to ask for signatures in a blank autograph book any more, but people still like getting things signed - photos, programmes, that kind of thing. The problem for the people being asked for the signatures is often that the people asking are doing so so that they can sell the signed item, and it's not always easy for the signer to distinguish between people doing that, who they don't really want to help and the fans who just want a souvenir who they'd generally be happy to oblige. There are some who'll only sign items with a personal dedication that reduces resale value.

 

[DelW]

I don't think people tend to ask for signatures in a blank autograph book any more, but people still like getting things signed - photos, programmes, that kind of thing. The problem for the people being asked for the signatures is often that the people asking are doing so so that they can sell the signed item, and it's not always easy for the signer to distinguish between people doing that, who they don't really want to help and the fans who just want a souvenir who they'd generally be happy to oblige. There are some who'll only sign items with a personal dedication that reduces resale value.

At cricket matches, you often see boys about 10 - 12 years old, strategically standing on the boundary to get autographs from players fielding in the deep. Probably both in books and on match programmes, though I haven't looked closely enough to be sure.

 

[Silent]

Maybe I just don’t go out enough but I don’t see as many gumball machines.

I work around college student so notice they still drink a lot of soda but I wonder if it was worse, in the 80s and 90s just because we weren’t as aware of ultra processed foods and stuff.

I do notice drinking a lot of water 2 to 3.5 litres a day makes me stop craving soda. So maybe soda craving is due to dehydration?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Mar 2026 ==

Probably depends where you live and will be anachronistic in 10 years but the whine of voith gearboxes and maybe loud bus gearboxes.

I think printers are still a thing in offices and stuff but kind of think with smartphones and since Covid that they have became a bit old fashioned, less of a necessity.

 

[GordonT]

Gentler days when far fewer folk seemed to be "on a short fuse" especially many motorists who indulge in "road rage" or those who vent to an unreasonable degree to front line staff often over trivia.

 

[172007]

Maybe I just don’t go out enough but I don’t see as many gumball machines.

I work around college student so notice they still drink a lot of soda but I wonder if it was worse, in the 80s and 90s just because we weren’t as aware of ultra processed foods and stuff.

I do notice drinking a lot of water 2 to 3.5 litres a day makes me stop craving soda. So maybe soda craving is due to dehydration?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Mar 2026 ==

Probably depends where you live and will be anachronistic in 10 years but the whine of voith gearboxes and maybe loud bus gearboxes.

I think printers are still a thing in offices and stuff but kind of think with smartphones and since Covid that they have became a bit old fashioned, less of a necessity.

It's not bus voith gearboxes that sound anachranstic but diesal engine or more precicely the sound of bus radiator fans sound so loud and so old fashioned when you live in area where the vast majority kf buses are electric powered.

 

[Western Lord]

I don't think people tend to ask for signatures in a blank autograph book any more, but people still like getting things signed - photos, programmes, that kind of thing. The problem for the people being asked for the signatures is often that the people asking are doing so so that they can sell the signed item, and it's not always easy for the signer to distinguish between people doing that, who they don't really want to help and the fans who just want a souvenir who they'd generally be happy to oblige. There are some who'll only sign items with a personal dedication that reduces resale value.

Players who win a match at Wimbledon seem to risk getting writer's cramp signing all the programmes, giant tennis balls, caps etc.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Cross-channel hovercraft.

Delivery vans with sliding doors (our family Dormobile had them too - no need for airconditioning).

 

[JamesT]

Delivery vans with sliding doors (our family Dormobile had them too - no need for airconditioning).

I'm sure I've seen UPS delivery cans with that kind of door in the last few years.

 

[D6130]

Bubble gum vending machines outside of newsagents, tobacconist and confectionery shops. Insert a penny and turn the handle.

 

[SargeNpton]

Bubble gum vending machines outside of newsagents, tobacconist and confectionery shops. Insert a penny and turn the handle.

Cigarette vending machines outside newsagents! I can vaguely remember them in the 1960s (and penny in the slot machines at fairgrounds where the prize was a single cigarette instead of cash).

 

[Merle Haggard]

Bubble gum vending machines outside of newsagents, tobacconist and confectionery shops. Insert a penny and turn the handle.

The one near my bus stop to school was left on the pavement outside the shop in the elements. The clear plastic top meant you could see the earwigs ugh!

 

[Trackman]

Staying outside, Pink Paraffin dispensers. Looked a bit like an early 70s petrol pump.
Just tried googling for imagine but unable to find one.

 

[dgl]

Players who win a match at Wimbledon seem to risk getting writer's cramp signing all the programmes, giant tennis balls, caps etc.

Related, Paul Daniels once got to visit the Ideal Home Show when no one else was there, not because he didn't want to mix with everyone else but because the day before he'd been so busy stopping to sign autographs and the like that he didn't get to see the show properly, as such they offered to let him in early the next day so he could look properly.