Enduring anachronisms

[GordonT]

Sole trader shops such as second-hand bookshops with days and times of business which are very much at the whim or availability of the proprietor and typically imparted to prospective customers by handwritten notes stuck on the shop door or window, often at very short notice.

 

[81A]

Organisations (like the NHS) sending correspondence by post as default (often with a paper form to fill out and hand in/post back).

 

[GordonT]

Organisations (like the NHS) sending correspondence by post as default (often with a paper form to fill out and hand in/post back).

And sometimes also duplicating the posted information by means of emails and/or text messages.

 

[Harpo]

Organisations (like the NHS) sending correspondence by post as default

Organisations (like the NHS) not doing online customer selection of appointments.
Organisations (like the NHS) abitrarily assigning appointments clerically without checking whether the customer can actually be there. Then having to try again if they can’t.

 

[GordonT]

Annual very localised traditional "happenings".
Stonehaven, for example, is quite famous for its New Year "Ancient Fireball" custom. This sees 60 locals parade the town streets, swinging heavy fireballs above their heads. The swingers (so to speak) then assemble on the beach and fling their balls into the waves. 1.) To propitiate the Gods and 2.) Because there's not much in the way of nightlife in Stonehaven.

 

[D6130]

Annual very localised traditional "happenings".
Stonehaven, for example, is quite famous for its New Year "Ancient Fireball" custom. This sees 60 locals parade the town streets, swinging heavy fireballs above their heads. The swingers (so to speak) then assemble on the beach and fling their balls into the waves. 1.) To propitiate the Gods and 2.) Because there's not much in the way of nightlife in Stonehaven.

Do they then go to the Marine Fish Bar and order deep-fried Mars Bars? (For those who don't know, they were allegedly first sold there back in the 1970s and eventually migrated to Glasgow, where they were made famous by the Blue Lagoon chain).

Come to think of it, Deep-fried Mars Bars probably deserve their own post in this thread!

 

[Romsey]

That's because they receive their mail by air from Glasgow Airport....which is in the Paisley postcode area. I believe that the same applies to Oban and its surrounding area.

Indeed it does , as does Mull and Iona. The distribution of post and parcels in Mull is based around a lorry coming over on the ferry to Craignure and the rough sorted bags being transferred to the local delivery drivers. The mainland vehicle is at Craignure for about 40 minutes and joins the queue for the next sailing back to Oban.

 

[GordonT]

Come to think of it, Deep-fried Mars Bars probably deserve their own post in this thread!

Together with various other such "delicacies". Irn-Bru sausages come to mind.

 

[Springs Branch]

The universal acceptance of window cleaners with their own specific customers having the latitude to simply "turn up" at intervals and times of their own choosing

Anachronistic in the sense that we now live in a world where we have become used to most service industries working on apps and booking systems with high customer expectations. There cannot be many examples these days where the service provider turns up at their own convenience . . . . .

Speaking of Enduring Anachronisms where service providers often operate to their own convenience - Black Cabs in London?

"Nah mate. I'm not going sarf of the river".

"They come over here. They take all the jobs . . ." To which they can now add "They drive all the Ubers".

"Credit card? Nah mate. Machine's broken - cash only." Cue the Scottish £50 note. "You having a larf? That all you got? Oh look, I just tried the card machine again and it's working now"

"Oi! Where's me tip?"

To be fair to this steadily diminishing species of dinosaurs, I've not really had too much trouble with London cabbies myself, but I think I've just been lucky. And when Gower Street has been choked, I've often appreciated zipping around the back streets of Bloomsbury for a timely arrival at Euston.

 

[3141]

You seem to have taken this personally.

You expressed very emphatic personal views about landlines in your original post #29. I simply pointed out circumstances in which a landline is useful.

 

[GordonT]

A discussion on a thread elsewhere on the forum prompted me to think that there must be a fair number of examples which are enduring anachronisms because of the resistance of some organisations to place their proceedings online. Some may happily allow you to present yourself in person at, say, a records office, and perhaps for a fee, allow you to view and transcribe by hand the information being sought. The other thread specifically pointed to the inability in the UK (unlike many other countries) to view transcripts of most court proceedings online thereby placing great reliance on attending a court hearing of specific interest in the public gallery or gleaning the basics second-hand from media reporters where any have attended and reported.

 

[SargeNpton]

Prompted by Wimbledon this week...

Scoring in a game of tennis: Love, 15, 30, 40, Game; instead of 0, 1, 2, 3, Game.

 

[GordonT]

Organisations of varying sizes who cling doggedly to the tradition of the use of cheques for financial transactions to the fullest extent. My wife is a Guide leader and I spotted a cheque from the Treasurer of her Group to the providers of the hall where they meet which was written out in the neatest of handwriting with the sum involved followed by the word 'only' in traditional fashion.

 

[Dave61]

This is a personally-lived example I'm making in the heat of the moment (no pun intended), but without a doubt gas central heating. I get the impression people will gladly hold on to it because they need heating in winter even though air conditioners can do that with greater efficiency as well as provide cooling in summer. But I'll accept there's a chance history will prove me wrong on this one.

My house is over 100 years old, good luck heating that with a heat pump but otherwise agree that new builds should have them