Enduring anachronisms

[The exile]

Address "quirks" arising from the different historical silos of local authority/county boundaries, Royal Mail postal/postcode boundaries, Ofcom's dialling codes etc.
Kincardine (Fife) is within the local authority boundary of Fife Council. Its postal address is Kincardine, ALLOA. Alloa is within the local authority boundary of Clackmannanshire Council. Kincardine comes under the Falkirk postcode of FK10. Falkirk is within the local authority boundary of the unitary authority of Falkirk Council and geographically is within Stirlingshire. The dialling code for Kincardine is the same as Alloa (01259).

Similarly Keynsham (though It’s just a quirk rather than an anachronism). Part of Bath and North East Somerset but with Bristol dialling and post codes.

 

[D6130]

Similarly Keynsham (though It’s just a quirk rather than an anachronism). Part of Bath and North East Somerset but with Bristol dialling and post codes.

....and also Todmorden in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale and the ceremonial county of West Yorkshire....but has an Oldham (Greater Manchester) "OL" postcode and a Rochdale (Greater Manchester) 01706 telephone STD dialling prefix.

 

[GordonT]

....and also Todmorden in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale and the ceremonial county of West Yorkshire....but has an Oldham (Greater Manchester) "OL" postcode and a Rochdale (Greater Manchester) 01706 telephone STD dialling prefix.

The community of Tweedmouth, just south of Berwick-upon-Tweed on the ECML, is also worthy of a mention in this context.
Tweedmouth, along with the rest of the Berwick area, despite both Berwick and Tweedmouth being in England, uses the TD15 postcode district. "TD" stands for the Tweeddale area located within the Scottish Borders but extended into England for postcode convenience. Postal address is Tweedmouth, BERWICK-UPON-TWEED rather than having any reference to Northumberland.

 

[GraphitProjekt]

Perhaps similarly, large parts of the London Borough of Bexley use Dartford postcodes despite being in zone 4

 

[SargeNpton]

Different parts of Northamptonshire have MK, OX, CV, LE and PE postcodes.

I also believe that some of the extremities have their local services contracted out to councils in adjacent counties/authorities.

 

[Ianigsy]

Different parts of Northamptonshire have MK, OX, CV, LE and PE postcodes.

I also believe that some of the extremities have their local services contracted out to councils in adjacent counties/authorities.

From memory (some work I did about 15 years ago) some of the county councils in that area - I think it might have been Northants, Beds and Cambs- merged their legal departments.

 

[The exile]

The community of Tweedmouth, just south of Berwick-upon-Tweed on the ECML, is also worthy of a mention in this context.
Tweedmouth, along with the rest of the Berwick area, despite both Berwick and Tweedmouth being in England, uses the TD15 postcode district. "TD" stands for the Tweeddale area located within the Scottish Borders but extended into England for postcode convenience. Postal address is Tweedmouth, BERWICK-UPON-TWEED rather than having any reference to Northumberland.

Interesting to know what would have happened if the post code system ( and the centralised sorting that it accompanied) had been delayed by about 10 years so that the Waverley Route serving the Tweeddale postal area was already closed. Given that TD1 1AA is in Galashiels, I assume that's where the central sorting office is / was. Had there been no railway when the system emerged, would the whole of the Scottish Borders postcodes starting BK (for the putative central sorting office in Berwick) instead.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Sign posts that have the name of a long-closed railway station on them. I know of three in Cumbria, one of the stations having closed to passengers as long ago as 1950.

 

[GordonT]

Sign posts that have the name of a long-closed railway station on them. I know of three in Cumbria, one of the stations having closed to passengers as long ago as 1950.

Sometimes this is attributable to a small community located at and called after the former station. An example is the hamlet of "Balfron Station". The village of Balfron itself is two miles distant from Balfron Station and the actual station was closed in the 1950s. Balfron has a reasonable sized rural bus depot which has survived multiple reorganisations and a couple of changes of ownership since privatisation. whilst several far larger bus depots within a 20 mile radius have closed. Balfron Depot was opened in 1921 and is still hanging in there 105 years on.

 

[The exile]

Sometimes this is attributable to a small community located at and called after the former station. An example is the hamlet of "Balfron Station". The village of Balfron itself is two miles distant from Balfron Station and the actual station was closed in the 1950s. Balfron has a reasonable sized rural bus depot which has survived multiple reorganisations and a couple of changes of ownership since privatisation. whilst several far larger bus depots within a 20 mile radius have closed. Balfron Depot was opened in 1921 and is still hanging in there 105 years on.

Similarly “Ratho Station” in West Lothian and “Widdrington Station” in Northumberland which does at least remain true to its name.

 

[GordonT]

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 and without much expectation of their labours being closely monitored for efficiency or otherwise.

 

[The exile]

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 and without much expectation of their labours being closely monitored for efficiency or otherwise.

What makes that anachronistic? Their work is effectively monitored by result so unless they (don’t) clean your windows at the start of your fortnights holiday, you’re going to notice.

 

[dgl]

Address "quirks" arising from the different historical silos of local authority/county boundaries, Royal Mail postal/postcode boundaries, Ofcom's dialling codes etc.
Kincardine (Fife) is within the local authority boundary of Fife Council. Its postal address is Kincardine, ALLOA. Alloa is within the local authority boundary of Clackmannanshire Council. Kincardine comes under the Falkirk postcode of FK10. Falkirk is within the local authority boundary of the unitary authority of Falkirk Council and geographically is within Stirlingshire. The dialling code for Kincardine is the same as Alloa (01259).

Uplyme next to Lyme Regis is like this, it's in Devon (just!) But has a DT post code, noting that only a sign separates Lyme Regis and Uplyme.

 

[GordonT]

What makes that anachronistic? Their work is effectively monitored by result so unless they (don’t) clean your windows at the start of your fortnights holiday, you’re going to notice.

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 and often when the house occupants are not in. Quality of work may in some cases have declined as safer but less scrupulous "long pole" options have supplanted the traditional "ladder" options. Arrangements for payment may be a bit "hit or miss" also which is atypical of most supplier/customer relationships these days. Not saying that the profession of window-cleaning is intrinsically "bad" or that there is no room for "trust" between customer and supplier. I'm just suggesting that it is probably one of these "British" conventions which has become atypical of the way most services are procured these days.

 

[greatkingrat]

ASLEF - the name at least. Locomotive Engineers and Firemen isn't really an accurate description of the membership any more!

 

[D6130]

ASLEF - the name at least. Locomotive Engineers and Firemen isn't really an accurate description of the membership any more!

....and also 'Associated Society' is an obvious tautology!

 

[SargeNpton]

From memory (some work I did about 15 years ago) some of the county councils in that area - I think it might have been Northants, Beds and Cambs- merged their legal departments.

I was thinking more in terms of bin collections and minor road repairs.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I'm surprised anybody still has a landline. What are they for apart from receiving spam calls on?

Not having to endure the lousy mobile signal quality chez nous?

 

[The exile]

....and also 'Associated Society' is an obvious tautology!

Strictly speaking it isn’t - you can have a Society without Articles of Association.

 

[Lucan]

I'm surprised anybody still has a landline. What are they for apart from receiving spam calls on?

Being out in the sticks, the internet speed I get from my landline (fibre to the cabinet) is vastly superior to what I get by mobile signal. That's if I even get a mobile signal. As for spam calls, spammers have moved with the times and I have not had any on my land line for the last three years, which is a shame as I used to enjoy winding them up; OTOH Mrs Lucan gets lots on her mobile. I only switch my mobile on when I'm out and only then if I need to make a call.

The speed/enforcement camera sign on roads being a Victorian bellows camera

In fact if most resembles a Fuji GX680, a professional medium format film camera being made until around the year 2000. Bellows are still used on specialist cameras, including digital ones.

 

[swt_passenger]

The community of Tweedmouth, just south of Berwick-upon-Tweed on the ECML, is also worthy of a mention in this context.
Tweedmouth, along with the rest of the Berwick area, despite both Berwick and Tweedmouth being in England, uses the TD15 postcode district. "TD" stands for the Tweeddale area located within the Scottish Borders but extended into England for postcode convenience. Postal address is Tweedmouth, BERWICK-UPON-TWEED rather than having any reference to Northumberland.

I believe The Post Office‘s address file does not bother with counties anywhere. Since quite a few years ago.

 

[3141]

I'm surprised anybody still has a landline. What are they for apart from receiving spam calls on?

I moved out of my childhood home at 18 nearly 2 decades ago and never even thought about having a landline phone and there hasn't been a single occasion where having one would have been even remotely handy. An utterly pointless waste of money.

A waste if money for you apparently, but very convenient for us. The landline handsets are lighter than a mobile phone and designed to be comfortable to hold, unlike the large heavy rectangular slab of a mobile. We have two landline handsets upstairs and two downstairs, so we are always within easy reach of one when it rings, and we don't have to remember to carry a mobile around with us all the time.

You may remember that before smartphones the makers of mobiles used to boast about how small and lightweight each new model that they produced was. Now they boast about how the screen is almost as large as the one on a tablet.

We don't get many spam calls and I think they are roughly equally spread between the landline and the mobiles. You wouldn't know about landlines as you haven't had one for nearly two decades.

 

[Uncle Buck]

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 and often when the house occupants are not in. Quality of work may in some cases have declined as safer but less scrupulous "long pole" options have supplanted the traditional "ladder" options. Arrangements for payment may be a bit "hit or miss" also which is atypical of most supplier/customer relationships these days. Not saying that the profession of window-cleaning is intrinsically "bad" or that there is no room for "trust" between customer and supplier. I'm just suggesting that it is probably one of these "British" conventions which has become atypical of the way most services are procured these days.

I had this problem recently. My windows were cleaned at random intervals and the cleaner put a slip of paper in the security entry panel to our block of flats. We were then to transfer money to their bank account. The result was that they often blew away and they weren’t paid. Consequently we owe them money without realising it. They also had no record of what was owed!

There is also a company near me which does home milk delivery and collects all its bills in cash- which strikes me as most inconvenient for both supplier and customer (imagine having to wait in to pay the milkman on a certain night of the week!) but seems to work for them!

Similarly Keynsham (though It’s just a quirk rather than an anachronism). Part of Bath and North East Somerset but with Bristol dialling and post codes.

Mull, Tiree and Isley all have Paisley postcodes!

 

[Cross City]

A waste if money for you apparently, but very convenient for us. The landline handsets are lighter than a mobile phone and designed to be comfortable to hold, unlike the large heavy rectangular slab of a mobile. We have two landline handsets upstairs and two downstairs, so we are always within easy reach of one when it rings, and we don't have to remember to carry a mobile around with us all the time.

You may remember that before smartphones the makers of mobiles used to boast about how small and lightweight each new model that they produced was. Now they boast about how the screen is almost as large as the one on a tablet.

We don't get many spam calls and I think they are roughly equally spread between the landline and the mobiles. You wouldn't know about landlines as you haven't had one for nearly two decades.

You seem to have taken this personally.

 

[D6130]

Mull, Tiree and Isley all have Paisley postcodes!

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.

 

[The exile]

Mull, Tiree and Isley all have Paisley postcodes!

Presumably because the mail arrives/arrived via Glasgow Airport, which is of course in Paisley.

Sorry - beaten to it by D6130

 

[Uncle Buck]

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.

Presumably because the mail arrives/arrived via Glasgow Airport, which is of course in Paisley.

Sorry - beaten to it by D6130

Ahhh, I didn’t think of that. In that case the almost equally large Perth postcode area must be the largest land-based area.

 

[brad465]

Earl's Court's destination boards.

 

[zero]

DVLA refunding VED payments by cheque when you SORN.

 

[Kumquat]

DVLA refunding VED payments by cheque when you SORN.

Or if you claim the 50% disability discount. Not to mention only being able to apply by sending off paper copies of your documentation, every year, even if they're the same documents as last year.