Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[D6130]

Talking of dentists - the glass of pink 'water' at the side of the chair with which to rinse one's mouth and then spit into the little sink with permanently running water.... Haven't seen one of those for years...

Still a thing at my dentist....but nowadays it's a glass of green water.

 

[Bald Rick]

Talking of dentists - the glass of pink 'water' at the side of the chair with which to rinse one's mouth and then spit into the little sink with permanently running water.... Haven't seen one of those for years...

Plastic cup of pink water for me.

 

[AM9]

The mechanics of the drill being exposed - what looked like a couple of lengths of off-white string going round a couple of pulleys.

I remember the anaesthetics used for fillings took up to 20 minutes to achieve full effect. The procedure was to sit in the chair for the jab(s), then return to the waiting room to numb up whilst the next person was attended to. After leaving the surgery, it could take a couple of hours before dribbling stopped and full control of the mouth returned. Modern anaesthetics take less than 30 seconds to work and less than 30 minutes to leave.

 

[GordonT]

Someone whose memory stretches further back than mine may remember the purpose of road "check points". I can recall from childhood car journeys on major roads, that vehicles or a proportion of them were occasionally directed to a designated "check point" but my memory is hazy regarding the purpose of this.

 

[DelW]

Someone whose memory stretches further back than mine may remember the purpose of road "check points". I can recall from childhood car journeys on major roads, that vehicles or a proportion of them were occasionally directed to a designated "check point" but my memory is hazy regarding the purpose of this.

I don't remember checks for cars. There were inspection points for lorries, to check their weight and safety, which used to be at designated locations. I think such checks are still done now, but at random places like service areas.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Someone whose memory stretches further back than mine may remember the purpose of road "check points". I can recall from childhood car journeys on major roads, that vehicles or a proportion of them were occasionally directed to a designated "check point" but my memory is hazy regarding the purpose of this.

There's a big DVSA checkpoint area alongside the M74 motorway (Southbound) in the Beattock Summit area. Primarily used for checking HGVs. Car (and other type of vehicles) check points tend to be set up 'ad hoc', at more random locations, alongside 'A' roads, with ANPR systems likely being used to indicate which vehicles definitely need to be pulled over for further checking (no insurance, no MOT, no road tax, stolen vehicles, cloned vehicles and/or drugs or criminal activity markers, etc). And sometimes officers will pull over vehicles that just look plain unroadworthy.

 

[JamesT]

There's a big DVSA checkpoint area alongside the M74 motorway (Southbound) in the Beattock Summit area. Primarily used for checking HGVs. Car (and other type of vehicles) check points tend to be set up 'ad hoc', at more random locations, alongside 'A' roads, with ANPR systems likely being used to indicate which vehicles definitely need to be pulled over for further checking (no insurance, no MOT, no road tax, stolen vehicles, cloned vehicles and/or drugs or criminal activity markers, etc). And sometimes officers will pull over vehicles that just look plain unroadworthy.

I’ll admit that I’m a fairly infrequent traveler along that road, but I don’t recall ever seeing the checkpoint in use.

 

[norbitonflyer]

I've seen a checkpoint on Blackfriars Bridge a couple of times. Only stopping commercial vehicles. One of the things they were looking for was "red" diesel.

(For those who don't know what that is, it is diesel on which duty has not been paid, which is only permitted to be used for agricultural and other industrial purposes (generators etc), and is dyed red so that it can be identified.

 

[D6130]

I've seen a checkpoint on Blackfriars Bridge a couple of times. Only stopping commercial vehicles. One of the things they were looking for was "red" diesel.

(For those who don't know what that is, it is diesel on which duty has not been paid, which is only permitted to be used for agricultural and other industrial purposes (generators etc), and is dyed red so that it can be identified.

.....and for diesel trains!

 

[MotCO]

There's a big DVSA checkpoint area alongside the M74 motorway (Southbound) in the Beattock Summit area. Primarily used for checking HGVs. Car (and other type of vehicles) check points tend to be set up 'ad hoc', at more random locations, alongside 'A' roads, with ANPR systems likely being used to indicate which vehicles definitely need to be pulled over for further checking (no insurance, no MOT, no road tax, stolen vehicles, cloned vehicles and/or drugs or criminal activity markers, etc). And sometimes officers will pull over vehicles that just look plain unroadworthy.

There is also one on the M25 in Surrey near Leatherhead. I have seen a DVSA vehicle lying in wait on the M25, then speed off and apprehend a foreign-registered vehicle to escort it to the inspection area just off the motorway. This was within the last 3 months.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Someone whose memory stretches further back than mine may remember the purpose of road "check points". I can recall from childhood car journeys on major roads, that vehicles or a proportion of them were occasionally directed to a designated "check point" but my memory is hazy regarding the purpose of this.

Oh yes -I well recall, as a 1970s youngster, family's car being directed to a police checkpoint on the A303*, as we headed westwards to visit my maternal grandmother. As our Morris Marina queued for inspection, a friendly officer would look at mother crocheting, two lads playing I-Spy in the back - and wave us on.
I think - but am not 100% firm on this - that it was in the time of a heightened sensitivity and security, due to The Troubles.

* I used to get motion-sickness, which scuppered my father's hopes of M4-M5. However, the inevitable food-stop in Devizes, coincided with a visit to the local model-shop - and my parting with pocket money, for the next desired OO wagon or carriage!

 

[EYFanatic]

I think - but am not 100% firm on this - that it was in the time of a heightened sensitivity and security, due to The Troubles.

Christ on a stick, I remember those - was with my dad just after Arndale's frontage was rearranged by some unhappy Irish fellows and he got pulled at a check point because he was driving a vehicle with Irish Republic plates on. Almost got done for Red Diesel too until he explained that the vehicle had come from Ireland and been fuelled up by the previous owner and they let him off for that and gave him a ticket he had to show until the fuel tank was dry if he got pulled over

 

[jfollows]

I encountered a check point a few years ago, I don’t know its purpose but my understanding is that you are required to stop if directed to but don’t have to say anything, I think they asked the purpose of my journey and I politely told them it was none of their business. Probably ten years ago.

 

[The exile]

I encountered a check point a few years ago, I don’t know its purpose but my understanding is that you are required to stop if directed to but don’t have to say anything, I think they asked the purpose of my journey and I politely told them it was none of their business. Probably ten years ago.

Isn’t it also the case that there has to be something specific that they stop you for - no blanket or random checks (unlike in many other countries). Blinker speed being a useful “catch all”.

 

[cool110]

I encountered a check point a few years ago, I don’t know its purpose but my understanding is that you are required to stop if directed to but don’t have to say anything, I think they asked the purpose of my journey and I politely told them it was none of their business. Probably ten years ago.

That's the traffic census, helps the DfT decide where to expand the motorway and trunk network.

Isn’t it also the case that there has to be something specific that they stop you for - no blanket or random checks (unlike in many other countries). Blinker speed being a useful “catch all”.

Since that's not an enforcement check that doesn't apply, so they can pull in batches.

 

[EYFanatic]

Isn’t it also the case that there has to be something specific that they stop you for - no blanket or random checks (unlike in many other countries). Blinker speed being a useful “catch all”.

Thats true, although a blanket check on certain vehicles is occasionally done. When the Soham murders happened, I remember them stopping all dark blue and black cars of a certain type and reg start as they thought it might be involved

 

[The exile]

Thats true, although a blanket check on certain vehicles is occasionally done. When the Soham murders happened, I remember them stopping all dark blue and black cars of a certain type and reg start as they thought it might be involved

But then that is a specific reason.

 

[norbitonflyer]

I've been stopped by the Essex Constabulary because the car I was driving on business came up on ANPR as having been involved in a forecourt drive-off six months previously. The documents I presented, showing I had only picked up the car from Hertz that morning, seemed to satisfy them. I resisted the temptation to say that the evidence had been burnt!

Was somewhat embarrassing nevertheless as my boss was in the passenger seat. She was not amused!

 

[The exile]

I've been stopped by the Essex Constabulary because the car I was driving on business came up on ANPR as having been involved in a forecourt drive-off six months previously. The documents I presented, showing I had only picked up the car from Hertz that morning, seemed to satisfy them. I resisted the temptation to say that the evidence had been burnt!

Was somewhat embarrassing nevertheless as my boss was in the passenger seat. She was not amused!

Sounds like a bit of an administrative foul up on the part of the Police - chasing up offences committed by car hirers should be pretty easy (or at least should come off watch lists pretty quickly if it’s a driver offence rather than an owner offence).

 

[cb a1]

I encountered a check point a few years ago, I don’t know its purpose but my understanding is that you are required to stop if directed to but don’t have to say anything, I think they asked the purpose of my journey and I politely told them it was none of their business. Probably ten years ago.

Expanding on what cool110 wrote, the information collected is used to understand travel patterns and journey purposes. Not only done by the DfT, but pretty much any highway / roads authorities across the world. Similar surveys are / were done on bus and rail too.

It has been my displeasure to organise quite a lot of these in the past. They are an absolute nightmare to do and the level of abuse that the poor enumerators were sometimes subjected to was horrendous despite the ultimate objective of the data collection being to make everyone's life better through an improved transport system.

Thankfully, third party datasets are rapidly becoming easier and cheaper to obtain through people's use of mobile phones, smart ticketing systems, in-vehicle satellite navigation systems, etc., thus making roadside censuses anachronistic.

 

[Bald Rick]

There's a big DVSA checkpoint area alongside the M74 motorway (Southbound) in the Beattock Summit area. Primarily used for checking HGVs.

Border control, surely

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Border control, surely

Quite possibly. Think we've now, more-or-less, disproved that roadside "check points" are entirely only a thing of the past.

 

[jfollows]

Expanding on what cool110 wrote, the information collected is used to understand travel patterns and journey purposes. Not only done by the DfT, but pretty much any highway / roads authorities across the world. Similar surveys are / were done on bus and rail too.

It has been my displeasure to organise quite a lot of these in the past. They are an absolute nightmare to do and the level of abuse that the poor enumerators were sometimes subjected to was horrendous despite the ultimate objective of the data collection being to make everyone's life better through an improved transport system.

Thankfully, third party datasets are rapidly becoming easier and cheaper to obtain through people's use of mobile phones, smart ticketing systems, in-vehicle satellite navigation systems, etc., thus making roadside censuses anachronistic.

Thanks, and agreed.
I certainly wasn’t abusive when I was stopped, I simply said that I wouldn’t answer their questions and went on my way.

 

[MotCO]

Quite possibly. Think we've now, more-or-less, disproved that roadside "check points" are entirely only a thing of the past.

Did you miss my post #3940?

There is also one on the M25 in Surrey near Leatherhead. I have seen a DVSA vehicle lying in wait on the M25, then speed off and apprehend a foreign-registered vehicle to escort it to the inspection area just off the motorway. This was within the last 3 months.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Did you miss my post #3940?

No. That was one of the posts proving that they're still a thing.

 

[norbitonflyer]

That's the traffic census, helps the DfT decide where to expand the motorway and trunk network.

I was stopped for a census once. One of the questions was whether I could have made the journey by public transport. Well, yes and no. The journey can easily be made by public transport, but there would not have been much point in not taking the car, as the purpose of the journey was to take it for its MoT!

 

[Statto]

Speaking of Orange street lights, anyone remember the old beacon style street lights, they were replaced in the 1980s by more efficient street lights, which are currently being replaced by the LED street lights.

 

[DelW]

There was a discussion about older style street lighting on here, just over a year ago:

Low pressure sox lighting

I'm sure I've worded it right but please correct me if not! I come across a Facebook page recently in relation to low sodium sox lighting across the UK, it was by total surprise. Its not something I have ever searched for til then, but I looked and it really bought me back to my younger years...

www.railforums.co.uk

Being outside til dark and having a constant orange glow across the streets, which I remember coming through the house at night, something which is now almost completely gone with the replacement of LED fixtures and modern lighting assets, everything now being very very bright, and white!

 

[Statto]

I do miss the sodium street lights, particularly at night when looking at places from a distance & you see the Orange flicker like roman candles.

 

[gg1]

Speaking of Orange street lights, anyone remember the old beacon style street lights, they were replaced in the 1980s by more efficient street lights, which are currently being replaced by the LED street lights.

Do you mean the ones which look a bit like belisha beacons, but with a steady white light instead of flashing amber? I'm sure there are still some of those around.