Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[Bald Rick]

Lots of things have changed in football over the years. Few of which I seem to approve of! ….. Goal "celebrations" (rather than a manly handshake)!

I have an early childhood memory of my late uncle bemoaning exactly this, that goal celebrations were over the top and it’s not like a ‘smile and a handshake’ when he played to a decent standard (equivalent of Northern Premier League now).

Mind you, he was playing 80 years ago, so barely living memory.

 

[contrex]

When I was a little boy, under 5, so before 1957, my mother used to take me for a haircut to a barber's shop where the barber used to offer a 'singe', the sight of which being done made me a bit nervous.

 

[Brightonboy]

Ambulances where the crews had little or no choices other than 'scoop and run'; I can still remember when Brighton introduced the first (or nearly so) ambulances in the UK that were especially equipped and crewed to deal with heart attacks. These days we assume and expect ambulances to be not far short of mobile A&E bays with 'stay and play' often being the order of the day.

 

[Statto]

Here in Northern Ireland Good Friday is by and large a 'normal' day and places are shut tomorrow, like Doctor's Surgeries.

On buses, West Midlands have normal Friday services on Good Friday, when most other places have Sunday or Bank Holiday service.

 

[Harpo]

Lots of things have changed in football over the years. …(edit)…..Goal "celebrations" (rather than a manly handshake)!

I don’t think ‘66 captain Bobby Moore even cracked a smile did he?

Rugby union is become afflicted by ‘celebrations’, especially when a penalty is won at a set piece by the England team.

 

[scarby]

Dripping taps.

 

[swt_passenger]

I have an early childhood memory of my late uncle bemoaning exactly this, that goal celebrations were over the top and it’s not like a ‘smile and a handshake’ when he played to a decent standard (equivalent of Northern Premier League now).

Mind you, he was playing 80 years ago, so barely living memory.

I can think of an instant way of getting rid of OTT celebrations, eg formation dancing around the corner flag. Allow the team just scored against to restart from the centre spot as soon as they are ready…

 

[Trackman]

I have an early childhood memory of my late uncle bemoaning exactly this, that goal celebrations were over the top and it’s not like a ‘smile and a handshake’ when he played to a decent standard (equivalent of Northern Premier League now).

Mind you, he was playing 80 years ago, so barely living memory.

Reminds me of that Harry Enfield Liverpool football association sketch

 

[JamesT]

Dripping taps.

Why are those anachronistic? I've had to fix one only recently. (The joys of living in a very hard water area)

 

[WesternLancer]

Dripping taps.

Are you sure. My outside tap is currently dripping.

Waiting for me to get a tuit. A round tuit.

 

[Silent]

Nah still a thing. I notice the old taps in my house are probably more likely to drip though, it’s a council house. The tap is also a screw mechanism unlike recently fitted taps which just require one turn clockwise and vice versa. I wonder of the screw tap mechanism will be anachronistic in a few decades.

 

[WesternLancer]

unlike recently fitted taps which just require one turn clockwise and vice versa.

these sound like they might be ceramic seals which require two pieces to meet 100% accurately AIUI - work well until a bit of grit in the water supply - eg tiny flake of iron from inside a pipe somewhere in the supply system, scratches the ceramic surface and then they drip.

Older rubber tap washers can at least be screwed down harder until they give up the ghost and need the washers changing - which cost pence, rather than the costs of the ceramic inserts which are not in any way so cheap

But - Supataps - now they are a type of tap you seldom see anymore...

From:

Supataps (Supa Taps) – Tap Refurbishment

www.taprefurbishment.co.uk

Supataps were a great invention when you think about it.
How many other taps have the facility to change the washers with a live water supply?
Their two-piece design was almost too simple.

 

[GordonT]

School age children knocking on friends' doors or phoning on landlines to seek a parental resolution on whether the enquiring child's pal Bill or Mary (or these days perhaps Noah or Aria) is allowed out "to play" or whatever activity was considered likely to incur the favourable consideration of the adjudicating parent who was being addressed.

 

[Silent]

What does 888 mean at the start of old 90s bbc programmes. Also why were indents labelled subtitles.

Was it a link on teletext?

I don’t usually watch tv on tv nowadays so might be wrong to think the subtitles label is anachronistic

 

[Steddenm]

What does 888 mean at the start of old 90s bbc programmes. Also why were indents labelled subtitles.

Was it a link on teletext?

I don’t usually watch tv on tv nowadays so might be wrong to think the subtitles label is anachronistic

888 was the page number for subtitles on Ceefax and Teletext/Oracle.

The subtitles caption denotes that the programme carries them. Not all programmes used to.

There was also an old subtitles at the end of the programme that read something like "The next programme with Oracle subtitles is: CORONATION STREET, Wednesday, 7pm, Central"

 

[GordonT]

The bad old days when smoking was almost regarded as a basic human right. Passengers smoking on planes, teachers smoking in classrooms, doctors smoking whilst seeing patients etc. etc. Criminals sentenced to death or folk dying of lung conditions offered "a last cigarette." Rescued miners brought up from pit accidents given a lit cigarette. Sailors with rubbish wages and conditions, BUT receiving an allowance of duty free cigarettes and baccy! (Not to mention the rum ration). Pressure Groups such as FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) busily defending all this.

 

[Trackman]

The bad old days when smoking was almost regarded as a basic human right. Passengers smoking on planes, teachers smoking in classrooms, doctors smoking whilst seeing patients etc. etc. Criminals sentenced to death or folk dying of lung conditions offered "a last cigarette." Rescued miners brought up from pit accidents given a lit cigarette. Sailors with rubbish wages and conditions, BUT receiving an allowance of duty free cigarettes and baccy! (Not to mention the rum ration). Pressure Groups such as FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) busily defending all this.

My Mums GP used to smoke and drink whisky but not in front of them, mum said the consultation room was like walking into a pub. This was in the late 70s era.
One day, my mum rang the GP as she had gallstones and was in a lot of pain and waiting for an op; I was there listening as a bystander. The GP said 'Do you have any Whisky in the house?' - which we did. The prescription was (so to speak) was 3x500mg Paracetamol and 2 double Whiskies. The look on mums face when she explained what he had said!

 

[Falcon1200]

The bad old days when smoking was almost regarded as a basic human right.

Yes indeed! One of my jobs on the railway involved working on a row of desks, with meals often taken at the desk, and it was quite normal to be eating with the guy either side smoking like chimneys.

Pressure Groups such as FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) busily defending all this.

IIRC when BR proposed banning smoking in buffet cars FOREST, and/or their ilk, were up in arms about it.

 

[PG]

IIRC when BR proposed banning smoking in buffet cars FOREST, and/or their ilk, were up in arms about it.

On the same theme I'm puzzled as to why on HSTs coach B was for smoking, when if they'd made it coach A then that would have avoided non-smokers having to go through the smoking coach to get to the buffet counter?

 

[WesternLancer]

On the same theme I'm puzzled as to why on HSTs coach B was for smoking, when if they'd made it coach A then that would have avoided non-smokers having to go through the smoking coach to get to the buffet counter?

Good point. I wondered that too. Originally could both an and b have been smoking carriages? As well as one in first too.

 

[gg1]

On the same theme I'm puzzled as to why on HSTs coach B was for smoking, when if they'd made it coach A then that would have avoided non-smokers having to go through the smoking coach to get to the buffet counter?

I don't think it was just HSTs. IIRC the smoking coach on the WCML Inter City loco hauled services in the late 80s/90s was also coach B.

 

[The exile]

Good point. I wondered that too. Originally could both an and b have been smoking carriages? As well as one in first too.

Originally all carriages would have been half and half (“originally “ relating to the HST era - AIUI Mk 1s originally had a couple of bays compartments as the non-smoking accommodation.)

 

[Merle Haggard]

Good point. I wondered that too. Originally could both an and b have been smoking carriages? As well as one in first too.

Coaches were previously marked as 'non-smoking' and the number was limited. I can't remember exactly when coaches changed from being marked as 'non smoking' to marked 'smoking' but I would guess in the mid-1980s. On the old system, there was possibly only one non-smoking coach in the standard / 2nd section of an HST. Or possibly half and half in one coach.
In BR Standard 64 seat TSOs there was a bulkhead dividing one half of the coach into two 16 seat sections (the halves being defined by the centre vestibule) and the two bays beyond that bulkhead at one end were marked as non-smoking. In the AM 4s and AM10s one std/2nd coach of the four was marked 'non-smoking', and the Firsts were divided roughly 1/3 ns 2/3 smoking.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I don't think it was just HSTs. IIRC the smoking coach on the WCML Inter City loco hauled services in the late 80s/90s was also coach B.

Thought it was coach 'A'. Invariably the only standard class coach you could find a spare seat in, this on busier WCML services in the 1990s, between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston.

 

[Oxfordblues]

Working for Railfreight Distribution at Enterprise House in Paddington I was once called to speak with one of my colleagues,a pipe-smoker who had his own office. Entering the room I was met with a wall of smoke. I couldn't see him even though he was just a couple of metres away!

 

[35B]

Originally all carriages would have been half and half (“originally “ relating to the HST era - AIUI Mk 1s originally had a couple of bays compartments as the non-smoking accommodation.)

At the end, it was 5 and 3 on an MK2. I remember the transition point - InterCity decided to change at short notice, and "smoking" reservations became "non-smoking"; travelling on a Glasgow train out of Euston in August 1991, this upset some of the smokers who insisted on their right to smoke, before being removed by BTP at Rugby.

On the ECML, my memory is that not all trains had a coach A, so B was used to ensure that there would always be a smoking carriage regardless of formation.

 

[Killingworth]

I don't recall exactly which carriages it would have been but certainly can remember having to take a deep breath of fresh air before and after walking through it to get to the buffet. That carriage wouldn't need to be designated as smoking - the ceilings and walls would be stained brown gave it away when the rest of the train was white or light cream. In the 1950s the difference was less noticeable as so many smoked but non-smoking compartments would look cleaner. Upper decks of buses were a smokers paradise with brown roofs to prove it.

Didn't W H Smith's sell a lot of baccy products from kiosks at smaller stations that may no longer exist?

 

[Statto]

I was looking at the football league table from 71/72 season the other day, & they used goal average (or goal ratio) as the tiebreaker back then, goal difference started 76/77 season.

Goal average could be tricky to work out, it was goals scored, against goals conceded, in the matches played, that it was better to win a match 1-0 than 3-1, at least goal difference is more straight forward.

 

[Silent]

The bus stop, train station seats that seemed like they can spin around freely

 

[GordonT]

Referring to a phone as "the blower" as in "Give me a minute and I'll get the boss on the blower". The word is/was British slang originating from the 1920s that refers to speaking tubes, which were mechanical precursors to the telephone. To activate these, users had to blow into the tube to make a whistle sound at the other end to alert the recipient.