Things once routine that are now becoming Period.

[88v8]

Drilling holes and countersinks with a hand brace and driving screws by hand. I have the souvenir tendonitis.

Starting the car with a handle. Last did that in 1978.

Winding down the car window. Actually not true in our case as we have three cars with windy windows.

Pulling out the choke. Which we still do.

Unfolding a map in the car.

Dialling a number. We do have a dialphone but it's in the guest bedroom and rarely used for outgoing calls.

Waiting for the neighbours to finish using the party line.

Using a coin phone box. 'Press button B'.

Darning socks. Not since about 6/7 years at any rate. I'm wearing a pair now.

Knitting socks. When I was in Moorfields hosp in about 1962 we weren't allowed to sit around doing nothing, I knitted a pair of socks. They self-destructed a few years ago.

The weekly clean. Fridge pulled out, chairs on the dining table so the floor could be hovered, everything polished, rugs outside for whacking with the carpet beater.

The weekly bake. My mother, at any rate.

The weekly wash. Starching. My mother, again.

Stoning the front step. My mother kept busy.

The weekly shop. Well, guess who.

Lighting the kitchen stove. Same person.

Waiting for the trolley bus.

Fish glue.

Burning paint off with the paraffin blowlamp.

Pulling off the picture rails. Hardboarding over the doors. Boxing in the staircase. My father was a Barry Bucknell fan.

The push mower. Whirrrr, tickticktick.

Running after the ice cream van.

Looking forward to condensed milk on our tinned fruit.

Plucking a chicken over the kitchen sink - my grandmother. After my uncle had killed it.

Taking a film to be developed.

Deciding which of the two TV channels to watch.

And what started this line of thought - using a manual corkscrew to remove a cork cork from a wine bottle.

Ivor

 

[Flyfisher]

Great topic

I recognise most of these, though I'm still winding the windows in my Land Rover but being a Defender it doesn't have a choke so it must be only 'half period' :wink:

I would, however, question your inclusion of the 'weekly shop’. I'd suggest it should be the daily shop that has more or less disappeared as I well remember my mother taking me to the shops almost daily to buy the evening meal before my father arrived home from work. This was probably a consequence of not having a fridge in the house and her not being able to drive, plus the high street shops were only a short walk away and my perambulator doubled as a handy means to carry all the shopping back home. Later, when I was able to walk, I remember her using a wicker basket on wheels as a 'shopping trolley'. I've not seen one of those in decades now.

Other things I'd add to the list would be things like playing vinyl records (though I understand they are making a small comeback these days), recording TV and watching films on a VCR and doing the same for music on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Or indeed a cassette recorder - all examples of now obsolete technologies that became obsolete (and some invented) in my own lifetime. CDs might be a another example.

I'd also add the daily ritual of doing the washing up - a job still done of course though not by hand in our household. Perhaps more domestic robots really are the future?

 

[LadyArowana]

Great topic

I remember her using a wicker basket on wheels as a 'shopping trolley'. I've not seen one of those in decades now.

Could be the next hipster craze, be ahead of the curve and order now, only 3 left LOL https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wicker-Shopping-Trolley-Made-Somerset/dp/B003QIOV9Y

 

[Pennyviz]

Anything electrical or mechanical that lasts longer than it's warranty or 7 years tops.

Penny

 

[wobs]

Dial-up connection.

Last used a choke on a car in about 1989. Last car that didn't have electric windows I sold in 2006, although current car has manual windows in rear.

My mum had a tub washing machine thing up until about 1981, and they didn't get a VCR until the 1990s.

I still buy CDs, but not vinyl. In fact the turntable hasn't been unpacked since we moved 4 years ago.

I do intend to buy a folding map for the campervan, as its more detailed, and will be good education for the kids.

I hope we keep our old style phone boxes, as we live in Hull, where they are cream coloured (apart from one which is gold - from the Olympics).

 

[plasticpigeon]

Settiing the points and adjusting the timing with a strobe by rotating the distributor. This was a ritual for my dad and his friends every saturday morning. I had a Reliant Robin for a while so kept that tradition going until around 10 years ago.

I also fix things, apparently nobody does that any more.

 

[Flyfisher]

I still buy CDs, but not vinyl. In fact the turntable hasn't been unpacked since we moved 4 years ago.

Ditto. I still buy CDs as they are not compressed, but as soon as I've 'ripped' them to my PC they go into a box never to be played again.

My turntable had been packed away in its original box for at least 15 years so I finally got around to getting rid of it earlier this year (donated to a local hospice charity, along with my reel-to-reel tape deck and assorted other hi-fi 'components').

Having digitised all my vinyl albums I've now started selling them on eBay, mostly for far more than I originally paid for them. When they are all gone I'll be starting on the CDs. I'm discovering that de-cluttering can be addictive!

 

[Flyfisher]

Settiing the points and adjusting the timing with a strobe by rotating the distributor. This was a ritual for my dad and his friends every saturday morning.

I remember those days with absolutely no fondness whatsoever and would say it's a perfect example of the benefits of progress!

 

[Owain]

I'd also add the daily ritual of doing the washing up

Daily? You mean you left the breakfast dishes until after dinner? My mother thought leaving the tea things unwashed until after dinner was slatternly.

* Wearing a 'pinny' to do the housework but taking it off quickly to answer the door.

* Putting 2ps (later 5ps) aside for using the telephone kiosk.

* Turning the wireless on at 5 to six so it could warm up before The News started.

* Not letting children use the record player until they'd learned to hold the record by the edges and lower the arm without scratching.

* Buying Clark's sandals for the summer term ever Easter holidays. Buying Clark's shoes for the winter every Autumn half-term holidays. Asking the shop if you could have any spare shoeboxes to play with.

* Shoplifting mucky mags from the newsagent because you knew the woman would tell your mum if you bought one.

* Buying things from shops that are supposed to sell that thing. I buy milk from the newsagent, aspirin from the chip shop (it's open late), flowers from the garage and hand my Yodel parcels into the pharmacist.

* Buying extra today because it's Early Closing tomorrow.

* Asking if the shop can cash a cheque. For £5.

* Thinking a dash of Worcestershire sauce made tomato juice as a starter sophisticated.

* Meat still looked like the bit of the animal it came from.

 

[Flyfisher]

I'd also add the daily ritual of doing the washing up

Daily? You mean you left the breakfast dishes until after dinner? My mother thought leaving the tea things unwashed until after dinner was slatternly.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I confess that we do leave the breakfast dishes unwashed all day, but at least they are out of sight inside the dishwasher awaiting a full load before pressing the 'go' button. My apologies to your mother :wink:

 

[Gareth Hughes]

We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.

 

[Lime]

Anything electrical or mechanical that lasts longer than it's warranty or 7 years tops.

Penny

Except TVs where you thought yourself lucky that the "set" was still going after 6 months.
It was a regular occurrence in the good old days for valves and sometimes the tube (VERY expensive) to blow and need replacing.

Also what about paper carrier bags?
Surely some of you are old enough to remember waiting for the bus was a nightmare if it was raining and you had carrier bags full of shopping?
You couldn't put them down on the pavement because the bags would disintegrate in seconds.
If you had to wait a while it was only a matter of time before the rain made the paper carrier bag damp and your shopping would fall out all over the place.
It was not uncommon for both my sister and myself to have potatoes, carrots and anything we could be trusted not to break stuffed in our pockets on the bus home after a wet shopping disaster.
(No mamby pamby bus shelters in the old days either.)
Even if you managed to keep the carrier bag bottom dry eventually the rain would weaken the string handle fixings and the whole bag fall out of your hands.

 

[Lime]

We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.

We didn't have roads in my day.

 

[Flyfisher]

@Gareth - Well of course, you had it easy . . . .

 

[Owain]

I can remember being very intrigued by the downstairs neighbour who had a gas poker attached to the side of her cooker, presumably for lighting the copper (if she'd had a copper, which she didn't in a 1960s flat).

Taking an hour to drill one hole in a wall with a Rawltool.

Spin dryer duty - lifting the lid (and NOT putting your fingers inside) when the bowl under the waste spout was getting full. (We couldn't afford the extra 10/- for the Superior De-Luxe with a drain hose.)

Going round to a neighbour's to watch something because they had a colour telly.

Going round to a neighbour's to watch something because they had a telly.

Not sitting too close to the set because you'd get square eyes.

Clockwork doorbells that either stuck on or ran down until they only clucked softly instead of ringing, then you had to wind them up again.

Clocks and watches that you wound before bedtime.

Hot water bottles that burst in the night.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I've got a clockwork bell, it is fantastic.

 

[Zebra]

Fish glue.

I didn't know you could glue fish. What did you glue them to?

 

[wobs]

And what started this line of thought - using a manual corkscrew to remove a cork cork from a wine bottle.

Ivor

Aren't most cork screws manual? I know you can get automated ones, but I can't imagine they are that common. We use one with two pairs of levers, but its still manually operated.

We always try to get bottles with real corks though.

 

[Abi Cott]

I've got a clockwork bell, it is fantastic.

Another vote for clockwork doorbells. I installed one for my neighbour last year and now I'm looking for one for me. Preferably with a different tone though.

 

[angrybird]

Having a wooden 'choke peg' to keep my choke out in my Mini
.Dad drilling a hole in the floor of my Mini because the windows leaked thus preventing wet feet
.My Nan using Jewel floor polish on the steps in the lean to.I always slid off the top step and missed the second completely
.Nan boiling beetroot in a big enamel bucket that she also used to boil her whites in
.Nan stopping the spin dryer with a wooden spoon against the inner drum
.Nan putting her knickers and Grandads socks under the grill to air
.Nan using Rentokil polish or hard work polish as she called it to polish the kitchen stools,I never managed to eat my tea without slipping off the stool
.Nan starching handkerchiefs which my Grandad had great pleasure in calling it his Prayer book
.when my Nan first had an automatic washing machine she hand washed all the clothes first as she didn't believe it would get the washing clean
.Nan making jelly with evaporated milk served with a tin of peaches

Gosh I miss her little quirky ways