Jump to content

Before the internet...


8 Hairy Feet

Featured Posts

1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

I remember seeing stoppage notices on glazed notice boards near some water points.  Presumably these were updated when someone remembered to do it.

Stoppage notices were also pinned on lock gates, I remember me and a friend getting to Cape Locks only to find a stoppage notice announcing the closure of the locks so we moored up outside The Cape of Good Hope for a couple of days and then went back up Hatton.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I were a lad we didn't even have telly or a phone - it was a big treat to go to my auntie's to watch telly on a Friday night.  Even much later my parents didn't have a phone - I had to send them a telegram (the only one I ever sent) saying "Not going on holiday. Getting married instead. When can you come?"

I believe telegrams finally came to an end quite recently, after several years of only greetings telegrams being available, to be read out at weddings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ray T said:

We played footy in the street; climbed trees, fell out, broke an arm or two; went train spotting; made good use of the local swimming baths; went for long cycle rides, often on the pavement, got a clip round the ear from the local bobby; flew control line model aircraft, built Airfix model kits and a myriad of other outdoor activities. 

Yes, and if  Mum & Dad heard about the 'cllip round the ear' you got from the local bobby, you got another clout when they found out!

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Does anyone still write letters?

I still prefer writing a letter than emailing. (Friends and family that is). And I receive letters in return via Poste Restante, a great service offered by post office. 

Yes, but because of my awful handwriting no one can read them :mellow:

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, WotEver said:

It’s like the old adage from a publishing house...

Trainee: What did we used to do before fax machines were invented?

Old hand: We used to do things on time, son. 

When I worked as a Technical Author for Ford Motor Company at the end of the 60s we had a fax machine to send and receive proof service letters from the publisher. It took up a whole desk with separate send and receive sections. I can't recall how long it took to send, something like 10 minutes for an A4 page. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, pearley said:

When I worked as a Technical Author for Ford Motor Company at the end of the 60s we had a fax machine to send and receive proof service letters from the publisher. It took up a whole desk with separate send and receive sections. I can't recall how long it took to send, something like 10 minutes for an A4 page. 

I had to have a very urgent conversation with someone in the Middle East via a teletype in the early 70’s. I had someone from the typing pool do the typing at my end...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Stoppage notices were also pinned on lock gates, I remember me and a friend getting to Cape Locks only to find a stoppage notice announcing the closure of the locks so we moored up outside The Cape of Good Hope for a couple of days and then went back up Hatton.

They still are sometimes. Last year on our way through Birmingham to the GU with a pair loaded with coal we arrived at the top lock of Farmers Bridge to find a notice on the beam telling us that a lock on the Ashted flight was closed, the first we knew of it. So knowing we had to go down the Aston flight, we decided to go on that way and went to Braunston via Fazeley Junction. Don't try this with a deep draughted boat at the moment until CRT have had the canal dredged properly at Minworth!

I'm sure that in the past (I only started canal boating in 2012) word of stoppages would have been passed along by word of mouth from oncoming boaters rather more than it is now, and that when there were more lock keepers and other staff about they'd have helped spread information.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Athy said:

It is a pity that the internet and phobile mones were not around when 'The Flintstones' cartoon series were being made. It would have been interesting to see what comedic slant Hanna and Barbera would have put on them.

A small basket with a homing pigeon would work - but only in one direction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

I had to have a very urgent conversation with someone in the Middle East via a teletype in the early 70’s. I had someone from the typing pool do the typing at my end...

Those things were so slow that I'm not sure typing speed would have been much of a factor, I think putting your message concisely would be the important thing. Sometimes in 1980 when our two VDUs were in use I had to resort to using the teletype console to issue commands to a PDP-11 computer, and it was critical to avoid doing anything which would produce a long reply from the machine, I really had to plan and think before typing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, billS said:

A small basket with a homing pigeon would work - but only in one direction.

Or one of those sheepdog types that always find their way home? Must be true cos Lassie always managed it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dogs (and cats) really are pretty good at finding their way home, even when they've been transported so haven't done the outward journey, and I'm not sure science yet understands how they manage it. Some are better than others; my father said he often collected his dog from various police stations across south London (late 1940s; the police probably don't get involved with lost dogs so much nowadays)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, pearley said:

When I worked as a Technical Author for Ford Motor Company at the end of the 60s we had a fax machine to send and receive proof service letters from the publisher. It took up a whole desk with separate send and receive sections. I can't recall how long it took to send, something like 10 minutes for an A4 page. 

Interestingly (or not) the first patent for a fax machine was issued in 1843

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Teletext and the other 'text on the telly' service run by ITV for all manner of useful information but not canal stoppages, if that is what you mean. 

Prior to that it was telephone recorded message services, newsletters in the post and notices on noticeboards. 

Oh and Telegrams if you needed to tell someone something urgently, and you were rich. 

Teletext was the 'text on the telly' run by ITV

BBC's version of it was CeeFax

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Peter X said:

my father said he often collected his dog from various police stations across south London

So it wasn’t so much good at finding its way home as it was at finding police stations?

Edited by WotEver
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

I luuuuurved E and M I got it as a kid every week. Bought a fab microscope out of  it about 1965 and my stick insects that came live in a small cardboard box through the post.

I bought my boat (the one I've still got) out of Exchange and Mart...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have postcards dating from the 30s sent from the Dock Master at various London Docks to the Lock Keeper at BW Brentfor Depot telling him that x number of barges would be leaving on the next tide and be with him at such and such a time that day. These postcards were delivered quicker than the time it took for a tug to do the trip. Even in the 40s it was possible to send a postcard to make an arrangement with someone for the following day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Peter X said:

Young people sometimes ask me questions like this. I think on the whole the answer is that for most purposes in life you don't need up to date information, and when we did there was TV, radio, land line telephones and word of mouth, which meant people fairly soon found out about anything major that was happening. Not as instantly as nowadays, but soon enough. For less urgent information we wrote a letter, which in the 1970s was more economic than long distance phone calls; local calls were quite cheap but over a certain distance (56km?) phone calls became pricey.

What would really flummox the average young person today would be how we managed to meet up with people when out. Before mobile phones, it was necessary to arrange a time and place to meet and stick to it. If something went wrong, both parties could find a phone box (remember those?, there are still some about) and call a suitable intermediary such as a parent, secretary etc. to make a fresh arrangement, but this depended on both knowing or guessing who that suitable intermediary would be, it wasn't easy.

Yes for our early boat trips my grandmother acted as mission control. We would ring up and leave cryptic messages like "Braunston 4pm tomorrow", and joining crew would then ring to collect the instructions. Worked a treat. ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Peter X said:

 

What would really flummox the average young person today would be how we managed to meet up with people when out. Before mobile phones, it was necessary to arrange a time and place to meet and stick to it. If something went wrong, both parties could find a phone box (remember those?, there are still some about) and call a suitable intermediary such as a parent, secretary etc. to make a fresh arrangement, but this depended on both knowing or guessing who that suitable intermediary would be, it wasn't easy.

the worst part was making a date with a young lady and then waiting at the appointed place (usually a bus stop) and time, sometimes for an hour or more, not knowing if she was delayed or had stood you up  .........  it's a wonder that anyone ever got together at all.    Having a car helped 'cos you could go to her place to pick her up.

I got a company mobile in the mid-90s and it transformed my life (I spent most of my time out of the office at various construction sites).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

the worst part was making a date with a young lady and then waiting at the appointed place (usually a bus stop) and time, sometimes for an hour or more, not knowing if she was delayed or had stood you up  ......... 

Oh yes, I remember it well; though it was always a pleasant feeling (and sometimes surprise) when she did.

After I while I discovered that making the "appointed place" the lounge bar of a place of public refreshment made the wait far more bearable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Teletext and the other 'text on the telly' service run by ITV for all manner of useful information but not canal stoppages, if that is what you mean. 

Prior to that it was telephone recorded message services, newsletters in the post and notices on noticeboards. 

Oh and Telegrams if you needed to tell someone something urgently, and you were rich. 

It was invented by the Post Office in the 1970's and originally marketed as "Prestel", but didn't become popular until the mid 80's. 

https://www.historytoday.com/tom-lean/prestel-british-internet-never-was

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exchange and mart if the seller had no phone they gave a box number to write to or their address so you could cruise round bang on the door and say’ ive come about the left handed thribble washer you are advertising’

remember the car warnings ‘ if you ring up and say im enquiring about the car and they say what car they may be a trader... 

bought my first boat on a friday day after e and m came out...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Fab wasnt it. I remember telephoning my girlfriend at her parents place from the North Atlantic in the Arctic circle in the mid seventies. She thought it was amazing at the time that I could ring her from a warship lol.

I did that in 1970, rang my mum from the middle of the Indian Ocean via Ilfracombe Radio. She was struck dumb in surprise. Only time I've known her lost for words. I sent the girlfriend some flowers via Interflora (do they still exist?), she's still the other half 49 years later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, WotEver said:

I had to have a very urgent conversation with someone in the Middle East via a teletype in the early 70’s. I had someone from the typing pool do the typing at my end...

Telex machines were brilliant, weren't they? I can still remember the Telex IDs for the first two companies I worked for!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.