Things that time forgot.

[ahinton]

Progress.

Apart from gay marriage, free travel passes for oldies, CDs and the Internet, can anyone honestly think of anything that passes for progress in Britain since 1970?

The Equal Pay Act?
Race Discrimination Act?
Health & Safety at Work Act?

Really???

(Perhaps I'm just feeling more cynical than usual today)

Whether and to what extent a piece of legislation might alone be capable of representing progress in practical terms depends at least as much on the extent to which it is adhered and operated as intended as it does on its content and the ways in which it is drafted. As to "free travel passes for oldies", I do not see that this represents progress any more than "free" NHS prescriptions and eye tests for the over 60s or "free" TV licences for over 75s, since they're all "free" only to their users - i.e. they have to be paid for by others who do not qualify for them; true progress in these areas might be represented by an economically viable means (not that I'm suggesting that there is one) of providing such facilities and services "free" at the point of use only to those whose lack of income and readily realisable capital assets leave them in greater need of them than those who are well off but still qualify for them purely on age grounds - but when was any kind of means-testing even workable, let alone a credible and workable route to any kind of salvation?

[ahinton]

High-speed trains

I think that S_A was referring to UK, where there are no high speed trains - only trains that, when there are no leaves on the line, the wrong kind of snow or other fatuous excuses, are capable at best of less than twice the UK motorway speed limit, a fact which, taken together with the occasionally eye-wateringly excessive travel fares, is hardly a realistic discouragement to people from flying.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Actually, there are high speed trains, operating from London St Pancras to Ashford and beyond.

Furthermore, the Inter-City 125 was named as such from the outset, in order to distinguish it from the faster Advanced Passenger Train (which morphed into the Pendolino).

[ahinton]

Actually, there are high speed trains, operating from London St Pancras to Ashford and beyond.

Furthermore, the Inter-City 125 was named as such from the outset, in order to distinguish it from the faster Advanced Passenger Train (which morphed into the Pendolino).

But none of these are what could reasonably be called high speed trains these days, when one considers the kinds of speed that some trains outside UK can achieve.

[Petrushka]

Crossed lines on the telephone. I do a lot of telephone work in my job and it struck me only today that the high entertainment value to be gained from getting a crossed line is a thing of the past.

[Beef Oven!]

Crossed lines on the telephone. I do a lot of telephone work in my job and it struck me only today that the high entertainment value to be gained from getting a crossed line is a thing of the past.

P.S. When we first got a 'phone in the mid 1960s (paid for by the trade union because my dad was a shop steward at his firm), we had a shared line. Sometimes you'd pick up the phone and the other person would be in the middle of a conversation, and vice versa!

[Serial_Apologist]

Crossed lines on the telephone. I do a lot of telephone work in my job and it struck me only today that the high entertainment value to be gained from getting a crossed line is a thing of the past.

A workmate once by chance overheard a conversation between a district trade union official and the head of the company HR department about me, and how I was a leftie troublemaker; but not to worry, said the HR person (); he knew what trouble these Trotskyites could be to proper industrial relations unless quickly dealt with, but I was due for reassigment to the foundry office, which would mean losing my rep status, (reps being elected from each department's respective members), and in any case the job was being considered for redundancy the following year. This was due to a crossed line. At this point my friend cleared his throat loudly. After a few seconds the union official said, 'Did you hear that?' 'Yes' said the manager, 'I think we've been overheard', and a second later the line went dead!

[mahlerei]

Ha, I remember party lines, where several people shared the same line. We all had our own ring, so we'd know when the call was for us. And having to book long-distance calls, which were known as trunk calls.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Our telephone in the late 50s/early 60s didn't even have a dial. All calls were connected via the operator.

[Stanfordian]

Our telephone in the late 50s/early 60s didn't even have a dial. All calls were connected via the operator.

Hiya Eine Alpensinfonie,
Wow! You must have been posh! Working class families didn't uusually have telephones in my neck of the woods. When I started work at the local Town Hall in 1972 aged 15 when the telephone rang in the office and I had to take the call it was the first time I had used a phone.

[ahinton]

Ha, I remember party lines, where several people shared the same line. We all had our own ring, so we'd know when the call was for us. And having to book long-distance calls, which were known as trunk calls.

As with quite a few things cited in this thread, it seem utterly inconceivable that party phone lines were ever permitted to exist in the first place. I never had one, but I'm not sure that I'd have gone for one had it been the only available option!

[vinteuil]

.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimphone

[Radio64]

Electronic typewriters.

[Ferretfancy]

It's certainly not missed, but how about the high BO count on public transport in the days when washing machines were a rarity? A time traveller going back to 1950 would notice that, and also the drabness of the city environment.

[David-G]

I think that S_A was referring to UK, where there are no high speed trains - only trains that, when there are no leaves on the line, the wrong kind of snow or other fatuous excuses, are capable at best of less than twice the UK motorway speed limit, a fact which, taken together with the occasionally eye-wateringly excessive travel fares, is hardly a realistic discouragement to people from flying.

The Deltics were marvellous locomotives, but the electrified East Coast service of today is far superior to the Deltic-hauled service of 1970.