patsylabrador Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I didn't realise how many people on here are in their fifties, we must have a lot of history between us and I was thinking about the past especially about when I joined the Met and how outdated it all was. I wondered if you would like to have a laugh. The first image (sorry it's so big) is of the area car that was still in use when i joined. I was a lowly probationer walker then so I was never posted on it ( I hadn't done the course) but sometimes a kind area car driver would give me a lift to my beat. The bus is the type I occasionally worked on as wireless operator (I had done the course) I hated it because back then I never knew what part of London I was in and Guv'nors would shout at me. Women weren't allowed out at protests & riots then, but sometimes I'd manage to get on a police line but quickly got hoiked back on the bus by Sergeants. This was my uniform when I first joined although I don't know if it's Surrey police or the name of the style. I couldn't find a Met picture. Can you see the cape, I loved the cape. Totally impractical, lucky police women now. I also read that women weren't allowed to be Dog Handlers until the 70s because the handler had to have a wife at home to look after the puppy. How true that is I don't know but thinking back I don't remember any female handlers. If anyone has similar nostalgia to share I'd love to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowberry Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 They're brilliant PL! Thank you so much for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 What wonderful memories you have shared, thank you My first thought when I saw the area car: Z-Cars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicken bark Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Really interesting post and pictures. Not in my fifties but I do remember the internet arriving when I was at university. There was about 1 machine in the place that could connect to it. And of course only 3 TV channels... My Mum says 'Call the Midwife' was just like it was when she started nursing in the late 50's. I'm sure my Mum had a cape too. She needed to get my Dad vetted by the Matron before they could get married. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Lovely photos. My grandma had a Rover like that - not a police one though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Nearly there, I'll be 50 in 6 months time . In my twenties, I worked as a secretary for the Scottish Sports Council. We had a computer, or word processor really, all you could do on it was type documents. It had half a dozen monitors and a "hard drive" the size of a large washing machine which took discs inches thick and the diameter of car wheels and took an hour to backup every night. The average calculator has more processing power than that thing did and it took up a whole room . No photos I'm afraid . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyhole kate Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Another Fifties here I didn't have a working career I was a stay at home mum to four children which I adored. I think us baby boomers have lived and witnessed some of the most important events in history from the end of Apartheid to first British female prime minister to seeing the moon landing and the first men to walk on the moon to the first black US president not to mention the advances in technology of home computers and mobile phones. Not all advances have been for the better though you can't beat a line of white terry towelling nappies flapping on a washing line Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I said something similar the other day - when you look back, the sheer amount of important events and advances is blinding. When you look back to when I studied computer science at A level and pooters were the size of a room, who'd have thought that they would be handheld, let alone that we'd have mobile phones.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goosey Lucy Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 ...which leads on to the obvious question, what will the next 50 years bring? Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 When I started work in the Civil Service in 1978 - the computer floor - was just that - a whole floor of machines with huge big reels of tape! It hot incredibly hot and had to be air conditioned and was run by an army of men in white coats! (no women - far too technical). As far as I know all it did was print out customer accounts! When I moved on to another job - the secretaries still used sit-up-and-beg typewriters with sheets of carbon. The most modern thing was Tippex! They then moved on to electic typewriters. A few years later I was made redundant and retrained as a secretary on a PC. I was never considered a "proper" typist as I had not learned on a manual typewriter! You could tell the ones who were though - they bashed the hell out of the keyboards - but funnily enough - it was me who got RSI..... The "old" typists still typed with hands and wrists raised and never got RSI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 My dad sadly died 30 years ago of Cancer at 49 years old! (My Grandad died exactly a year later - broken hearted!) He never knew so many things we take for granted - I would love to bring him back for a day and show him all the gadgets - Mobiles, MP3 players, sat-navs, PC's, I-pads/pods, DS and other game consoles....... Just think how much the world has changed in 30 short years - he would have been amazed! BUT SADLY!!! There is still no magic cure for Cancer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Very true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Great photos OH and I were watching The Apollo 13 story on Discovery the other day and were thinking how brilliant they were to be able to have a Blue Peter moment and get themselves out of big trouble. I said to my hubby how amazing it was that they could put men on the moon (or not in the case of Apollo 13) when virtually all of us still had black and white television sets at the time. We had a cat who had kittens when this was all going on and we were very disappointed that our Dad wouldn't let us call the boy kitten Apollo When I first started work we still had normal electric typewriters that we had to use carbon paper with and tippex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan08 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I'm 43, my first jobs were in catering, bars and restaurants. That industry hasn't changed so much, except for the electronic tills which may have improved stock taking but not the service I moved into a small office about 23 years ago, with the same company I work for now. The "new" innovation was the fax machine, we had a big cheetah telex in the corner. I was the first in the office to get a computer, a 4mb machine. That I had to teach myself to work, I often wonder how we could ever have managed without the instant communication that we have now. I work in international trade and can get instant answers from all over the world, it is pretty amazing when you think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Remember fax machines that printed onto rolls of shiny paper and each page rolled up as soon as it came out? Nightmare . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan08 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 And then it faded. Especially numbers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goosey Lucy Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Banda machines. *shudder* I spent most teaching practices covered in pink, green and blue ink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Banda machines. *shudder* I spent most teaching practices covered in pink, green and blue ink. ooh, but the worksheets smelled LOVELY Photocopies just aren't the same. I remember using an Amstrad 'word processor' with a screen that was black with apricot-coloured type. Just a glorified typewriter really. That was at my Saturday job in an estate agency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 When I started work in 1979 we were using manual typewriters with carbons and Tippex; there was a manual switchboard, and a Telex machine - anyone remember them? No photocopiers - we had a Gestetner machine, you had to cut the stencil first, and if you made a mistake it was really hard to correct, and then you'd roll off these illegible mauve prints. Hard to believe that was only just over 30 years ago! The other strange thing (it now seems) was smoking. People smoked in the office, on the Tube, on trains, buses ... it's hard to imagine now. Great thread ... although it does make me feel old! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Yes I remember the telex machine! With the little tape with the holes punched out. I was just about to be taught how to use one when I left my first job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbug Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Remember going for interview for job....question 'could i opperate a telex machine' answer 'yes I could' ....but after getting job etc.....was asked to send telex they sat me in front of computer......oppps no idea how to send on one of those was my answer 'wheres the white tape go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickendoodle Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I started work in 1977 at Commercial Union - now sadly gone and swallowed up in the giant that is Aviva. We had to fill in data sheets with alterations to records which were then typed onto special paper by data typists and then sent each night by courier to the central computer at Whyteleafe. Complicated policies were typed onto stencil paper and copies were roneoed off. The roneo machine had a handle which you had to turn - a bit like the starting handle on a car Basic computers were installed in the branches in about 1981 I left to have my children in 1985 and returned in 1988 to find that the fax machine had been invented in my absence This seemed revolutionary. In my bedroom I had a bed, a wardrobe, a dressing table and a radio. My children ask why I always seem to be wearing the same outfits in my teenage photos. We were not poor but I only had a couple of nice things to wear at a time- when they wore out I had new ones. How times have changed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 You're right - we have far too many 'things' nowadays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 When I started as a student nurse in 1986 we were all issued with beautiful navy blue wool cloaks, lined with red. Gorgeous! Had to hand it back though when I moved into a non uniform job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gongladosh Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Banda machines. *shudder* I spent most teaching practices covered in pink, green and blue ink. ooh, but the worksheets smelled LOVELY . That takes me right back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
