Gondor's Grumblings

[PR19_Kit]

The big Co-Op in Oxford had those spring powered cable suspension systems where the shop assistants 'fired' the cash containers from their sites to the central cash desk. There were many cable runs, maybe a dozen or so, and four of them ran parallel to each other right alongside a stairway to the first floor (2nd floor for you US people......) and if you were pretty slick you could lean over the stair rails and stop the containers right here. Then the next one would come along and before long you'd got a lovely container-jam. 

DON'T ask me how I know this..................

[Rheged]

The big Co-Op in Oxford had those spring powered cable suspension systems where the shop assistants 'fired' the cash containers from their sites to the central cash desk. There were many cable runs, maybe a dozen or so, and four of them ran parallel to each other right alongside a stairway to the first floor (2nd floor for you US people......) and if you were pretty slick you could lean over the stair rails and stop the containers right here. Then the next one would come along and before long you'd got a lovely container-jam. 

DON'T ask me how I know this..................

Yet another story for the "Things we did in our mis-spent youth"  thread.

[PR19_Kit]

Who? Me? 

[Rick Lowe]

Faxes  ALWAYS ran out of paper half way through a message................and since ot was thermal print paper, the text faded considerably after a year or so and was of little practical use.

One of my bosses used to use the thermal paper fax as a photocopier...
I sometimes wonder how long those copies lasted... then I realize there are much more important things to think about and consign such matters to the mental scrap heap. Again.   

Ah, The Girl in The Mail Room/next office over/Accounts... 
I wonder how much productivity was lost over the years (worldwide) with such goings-on... 

[Nick]

I am told that as a child I was fascinated by the wire system in Pynes, our local department store. Cashiers would send money to the back office on these. Can barely remember it myself.

Very old fashioned shop with lots of little drawers and cubbyholes for everything. At least 3 different levels in each shop. They even had a glass cabinet for Matchbox cars on revolving shelves in the small toy section.
Ladieswear, knitting, and toys in one building, Menswear in another building down the High Street.
Nothing was remotely what you might have called 'fashionable', being for people of a certain age - and by that I mean Edwardian 

All that remains now is the glass shopfront and the Pyne's tile mosaic in the doorways of what is now a pizza restaurant.

[scooter]

Nothing was remotely what you might have called 'fashionable', being for people of a certain age - and by that I mean Edwardian 

Jokes on you.  I find that era certainly more fashionable than today's "fashion".

All that remains now is the glass shopfront and the Pyne's tile mosaic in the doorways of what is now a pizza restaurant.

Same thing happened with a bunch of stores that I grew up with, including one I worked at as a senior in high school.  Its always either "progress" (in the form of big box stores), or its a family-owned business and after x generations, the youngest generation doesn't want to continue the tradition.  Or both.

[zenrat]

I wonder how many people can receive faxes nowadays ? Certainly takes me back 30 years or so when they were the principal way of getting and receiving information like tables and reports to people quickly.

A lot of businesses still use them. When I was doing the courier work, the businesses that weren't using them often had issues with having stuff ready for me, because nobody had got around to checking the e-mails. But the fax machine printed out the order as soon as the client sent it, and got their attention with the printer noise and the paper sliding out. Few things more frustrating than fighting through traffic for half an hour to get to a warehouse, only to find that they weren't even aware that I was on my way, and then wait another 15 or 20 minutes to have them confirm it, pick the piece, package it, etc.

And a few places still use dot matrix printers, because they are the only type that can do carbon copies. An Air Canada waybill has 4 pages, if I recall correctly, and a dot matrix will smash the info all the way through to the last one.

Australian Post Offices have faxes.  It allows the sending of an express money order allowing one to send instant cash to another person at a Post  Office at the other end of the country.  Western Union is cheaper but Western Union don't offer a "phone them up and tell them their money is here" service.
We stopped sending faxes for customers last year.  We used to charge $5 for the first sheet and $2:50 a page thereafter.  Not cheap.

We also use 4 page carbon paper customs forms.  They come formatted for sprocket feed printers but we separate them (one of the jobs for a quiet day) and the customers fill them in with a biro.  So no printers, just the paper.

[NARSES2]

Why I typed hydraulic rather than pneumatic is beyond me, other than the fact I was always a numbers man , what answer would you like sir ?    and anyway they both end in "ic" 

Apologies gents my lack of forethought and inattention  but at least it seems to have stirred up a lot of memories of what were possibly less hectic times. 

[The Rat]

The is/was an RAF squadron that had a tube shuttle on the squadron badge, anyone remember which? I might have to haul out my books...

[PR19_Kit]

Why I typed hydraulic rather than pneumatic is beyond me, other than the fact I was always a numbers man , what answer would you like sir ?    and anyway they both end in "ic" 

Apologies gents my lack of forethought and inattention  but at least it seems to have stirred up a lot of memories of what were possibly less hectic times. 

You had me imagining a shop like the Oxford Co-Op with a hydraulic cash transfer system, oil droplets EVERYWHERE, but VERY low friction!     

[NARSES2]

You had me imagining a shop like the Oxford Co-Op with a hydraulic cash transfer system, oil droplets EVERYWHERE, but VERY low friction!     

Patent the idea Kit you never know ,mind you it's probably been done already,   

[Gondor]

With the planned trip down south of the border later this year, I decided to get a security code etched onto the car windows. It only costs £20 anyway so not a big financial outlay. Booked into the local Halfords for 09:30 this morning and I receive a phone call at 08:40 saying they can't do it as they don't have the materials   
At least they phoned me before I left the flat. Still have to get a date for them to fit dash cams to the car as well so when the parts and a fitter are available I hope they will do both at the same time.
Oh well, finish my mug of tea and then change into my modelling jeans and start breakfast followed by fitting a wooden baton to the back of the old table in my lair so that the new printer cant fall off the back of the desk.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

.....in my lair so that the new printer cant fall off the back of the desk.

What IS it with printers and gravity? Mine is for ever falling off its perch in front of one of my wardrobes! It's not as if I don't wedge it in place properly, after all it must have at least 5 sq ins of wooden stool to sit on...................

[Gondor]

.....in my lair so that the new printer cant fall off the back of the desk.

What IS it with printers and gravity? Mine is for ever falling off its perch in front of one of my wardrobes! It's not as if I don't wedge it in place properly, after all it must have at least 5 sq ins of wooden stool to sit on...................

Stuff like that has a firm basis to stay put on here Kit. Boxes of models or the models themselves though.....

Gondor

[Gondor]

I have a day off today. Getting dash cams fitted into the car and that takes time, it's also getting done in another town as the local Halfords have their fitter off sick with no known date of return so I found the next nearest place that could do it.
Having problems with an Amazon order. It was tracked as being out for delivery from somewhere in the midlands from what I remember. I now have a refund, says I refused delivery which would be a surprise if it never came north of the border even though the delivery address was correct on the order, but not necessarily on the package. I think the depot that tried to deliver it was Derby, can't be sure and it's of no matter any more. So I have reordered the book, on the Javelin with Amazon Prime this time rather than from a different source via Amazon. The purchase was inspired by Kit buying a book on the Scimitar, which I have, the Javelin book is in the same series and I will be building one in the future, with lots of bells and whistles.
Also made a bit of a mess with the Fairey Project 75. I sorted out the step and glued the forward and central fuselage halves together, but got a slight twist in the joint which shows up! Out with the saw this afternoon to separate the sections again 

Gondor