Things you don't see anymore

the "duplex" telephone line my grandparents shared with neighbours living next door. One phone line for 2 families. Not sure it existed in UK, it was quite normal in Italy in the '80s.
And that was the telephone set:

They had a small padlock to block the dial, and I had no access to the key.
They certainly existed in the UK - when i bought my first house in 1991 it had an old phone and duplex line that British Telecom changed to a modern twin line arrangement before i moved in. The neighbour told me you had to lift the phone to your ear before use to see if the neighbour was talking to anyone !!

I do remember the dial padlocks and also the little money box's you could buy to leave next to the phone in your house so visitors could pay for making calls !!! :ROFLMAO:
 
With the old loop disconnect dialling you could dial out just by rapidly pressing the 'hang up' buttons on the cradle the correct number of times for the relevant digit, with a short pause in between to simulate the dial returning to rest. I found this out at Scouts where the phone was "incoming calls only". It took a bit of practice to get your morse code hand movement 'dialled in' but it did mean that you could then spend the 10p your parents gave you to ring them on cigarettes instead.
 
With the old loop disconnect dialling you could dial out just by rapidly pressing the 'hang up' buttons on the cradle the correct number of times for the relevant digit, with a short pause in between to simulate the dial returning to rest. I found this out at Scouts where the phone was "incoming calls only". It took a bit of practice to get your morse code hand movement 'dialled in' but it did mean that you could then spend the 10p your parents gave you to ring them on cigarettes instead.
in a call box, you rang the operator and said your 10p had gone in, but you didnt get a dial tone and they would give you a dial tone ...... so i am told ....... :ROFLMAO:

Just remembered, the duplex / shared lines were called "Party Lines" in the UK and were cheaper in some way i think ?
 
Petzl Zoom head torches with the flat 4.5V battery. Plus a halogen bulb you could pop in if you needed to pick up a landmark in the dark.

My latest head torch (Thrunite TH10 V2) uses a single 18650 and the highest setting is so bright you can't hold your hand in front of the beam or it will burn. I don't just mean the metal heats up too hot to hold: the beam itself is too hot to put your hand right in front of it.
 
Was going to say Krookloks, but I did see one recently.
KrookLoks and the like are back in, in a big way.

Its because, as i understand it, the trendy key-less fobs that unlock the car as you approach it are so laughably easy to clone by some yoof in a car park with a radio signal grabber.

So your designer car unlocks itself as you walk up to it, then you spend 5 mins taking off the Krooklock from the steering wheel and shoving it on the back seat :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
Petzl Zoom head torches with the flat 4.5V battery.
Yup - my last one of that type - in retrospect, they were shit but that's all you had? - before I upgraded to the led ones - I swapped with a falcon hunter in the NWFP of Pakistan - I even gave him my spare battery. I got in return - a wedding standard shalwar khamiz - for me, a cashmere blanket - one for me - plain, one for her - highly decorated and my first Afghan hat - of the muj type - made from the finest mountain goat hair - shaved from their baw-bags - carefully. Torch-wise they had nothing of the like there at the time and were prepared to trade well for a Petzl. The falcons were taken alive for sale in the Gulf States - a fascinating process - how you get them out of the sky without damaging them? I know the answer to this question. They were taken 'on the wing,' I've seen it. Pretty much impossible to photograph - until they landed on their backs and were held. Un-damaged - unlike my legs, illegally walking in and out and across the Afghan border. The Russian era mine-fields - if it isn't packed down earth - don't fucking walk on it. Don't go for a piss in the bushes - seriously. European? get over it - you wander off to hide your vanity - you run the risk of losing an arm and a leg - squat down and wear local dress - covers your modesty. It never happened to me - but others told me - you hear the click - you have just triggered a mine - take the pressure off - it will blow up - forcing earth into your wound and stump - lean back - so your face isn't hit - not nice. Back to the falcon hunters - they reckoned on a minimum of $20,000 a bird - that was mid-nineties - probably fair enough, it took them weeks to find the things and catch them. - I.
 
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