Someone asked about things that used to be normal in the UK that would feel insane now and the answers will make your head spin

Despite it feeling like everything happens at breakneck speed nowadays, real change is actually very slow to happen.

It’s not until you look back at how things used to be that you realise that things that used to be acceptable and usual have completely altered, just at a very slow pace.

They’ve noticed this phenomenon on the AskUK subreddit, after user FabledInkk asked ‘What’s something that used to be normal in the UK that would feel absolutely insane now?’ and added their own thoughts:

‘I was talking to a mate about how we used to just walk into pubs at 15 with a deep voice and some confidence, and half the time no one cared. That got me thinking there’s so much about life here that quietly changed over the last 10–20 years.

‘Like the fact you could go on a school trip to France and come back with 600 Marlboro Reds and a crate of Strongbow. Or how you’d go out without a phone, tell your mum you’d be back before dark, and somehow survive. Even stuff like smoking indoors or Woolworths pick n mix… It all feels a bit fever dream-ish now.

‘What’s something that wasn’t weird at all back then but would raise serious eyebrows now?

People loved this question and were keen to offer their own examples of things from a decade or so ago that now seem utterly bizarre.

1.

‘Kids used to live in their parents’ worlds rather than the other way around. Parents didn’t plan everything around their kids, but rather expected their kids to fit in with them.

‘I would be taken to see relatives and friends of parents and expected to sit quietly getting bored stiff while they chatted. Or taken to the pub and given a Panda Pop and packet of crisps to keep me occupied while mum and dad had a few drinks with friends.

‘I actually value this now, I think it taught me a lot and introduced me to people who I wouldn’t have encountered had it been my choice. One relative we used to visit was a D-Day veteran (now long dead) and I am glad I was made to sit there listening to him chat to my parents, rather than being absorbed in an iPad – or not going at all, which would have been my choice at the time.’
–banwe11

2.

‘Everywhere smelling of smoke/looking a bit hazy because of all the smoke. Houses, pubs, cafes, even buses and the post office if you go far back enough.’
–realitychecks-r-us

3.

‘Smoking on flights. They’d draw a curtain and pretend that separated smokers and non-smokers.’
–ddt70

4.

‘Me and my friend used to wash the teacher’s ashtrays in the staff room at playtime because we didn’t want to play outside in the cold!’
–Only-Geologist6440

5.

‘Sitting cross-legged in the boot of estate cars. Many happy journeys in the boot of a Volvo and at least you had a good view of the car behind as it rear-ended you.’
–RecognitionWestern86

6.

‘A trans woman winning Big Brother and being almost universally celebrated for it.’

‘This is an example I often use to highlight how I feel we’ve regressed regarding trans issues.’
Dinnerladiesplease

–Hellohibbs

7.

‘You could open the train doors on the DMUs I took to school at any time by opening the window and using the outside handle (as opposed to the inside ones that locked whilst in motion). Consequently we used to jump out them whilst the train was pulling into the station. The trick was to land and start running at the same time. Immensely stupid and unimaginable from a health and safety respect now.

‘I don’t recall anyone ever contacting our school or challenging it. Now it’d be HORROR on Facebook and then in the local press.’
–Dadda_Green

8.

‘Much greater levels of privacy. Try going for a walk these days without being filmed by doorbell cameras. And if you happen to be walking with someone and in conversation, that’s possibly being recorded too if you’re close by enough.’
–DNAMIX

9.

‘Hitting your children. Yes, I know it still goes on, but in general it’s become FAR less socially acceptable (which I think is a good thing, just to be clear!).’
–cardinalandcrow

10.

‘When I was a sixth former we had a deal with the teachers that we’d drink in the public bar of the pub round the corner at lunchtime and they’d drinking the saloon, and then we’d pretend we’d not seen each other. I went as a helper when they took some of the younger kids to the WWI battlefields, and when we got back to Dover we were all handed bags of duty free to carry back through customs for them.’
–smoulderstoat

11.

‘Playgrounds with really tall slides that had nothing but concrete below if you fell off them.’
–Springyardzon

12.

‘The guys who delivered the beer to my Dad’s pub used to have a drink at every pub after they dropped the beer off in the cellar.’
–waggles1968