Things ( utilities) that have got worse during your lifetime

I wish they would find funding to sort out the state of the roads, despite major flagship schemes still happening, even the motorways now have potholes on them, and driving conditions on minor roads are the worst I’ve ever known them, causing accidents (particularly for cyclists) and damaging our cars. . There are also more floods and landslides than ever, part of the reason for that is the lack of investment in drainage, and keeping drains unblocked.

More and more shops are pushing self service onto us, particularly in airport shops. People are losing their livelihoods over this ‘progress’. No customer service anymore, especially if you want information on particular products before you buy. Public transport is run not for the passengers but for the paybacks to investors. Cutting of public toilets, waste bins, no provision made for lay-byes where travellers can take a break from travelling in a decent clean area with clean toilets. New housing estates popping up everywhere with no provision for playgrounds, doctors and schools.

We have lived in our current house for ten years and never had an electricity outage, the only outages I remember were in the 1980s. We have an excellent bus service three minutes walk away every 15 minutes. We seldom get any post because we do everything online. We use our mobiles, don’t use a land line. There is ample parking in our town centre. Our GP practice is very good, the last time DH was ill he was able to see a doctor the same day. So no, we don’t have any of those problems.

Curtsintwitcher why do you need two postal deliveries a day when hardly anyone uses the postal service I get a letter about once a month or birthdays and Christmas everything including bills is done online so what is there to moan about You want the postmen walking the beat with nothing in their bags !!! Or perhaps you want to go back to pre internet well sorry that train has left the station

Of the things that you mention, the postal service is the worst. Now, we are lucky to get even one delivery a day, it used to be two.
One of the things I miss is the gas and electric stores. These days, everything is done on-line or over the phone. It's so much better when you can consult someone face to face.
Efficiency has gone. Everything is so apathetic these days.

wonderful post Bluebelle, I agree with every word that you say, especially about the grumblers

Can people say where they are in the world please
I know Nanna8 is Australia but I don’t recognise where you are Grammaretto ( post arrives once a week in a bundle) surely not UK we certainly still have a daily delivery plus now they can collect your parcels to post at the door so I think a better service etc
I like the bins we have it’s pretty simple blue paper items, green garden waste and black rubbish we all put them out on the day at the back of our buildings unless there is no back way then they are only out front a day or less
My dislikes (Uk)
I don’t like the freedom of dogs in shops and cafes
I agree about lack of public toilets we aren’t too bad in my area but visiting some other areas it’s hard to find them
Too many cars on the road definitely
Too much back handers in planning etc ( maybe that’s always happened)
Far too much grumbling and negativity I heard yesterday that UK is second to bottom of the list for miserableness Uzbekistan is bottom That’s a terrible terrible statistic for UK

Do you have those little green FOGO bins for kitchen waste? Some silly person invented those . They stink after a couple of days of hot weather and disintegrate when you remove them to put them in the green waste collection. All supposed to help the environment but more likely to give you stomach upsets because they are unhealthy . I notice the incidence of gastro is very high these days but they don’t make the connection.

You are right about the doctor. If you were ill you went to the surgery but had to sit in a crowded waiting room for hours sometimes.

There are no public toilets any more in my town of 20,000 people!

No public telephones either.

At the airport recently, returning from NZ having lost my mobile, I had to beg a stranger to ask if he could phone my friend to come and collect me.

Post arrives once a week in a bundle.
Birthday cards need to be posted a week in advance to UK and 2 weeks in advance to Europe. As for NZ, I rarely send anything now except emails.
In my youth there were 2 deliveries a day.
But ofcourse there was no internet.

The ubiquitous wheelie bins I find depressing. Each household has up to 4 bins and no provision for storage, so the pavements are permanently lined with them.

In my youth there wasn't so much packaging, milk bottles were delivered and collected. Most bottles were returnable.
Food waste was mostly composted. The dog had the scraps and the bones.

Cars are very big now and clog the roads. Most households have multiple cars.

Some things have improved but there's a downside.

The post here is dire. They have cut it back to 2 deliveries per week but in actual fact it is just one where we live and has been for a year or two now. We live in the outer suburbs, not the bush and we are not remote or inaccessible. It would be quicker by horse. 🐎 Posting to the next suburb takes days. Pathetic.

One massive improvement is telephones. I remember that back in the sixties and seventies the cost of "long distance" calls was extortionate. Much later early dial up Internet was terrible. Not only could you only connect one computer but you couldn't use the phone at the same time and it was slow. And no wi-fi.

We used to be able to walk into the doctors ( a converted house in the High street) and wait our turn. Collect the medication out the back yard which was left unlocked in like a post box thing.
Our post is brilliant although I can remember when there were two deliveries a day.
We used to play games in the road in the avenue where we lived. Hardly a car to be seen.

Being able to contact services without being twenty something in the queue. Speaking to a person when you need help or not being able to understand the person there to provide customer service

Building Societies, Banks and many other businesses no longer put a phone number on their
Headed paper.

Those that do put you on hold and play irritating music. Often you have to hold. Upwards of 20 minutes.it’s called progress 😂.
I. Never remember this when I was young plus you always spoke to a human being.

In many ways I think we have taken a backward step
MissAdventure

I haven’t noticed the electricity or phone services having problems (but I’ll give them time). There’s plenty of parking locally, but the insidious “app only” payment can be a problem.

Friends have complained about the post, but it seems to be working well round here, touch wood. Health and public transport - yes, they’re bad compared to days gone by. Even when my children were young in the 80s, our GP would do house calls if necessary, and we could easily get same day appointments. These seem to be a thing of the past, in this area at least. And I feel that a lot of problems could be solved if only we had cheap and efficient public transport, but ours is just cut, and cut again. Hence the super-busy roads and declining footfall for businesses.

Our nearest big town has lost its two public swimming pools, and we’ve no library within walking distance, which is very sad. The two that have closed near us ran toddler story sessions, technology courses, reading groups, knit and natter, provided computers for those who didn’t have wifi at home. All gone now.

Do you have landline phones there, or all mobiles?

We don't seem to get power cuts like we did when I was young.

All of the rest, though, sound just the same here as there.