EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Out of Hours The Empire Strikes Back!

It's just that I have to be careful what I say about the Welsh on this forum, Cyber!

Imperial advantages? For starters, how about halving, quartering etc., etc.?

Cyber - I would like you to explain to me how the road signs would be done over a period of time?

Are you saying they do A roads one year, B roads another and Motorways the next! (this way you would spread the cost but cause chaos)

I look forward to your reply.

Should we be looking into driving on the right to comply with Europe in the near future. We could start with bicycles first just to see if it will work (just been given the finger by a cyclist who pulled out in front of me on a roundabout).

I always thought the British government took EU legislation to literally. You visit any French farmers market, they got the idea right. Why does this country have so many jobsworth's?

...well, that's one word for them.

I agree with Biomedbill with regard to a transition of driving on the right.
Start with cyclists, then Volvo drivers (after all Sweden was the last country to change over and these cars are designed for this sort of event and most of them are already making the change!!!!), followed by little old ladies in Fiestas but only on motorways.

Sadly I feel like im from the inbetween generation who knows of the Imperial system, but has also been taught the SI system.
I think i would like every thing to stay the same.

Ill have a lb of that 15mm thick steak Mr Butcher, thanks.

Gladly, I consider myself lucky to be of the generation that went from being able to work out answers like £ 3 3/6¼ d , filed down to accuracies measured in thous, calculated ergs and dynes (remember the CGS system?) on a slide-rule (and all the rest), to where we are now, with an international (global) outlook, and happily working away digitally in kilograms, litres, seconds (and all that) and html.

Your point is a good one, though, Paul, and it was the one touched on earlier by Bill. When doing practical work (remember that, anyone?), the SI system is not always ideal. The Imperial system (good word, that) contains elements that are far more of the human scale. Bits of timber (etc.) are is still handily referred to as "4 by 2" (meaning inches, of course), and so many feet in length. How many times have you heard people talking about "centi’s" (for centimetres, supposedly, not centipedes), or "kilo’s" (kilo what? kilograms, or, er, kilowatts)? Know what I mean? I have even heard people referring to centimetres as the metric inch. Spare me, please!

I recently had the good fortune (?) to work with some younger people. No doubt they all looked upon me as some sort of ancient dinosaur. Especially when I gave my standard lecture about the superiority of the BA system (over the metric) when it comes to small nuts and bolts. The real problem there, however, was not the lack of historical knowledge on their part, nor even their lack of basic engineering knowledge (about thread forms, pitch etc.), but the apparent lack of interest!

... to this?