BogTrotter
Thru Hiker
Or Miles to Litre if you’re a crazy mixed up kid !
6lb Baseweight!
- Thread starter Mole
- Start date
Robert P
Thru Hiker
And back when UK currency was decimalised we still had old coins [sixpence (= 2 1/2p), shilling (=5p), two shilling (=10p)] in circulation for a while
The Clueless Backpacker
F.K.A old-skool-lite
My pocket money before decimalisation
OwenM
Thru Hiker
Definitely of that age, I did an apprenticeship back in the early seventies and had to work in the SI system, I've never gone back. Pounds, ounces, galleons and degrees Frankenstein totally confuse me. It's much easier to work in kilometres but this country still insists on using miles just to appease the inbred in the government.
Alf Outdoors
Thru Hiker
The reason we still use Miles for distance measurement in the UK was because of a poll held sometime around 1969 or early 1970, by the extremely popular BBC TV program of the time "Nationwide", which ran from 1969 to 1983.UK is a right mix(ed up) place when it comes to measuring stuff. Many of us on here are of an age when we learnt Imperial measurements early in school and then had to swap to metric later - so know and use both.
Our kids just roll their eyes in disbelief when they come into contact with Imperial measurements. They think the US is living in the "Dark Ages".
I use lbs and ozs for baking/cooking and Kgs for camp gear and anything scientific. Dress making I use both, knitting I use metric. Hills/navigatiion I use metric but car travel - miles etc. etc. .........
Most of us, I think use metric for outdoors gear. Cubic inches for volume is just "hopeless"
You have to remember there were only three TV channels in the UK back then (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV), so viewers had infinitely less choice than today and consequently viewer figures for programs like Nationwide were very large, and hence could influence government policy.
They asked viewers to phone or write in to say if they would prefer to go over to Km/h or stick with mph...An overwhelming number of viewers voted to stick with mph, at least 80% or more as I recall. The government listened, and so we did.
Heights should therefore still be measured in Feet, which is related to the Mile, not in meters which is basically meaningless as a measurement of height...In the UK heights only really make sense in Feet. (Plus it makes things sound 3.2808 times higher than in metres
).Distances for smaller things should are always be in either Metres, Centimetres or Millimetres...So Engineers in one country don't confuse those in other countries asked to reproduce the same items, by accidently using different units (which has happened plenty of times in the past).
Weights and measures on the other hand, definitely have to be in Kilograms or Grams & Litres or Millilitres which make far more sense than Lbs and Oz. and Fl/Oz or Cups.
BogTrotter
Thru Hiker
I was 10. (Or two shilling) when they sprung that on me.
Quixoticgeek
Section Hiker
The UK has been essentially metric since the late 60's. And certainly someone who was at school in the 80's should have been educated solely in metric.
Sure pints of beer, and miles of motorway, but everything else should be metric. there's no excuse for not doing so. Just the US, Liberia, and Myanmar haven't fully adopted metric, and even the US is metric underneath, if you look at it (inch is defined in US law as 25.4mm).
J
Sure pints of beer, and miles of motorway, but everything else should be metric. there's no excuse for not doing so. Just the US, Liberia, and Myanmar haven't fully adopted metric, and even the US is metric underneath, if you look at it (inch is defined in US law as 25.4mm).
J
The Clueless Backpacker
F.K.A old-skool-lite
For reasons I don't have the eloquence or energy to expand on I would be resistant to change in the UK although I have no doubt it will change eventually.
I don't understand pints being acceptable to metric zealots.
I don't understand pints being acceptable to metric zealots.
echo8876
Thru Hiker
Measuring beer in liters aint healthy.
The Clueless Backpacker
F.K.A old-skool-lite
Pints or yards. 
Rog Tallbloke
Thru Hiker
Quixoticgeek
Section Hiker
I'm quite happy buying beer in 500ml. The extra 68ml that a pint is doesn't really make too big a difference to me...
J
Rog Tallbloke
Thru Hiker
20oz glasses are the metric pint by the back door. 500ml plus the head.
Bring back 24oz glasses with 'pint to line' and the crown on the side!
The Clueless Backpacker
F.K.A old-skool-lite
No problem buying beer via off-sales in any measure but in a bar I want a pint!
The Clueless Backpacker
F.K.A old-skool-lite
I'm just sorting my gear for next week (Lake District). Base weight at 6.62kg. If I use @Alf Outdoors anomalous lighterpack methodology for carried/worn my base weight drops to 5.17kg (excluding ice-axe/spikes)
[edit - dropped some more going CCF again)
[edit - dropped some more going CCF again)
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cathyjc
Thru Hiker
A yard is from my nose to my finger tip - great for handling fabric, cord or any such material.Pints or yards.
That just doesn't work with meters - so I measure in yards and then convert
OwenM
Thru Hiker
A meter is from your nose to your finger tip plus a hand span.A yard is from my nose to my finger tip - great for handling fabric, cord or any such material.
That just doesn't work with meters - so I measure in yards and then convert
cathyjc
Thru Hiker
Nope - my hand span isn't 3 inches.
And it would become very clumsy when measuring long lengths - ie. repeating the measurement over and over again (- think yarn and knitting)
The nose to finger tip is really good usually within 1 - 2 % accurate
Quixoticgeek
Section Hiker
If you're using your own body to measure something you ain't worrying too much about accuracy or precision. So at that point a yard and a metre can be used largely interchangeably.
J
J
cathyjc
Thru Hiker
Wrong.
The nose to finger tip is very accurate and quick. The maths to convert to meters takes longer but often I don't need/bother.
When you are dressmaking measuring multiple units of fabric those x3 inches mount up - so meters and yards are absolutely not inter-changable..
Having both Metric and Imperial as my "stock in trade" is very useful.
Glad I can do both - I can use which ever suits the situation best.
Quixoticgeek
Section Hiker
Except if 5 forum members were to measure fabric the same number of nose to finger tips, we'd end up with quite a bit of variation. So while it may be consistent for you (assuming you keep the angle of the arm consistent so as to avoid cosine error), it doesn't have consistency between individuals. Or individuals at different stages of life.
There's a reason we had a bar of platinum iridium alloy in a volt in Paris for a couple of centuries (since replaced by light in a vacuum in 1/299792458th of a second).
J