Seven o two nine.

I have a Gunters Chain in my garage as well as my newly acquired Gunters Chain tape measure, the likelihood of me using either is zero, zilch, it just ain’t going to happen.

But as a unit of measurement it’s not dead and buried.

All British road signs are in imperial measurements miles and yards, except the motorway distance markers which  are metric and are every 100 metres, all the railway signs are also imperial in miles and chains as far as I know.

As well as some odd measuring tapes, rules and chains I also have three Hoppus Ready Reckoner books, the oldest being a couple of hundred years old and leather bound, I have actually used both Hoppus tape measures and ready reckoners, when I worked in a sawmill, which seems like a lifetime ago.

What I tend to find is that people advocating the “reintroduction of imperial measurements” in the UK is that they rarely actually measure anything and never have, so basically don’t have any real idea of what they are talking about.

Cable conductor identity colours have nothing to do with metrification,  

Looking at this from a political point of view, it’s just another dead cat story to try and take the heat off Johnson and in reality is just twaddle.

people advocating the “reintroduction of imperial measurements” in the UK is that they rarely actually measure anything and never have, so basically don’t have any real idea of what they are talking about

I could not agree more - I do not see folk queuing up to suggest we re-issue pre-decimal money. And I agree its a mess, 'low bridge 4,22m, 1/4m ahead. Right, clear as mud.

The reason imperial units got swept aside is that they are utterly useless for anything that requires  conversion - it's lovely to buy beer or milk as a pint, but to work out how much it weighs, perhaps to design a milk float, any self respecting engineer will metricate it first.

It amazes me that America still bumbles along with 19th century units, and  to be honest,  I see no reason for us to copy their stupidity.

Mike.

PS cable colours I am less fussed about there is nothing magic about 3rd phase being green , then after the war changing to blue, as earthing became green, and now grey for the last 2 decades - there are examples off all 3 still in service in the UK.

Mike

.

Not forgetting a "slack handful" and a "bucketful"  And that well known temperature measurement, applied to transformers and cables THTT or Too Hot To Touch. Sometimes followed by RLF which may be politely translated as "run away very quickly, before it blows up"

And of course the old Imperial "size of bang" measurement used to describe the degree to which it all went wrong.

"Small bang" blows a fuse of 20 amps or less, not generally serious. AKA "domestic size bang"

"Medium size bang" blows a fuse of up to 45 amps, can be dangerous but usually harmless.

"Large bang" Blows a 100 amp fuse, dangerous if not wearing PPE.

"Very large bang" blows 300 amp fuses and/or results in significant damage, can be fatal. May become a reportable incident.

"Truly enormous bang" Trips DNO infrastructure resulting in significant power outages, possible loss of life. May make the TV news, especially cute looking pets or children suffering afterwards in the dark.

""So big we avoid taking about it" Trips significant part of national grid. Multiple loss of life. International news reports.

Whilst having a lazy day today having had a couple of particularly hard days at work and not getting home until eight twenty last night, Saturday evening, this afternoon I was watching Allelys Transport on catchup telly moving trains on low loaders. Allelys being a firm local to me when I was a kid and always fascinating.

My wife sat down and watched it as well for a few minutes and laughed, they took the Brittania steam locomotive to the Severn Valley and it was fired it up for the first time since it was rebuilt and run on the track.

The train stopped to allow another to pass and to be checked, two guys were checking the temperature of the bearings, one used a digital laser thermometer, the other touched them with the back of a finger.

Back to the railway bridge, I was asked to move a shed, I said four of us could lift it up and stand it on the back of my second vehicle my Daihatsu Hijet pickup.

Again my wife was with me and lifted a corner, we set off in the pickup and I’m getting comments about getting stuck under the railway bridges, I have printed labels across the top of the windscreens in both my van and pickup showing the MOT due date and vehicle heights, going with the flow I said the pickup is 2.1 metres, so with the shed on the back we needed around 3.1 metres of headroom, then we got to the bridge.

A Screwfix artic did get stuck under the next bridge along, apart from the traffic delays all the overnight orders were delayed as well.

well, loads of room then 13 feet is almost 4m 

Probably a bit late now..

(A metre measures 3 foot 3,

its longer than a yard you see

A litre of water's

a pint and three quarters

2 and 1/4 pounds of jam

weigh about a kilo-gramme)

School in the '70s in Essex,  lots of chanting of that along with the times tables..

~Useful though.

Odd that your bridges are imperial, round here it is all metric.

M,

Hence the lad above me at senior school became foreman of a woodyard and anyone who called in wanting to buy a piece of 3 x 2 (sorry 75mm x 50mm) was informed of the length of a "Metric 13" (4 metres being close to 13 feet).

Around here Electricians were using metres for absolutely yonks, no problem.

Joiners tend to be using inches only, mixed with feet and inches sometimes yards but still aware of metric sizes. Having said that though I`ve seen quite a few wrong size windows taken on site with such mix ups as 40 inches or 4ft 0in. Not even the old imperial to SI units mix up haha.

Plumbers seem intent of calculating their pipework in feet or feet and inches, not many metric plumber around here.

Some of us (perhaps too few these days) were quite at home with Green for Earth and Red for danger. Not too distant the memory of Green becoming "that new fangled" Green/Yellow combo and the Red/Black single phase colours remained for quite a while alongside.

mapj1 said:

it's lovely to buy beer or milk as a pint, but to work out how much it weighs

That's easy - a gallon weighs 10 lb.

We still use miles per gallon, though I find miles per litre easier 'cos we buy the fuel in litres. Multiplying by 4½ is not that difficult.

Furlongs (i.e. the length of a furrow) may have fallen out of use save in horse racing, and chains are even more outdated; but we still use acres, which are a furlong times a chain, or a reasonable day's work for a man with a horse and plough.

A pole as a measurement - 4½ yards has gone, but if you go punting, that is the length of the pole that you will be using.

Dividing something into 2 parts by weight is straightforward, so it makes sense to have 16 ounces in a pound. 10 is hopeless being divisible only once by 2 or 5.

It's amazing how many people claim to be unable to walk 20 metres, but perhaps not given that it is the threshold for getting a free car.

It's a sign that the country is being run by old fogeys and stroppy reactionaries who hate anything European, even the measurement system (because it was originated in France).

When I went to primary school in the early 1970's we were taught metric first, and imperial afterwards if there was time.  That's 50 years ago.  Whole generations have grown up since then, all using metric.

Why is even a topic for debate any more?