20 kilometres cc

[Athy]

 

I am sooooooo glad you posted this. I so hate the fact that in Britain too many peeps use foreign measurements, after all road signs etc etc etc are in mph not kms what ever they are.

 

Tim

I think that a decade or more ago there was a government drive to get everything displayed in metric; I remember a greengrocer who was prosecuted for refusing to stop displaying the price per pahnd of his veg. This ludicrous persecution appears to have abated now. The butcher's shop next door to us often advertises their meat in prices per lb and I haven't seen vanloads of council jobsworths screeching to a halt outside.

 

Mind you, imperial/ metric confusion is nothing new in this country. I got my first Trix train set in the 1950s and its scale was stated as 4mm to the foot.

back to the good old leagues.

Even they aren't what they were - used to be divisions 1,2,3,4, now we must count Premier, Championship, 1,2.

[FadeToScarlet]

I think that a decade or more ago there was a government drive to get everything displayed in metric; I remember a greengrocer who was prosecuted for refusing to stop displaying the price per pahnd of his veg. This ludicrous persecution appears to have abated now. The butcher's shop next door to us often advertises their meat in prices per lb and I haven't seen vanloads of council jobsworths screeching to a halt outside.

 

Mind you, imperial/ metric confusion is nothing new in this country. I got my first Trix train set in the 1950s and its scale was stated as 4mm to the foot.

The imperial/metric mix makes sense- you're making something small (for which mm are great) that replicates something built in feet and inches.

[Athy]

The imperial/metric mix makes sense- you're making something small (for which mm are great) that replicates something built in feet and inches.

Well aye, I could guess why it had been done - yet Airfix kits, for example, were advertised as 1/72nd scale, not in terms of mm to the foot, even though some of them were designed to be used in conjunction with 00 gauge model railways (which in any case were supposed to be 1/76th scale). The plot thickens.

[mrsmelly]

Well aye, I could guess why it had been done - yet Airfix kits, for example, were advertised as 1/72nd scale, not in terms of mm to the foot, even though some of them were designed to be used in conjunction with 00 gauge model railways (which in any case were supposed to be 1/76th scale). The plot thickens.

 

Airfix kits.....those were the days about two bob or two and a tanner from woolies if I recollect correctly and of course the little tins of humbrol enamel to paint em with

 

Tim

 

Tim

[Athy]

 

Airfix kits.....those were the days about two bob or two and a tanner from woolies if I recollect correctly and of course the little tins of humbrol enamel to paint em with

 

Tim

 

Tim

Absolutely, the basic kits were two bob, or if you were rich you could buy one of the larger kits which were a massive three shillings - and, if I recall, some brands (perhaps not Airfix as they were so cheap) included a little green plastic tube of "cement" (glue to you and me), which I suspect is now as much part of history as the little blue twist of salt in packets of Smith's Crisps.

[Hawthorn]

Airfix kits.....those were the days about two bob or two and a tanner from woolies if I recollect correctly and of course the little tins of humbrol enamel to paint em with

 

Tim

 

Tim

Absolutely, the basic kits were two bob, or if you were rich you could buy one of the larger kits which were a massive three shillings - and, if I recall, some brands (perhaps not Airfix as they were so cheap) included a little green plastic tube of "cement" (glue to you and me), which I suspect is now as much part of history as the little blue twist of salt in packets of Smith's Crisps.

Not to mention the balsa wood and tissue paper gliders and the 'dope' to strengthen them. Easy to get a legal high in those days!

[dogless]

Jumpers for goalposts....

Rog

[valrene9600]

... and childish t'boot.

YAWN

Just expressing an opinion. Why do you have a problem, just read other posts, this one is harming no one.

YAWN from me as well

Edited April 11, 2015 by valrene9600

[cotswoldsman]

 

Not to mention the balsa wood and tissue paper gliders and the 'dope' to strengthen them. Easy to get a legal high in those days!

Hehe those were the days

[saltysplash]

Absolutely, the basic kits were two bob, or if you were rich you could buy one of the larger kits which were a massive three shillings - and, if I recall, some brands (perhaps not Airfix as they were so cheap) included a little green plastic tube of "cement" (glue to you and me), which I suspect is now as much part of history as the little blue twist of salt in packets of Smith's Crisps.

My first ever Airfix model, Hawker Harrier, came with a small sqidgy rubber bulb of glue.

I remember it was'nt in a box but in clear plastic bag packaging

Edited April 12, 2015 by saltysplash

[DeanS]

 

I am sooooooo glad you posted this. I so hate the fact that in Britain too many peeps use foreign measurements, after all road signs etc etc etc are in mph not kms what ever they are.

 

Tim

 

erm....the British came to the southern tip of Africa, set up a colony, and taught everyone to use kms.....then at some stage mother hen Britian changed back to miles...and now that it's chicks are all coming home to the henhouse, it's very confusing that mother hen talks a different language to her chicks.

[mrsmelly]

My first ever Airfix model, Hawker Harrier, came with a small sqidgy rubber bulb of glue.

I remember it was'nt in a box but in clear plastic bag packaging

 

Yeah with a cardboard top holding the bag closed

 

Tim

[Athy]

That's right, only the larger and more expensive Airfixes came in cardboard boxes - I can remember that my Lancaster bomber kit did.

 

Dean, you say that the British introduced the metric system to South Africa? Surely it's more likely that the Dutch, who also colonised the country, were responsible?

[John Williamson 1955]

I very vaguely (I was only 5 at the time) remember that when they decimalised in 1961, they were still using feet and inches. <Checks> Yup, they went metric in the early 1970s, so it had nothing to do with the Dutch empire.

[onionbargee]

God help us from the miserable bores that take the £100 k covered in tat chandlry washer Josher out from the marina once a year and complain about all the moored boats, and horrid unwashed live aboard boaters cluttering up the system.

[Dave Clinton]

....but someone has to check if they are displaying their licenses.

 

I'm too busy checking overstayers at Morrisons

[Hawthorn]

God help us from the miserable bores that take the £100 k covered in tat chandlry washer Josher out from the marina once a year and complain about all the moored boats, and horrid unwashed live aboard boaters cluttering up the system.

Que?

[Jerra]

 

I so hate the fact that in Britain too many peeps use foreign measurements, after all road signs etc etc etc are in mph not kms what ever they are.

The UK government first started discussing metrication back in the early 1800s, the florin (2/-) piece was a preparatory step. In the 60s some industries were asking for metrication and some government departments had metricated. We metricated money in 1971 and agriculture went metric suddenly in the early 70s. One week I was selling pigs by the score (20lb) and the next by the Kg.

 

You can't say we British rush things can you. Incidentally I think SI units have always been metric so the science part of the country will have been metric for a long time.

 

Also as we started nearly 200 years ago to begin metrication you can hardly describe then as foreign.

[Timleech]

 

 

You can't say we British rush things can you. Incidentally I think SI units have always been metric so the science part of the country will have been metric for a long time.

 

 

 

When at school in the 1960's, we were taught science in both Imperial and cgs (centimetre - gramme - second) metric units.

Then it all changed to MKS (metre - kilogramme - second) metric units.

A few years later I considered going in to teaching, and found that it had changed again to SI units. These are very similar to MKS, but with a few extra units that I'd never heard of thrown in.

 

Tim

[Jerra]

 

When at school in the 1960's, we were taught science in both Imperial and cgs (centimetre - gramme - second) metric units.

Then it all changed to MKS (metre - kilogramme - second) metric units.

A few years later I considered going in to teaching, and found that it had changed again to SI units. These are very similar to MKS, but with a few extra units that I'd never heard of thrown in.

 

Tim

As I understand it the various measurements length,volume, engineering etc had been drawing together into a unified system since the late 1700s (in various stages) and were finally combined and declared International System of Units (SI) in 1960.

[MtB]

 

When at school in the 1960's, we were taught science in both Imperial and cgs (centimetre - gramme - second) metric units.

Then it all changed to MKS (metre - kilogramme - second) metric units.

A few years later I considered going in to teaching, and found that it had changed again to SI units. These are very similar to MKS, but with a few extra units that I'd never heard of thrown in.

 

Tim

 

 

Seems to me every time I take an exam in something or other a new SI unit has been dreamed up. The rot started with energy changing from kWh to Joules around about the time I left skool.

 

About a decade ago car engine power began to be stated in PS, whatever they are. And now the latest thing I've noticed is measuring pressure in Pascals instead of Bar.

 

 

MtB

[alan_fincher]

 

 

Seems to me every time I take an exam in something or other a new SI unit has been dreamed up. The rot started with energy changing from kWh to Joules around about the time I left skool.

 

About a decade ago car engine power began to be stated in PS, whatever they are. And now the latest thing I've noticed is measuring pressure in Pascals instead of Bar.

 

 

MtB

 

Calm down Mike!

 

Get yourself to a pub and order 0.568261 litres of your favourite ale.

[Timleech]

 

 

About a decade ago car engine power began to be stated in PS, whatever they are. And now the latest thing I've noticed is measuring pressure in Pascals instead of Bar.

 

 

MtB

 

PS are German (DIN) horsepower, just fractionally smaller than British horses. The proper legal unit for car engine power is kW.

 

 

Tim

[peterboat]

 

 

Seems to me every time I take an exam in something or other a new SI unit has been dreamed up. The rot started with energy changing from kWh to Joules around about the time I left skool.

 

About a decade ago car engine power began to be stated in PS, whatever they are. And now the latest thing I've noticed is measuring pressure in Pascals instead of Bar.

 

 

MtB

We have problems with these strange measurements as well its all cobblers the imperial version

 

Peter

[Athy]

You know where you are with RAC h.p.

 

 

 

 

Yes, yes, I know, that was a fiscal measure, like French cv, and not an accurate measure of power output. It was just a wee jokette....