OT. The futures Bright, the Futures Brexit!!!

[ramAnag]

I must admit that I am one of the die hards that still work in farenheit, feet, inches, pints, pounds and ounces, miles etc as its what I grew up on through childhood and then, by virtue of living in an American environment, another few years of non metrication. I still order meat at deli counters in quarters, at butchers in pounds etc and by and large the shop staff know what I mean.

It is nonetheless interesting when I order, say, half a pound of ham, to see younger staff respond by asking "is that 100 grams" - I shrug and dont know, so we end up with a common denominator of "about 5 thickish slices". Who needs weight anyway.

What is bizarre is that after 40 odd years we still use miles, regularly use pints whilst having largely adopted centimetres and grams. We really need to have grasped the nettle by now and jumped one way or the other. I wouldn't advocate going back to imperial (although I feel more comfortable with it, but I would advocate clarity one way or the other. As I'm sure changing all the road signs is an expensive way forward, I imagine duality will continue.

BUT where is the sense in this - I had a medical a couple of months ago and was told I was 5 foot 10 high and weighed 80 kilos.

There is no sense and that last sentence sums up the stupidity of it entirely, shorty ...that and the fact that my (German) car tells me what my average fuel consumption is in MPG...and how many more miles I can go before I fill up...in litres.

My earlier comment was to suggest that when I first bought petrol - three months after my 17th birthday in 1971 - I think it was about 5/- (25p) a GALLON. I suspect it won’t go down well with elderly Brexiteers to realise that this has now increased to approaching a tenner and may not be the populist (with that particular ‘audience’) move that the Government seems to crave.

[Geoff Parkstone]

I wasnt particularly interested in the "what can the government get out of this" angle, just whether there was any mileage in the proposal

but lets consider your point about the surprise to be had by elderly brexiteers:

In 1971 petrol was 25p a gallon, now £ 10 = 40 times the price

in 1971 the average house price in uk was £ 5,682, now pretty much 277,000 = 49 times the price

so I dont see things as being a great surprise. In 1971 I was earning 15p an hour, now, as you believe, £ 350 an hour, over 2,300 times as much

[ramAnag]

I wasnt particularly interested in the "what can the government get out of this" angle, just whether there was any mileage in the proposal

but lets consider your point about the surprise to be had by elderly brexiteers:

In 1971 petrol was 25p a gallon, now £ 10 = 40 times the price

in 1971 the average house price in uk was £ 5,682, now pretty much 277,000 = 49 times the price

so I dont see things as being a great surprise. In 1971 I was earning 15p an hour, now, as you believe, £ 350 an hour, over 2,300 times as much

It’s interesting when you work things out like that, especially the house price factor and I wasn’t suggesting you are an ‘elderly Brexiteer’...honest.
I believe though that in 1971 you were 15-16 so your ‘15p an hour’ was probably earned via a paper round (remember those?) or helping on the family farm...either way not remotely comparable with your current earning potential...whatever that may be.

Oddly, in 1971, I had a great part time job in the school holidays holding one of those poles for a surveyor. It was brilliant...he picked me up in the morning...took me home at night...bought me lunch at the local Wimpy and paid me a whole £1 per hour!

[Trickytreesreds]

You had to hold a surveyors pole?
Did you report it?

[ramAnag]

You had to hold a surveyors pole?
Did you report it?

Open goal...tap in...expected GP to beat you to it. See the ‘Trees are Promoted’ thread for a proper question.

[Andy_Faber]

Suspect you mean the generation BEFORE you, AF, and I’m sure you’re right, but you’ve reached that stage in life where there are a whole lot more in the generations that have come after you.
Indeed those who were last taught Imperial in their latter Primary School years will be in their mid fifties at least by now, so what on earth is the point?

No I mean the generation AFTER me (and beyond). And tbh I partly blame whatever happened to the education system in the years after I shuffled off into the world of work. I'll go further and say that such failings extend to not being able to judge such things as quantity, length, weight, area etc.

[Geoff Parkstone]

It’s interesting when you work things out like that, especially the house price factor and I wasn’t suggesting you are an ‘elderly Brexiteer’...honest.
I believe though that in 1971 you were 15-16 so your ‘15p an hour’ was probably earned via a paper round (remember those?) or helping on the family farm...either way not remotely comparable with your current earning potential...whatever that may be.

Oddly, in 1971, I had a great part time job in the school holidays holding one of those poles for a surveyor. It was brilliant...he picked me up in the morning...took me home at night...bought me lunch at the local Wimpy and paid me a whole £1 per hour!

Do you mean £ 1 an hour or a £ a day. That seems outrageously high for such a basic task. I was only on 2/3rds of that amount pa in 1974 as a trainee accountant!

and yes 15p an hour was slave labour rate for farm labour - but it had gone up from 2/6 an hour when I was a year younger

[ramAnag]

No I mean the generation AFTER me (and beyond). And tbh I partly blame whatever happened to the education system in the years after I shuffled off into the world of work. I'll go further and say that such failings extend to not being able to judge such things as quantity, length, weight, area etc.

I think we may have been here before but GP’s earlier reference to his medical summed things up perfectly.
As a child of the mid fifties I was brought up with the Imperial and £sd systems and had little difficulty adjusting to the metric system and decimalisation. As long ago as 1976 however, trainee teachers were being warned of automatic failure if they referenced the Imperial system during Teaching Practice.
In the intervening 46 years we have continued to use miles (always), gallons (when we’re working out fuel economy) but litres when we buy...unless we’re in a pub. We measure items in mm and cm unless it’s clothes in which case I look for 34x34 inch jeans with collar and chest size also measured in inches so I suspect the fault does not entirely lie with the ‘education system’ but rather with the indecisiveness of society and successive governments.

[ramAnag]

Do you mean £ 1 an hour or a £ a day. That seems outrageously high for such a basic task. I was only on 2/3rds of that amount pa in 1974 as a trainee accountant!

and yes 15p an hour was slave labour rate for farm labour - but it had gone up from 2/6 an hour when I was a year younger

No honestly...£1 per hour! Brilliant, I loved it...unfortunately it didn’t last that long because he had to move to another job in another town, but it was great while it lasted. Easy money and totally stressless. Most of my holiday jobs fitted the latter category but none were as well paid and basically the only skills required were being able to walk and hold a pole straight.

[Andy_Faber]

I think we may have been here before but GP’s earlier reference to his medical summed things up perfectly.
As a child of the mid fifties I was brought up with the Imperial and £sd systems and had little difficulty adjusting to the metric system and decimalisation. As long ago as 1976 however, trainee teachers were being warned of automatic failure if they referenced the Imperial system during Teaching Practice.
In the intervening 46 years we have continued to use miles (always), gallons (when we’re working out fuel economy) but litres when we buy...unless we’re in a pub. We measure items in mm and cm unless it’s clothes in which case I look for 34x34 inch jeans with collar and chest size also measured in inches so I suspect the fault does not entirely lie with the ‘education system’ but rather with the indecisiveness of society and successive governments.

Its off the subject I know, but the lack of basic 'awareness' of younger generations drives me potty. And that's not me and my thirty (it feels like it!) decades of experience, i 'knew' as much of the basics at 18 as I know now, I'd like to bet give or take you knew the same.

[ramAnag]

Its off the subject I know, but the lack of basic 'awareness' of younger generations drives me potty. And that's not me and my thirty (it feels like it!) decades of experience, i 'knew' as much of the basics at 18 as I know now, I'd like to bet give or take you knew the same.

I’m not entirely sure what you’re referring to when you use terms like ‘awareness’ and ‘basics’. If you’re talking basic literacy and numeracy then you perhaps have a point but then such issues have always had a generational aspect.
My late mother told tales of having been taught in a class of forty by one (seemingly) elderly lady and still leaving school at 14 but with an exemplary knowledge of spelling, grammar and multiplication tables as well as handwriting which would put many to shame today.
On the other hand...today’s youngsters have so many more skills to acquire including those connected with computers and IT without which they are effectively going to be branded as ‘semi literate’.
Unfortunately there’s often a temptation of every generation to become a little - ‘wasn’t like that in my day’ - grumpy when considering those who are younger.

[swaledale]

Adopting the metric system has **** all to do with being in the EU anyway, but hey who gives a ****?

[MadAmster]

My first weekly pay packet contained £10 back in 1971. I thought I was rich

Spelling? Not as important as it was due to spell checkers. That leaves the "writer" only having to check words underlined in red. Even then they can auto-correct. The problem with it is that when a word has been typed that happens to be correctly spelled but is grammatically incorrect, eg then/than or have/of etc, it isn't highlighted. The spell checker does also have some grammar checks but is by no means infallible.

Calculators? They have helped those who don't do arithmetic, either in their head or with pen and paper, very well which is a good thing. However, being able to work things out, quickly, in your head, is very helpful. Family, friends, former pupils were all almost in awe at how quickly I worked something out in my head. Quicker than they could with a calculator. Obviously when you get to larger numbers, my speed reduces and calculators catch up.

[swaledale]

I used to work it out with a pencil, but then discovered ex lax!!

[ramAnag]

Apparently there’s an old measure called a ‘Scruple’ which was used by apothecaries and equivalent to twenty grains.
I can’t imagine a less appropriately named unit of measurement being reintroduced by the current government.