RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted June 28, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 28, 2011 Parking within 32 feet of a junction. I am sure it was 15 feet when I passed me test in the 1960s. Tell 32 feet to todays ill-informed motorists. Quite right. In any civilised country, it ought to be a distance in metres. In Victoria, Australia it is 10 Metres, which is close enough to 32ft. Kevin Martin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted June 28, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 28, 2011 Oh don't get me started on that! really bugs me this recent tendency for UK factual programmes to quote distances in Km only. I'm not ready for the scrap heap yet and was brought up decimal, educated with SI units etc but I still have an innate sense of how far a mile is. For someone to say such and such was 50 Km from so and so really just leaves me wanting. My car speedo is primarily graduated in mph, road signs say Neverland 50 miles, speed limits are in mph Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 In Victoria, Australia it is 10 Metres, which is close enough to 32ft. In ANY country it is 10 metres, which is close enough to 32ft. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted June 28, 2011 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 28, 2011 In ANY country it is 10 metres, which is close enough to 32ft. Hah, hah. Kevin Martin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted June 28, 2011 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 28, 2011 Oh don't get me started on that! really bugs me this recent tendency for UK factual programmes to quote distances in Km only. I'm not ready for the scrap heap yet and was brought up decimal, educated with SI units etc but I still have an innate sense of how far a mile is. For someone to say such and such was 50 Km from so and so really just leaves me wanting. My car speedo is primarily graduated in mph, road signs say Neverland 50 miles, speed limits are in mph Umm, I remember doing metrics at school, well before leaving for Australia in 1972. Its worse when you get stuck in a half/half situation for decades like Britain has. You almost got it 1871 according to this - only 5 votes stopped it. http://lamar.colosta...er/internat.htm Of course, perhaps if governments waited for all the oldies to die, it would be an ideal time. Kevin Martin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oggy1953 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Whilst on the subject of cars, a lot of roads near me are narrow due to parking along both sides, this means you are frequently 'giving way'. What narks me is the drivers who sail past without saying thanks with a wave or flash of the lights. It seems courtesy is a thing of the past 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
multiprinter Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Quite right. In any civilised country, it ought to be a distance in metres. In Victoria, Australia it is 10 Metres, which is close enough to 32ft. Kevin Martin Even the stupidest country on earth(USA) doesn't use those ridiculous, meaningless, metric measurements. I bet Australia only went metric as part of an anti British policy. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Even the stupidest country on earth(USA) doesn't use those ridiculous, meaningless, metric measurements. That's your opinion. I find many Imperial measurements to be completely meaningless, but others like Miles I have more of a grasp of. Come to think of it, there are few Imperial measurements that I use anymore (I'm 56 yrs old as well). The "half-way house" situation throws up some funny variations on preferences though. Personally speaking, I do all small measurements in mm, cm & metres. I'll describe a short distance as one, two or three hundred metres, but don't have any mental idea of what a km looks like, even though it's obvious, so it's miles for me. Weights are all done in metric, both by me, SWMBO and the kids. Imperial lb's & oz's are just a hazy memory to me, but the rest of the family have no idea about them at all. Liquids are all in litres or ml's. However, when it comes to fuel in the car, I can only get my head around MPG, even though I'm used to buying in litres and have no problems with that. Thank goodness the cars computer talks MPG when reading out fuel consumption. Oh yes, ......I have been know to scream at the TV "...that's never 10 yards Ref !" Suitably befuddled Ron Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I'll bet decimalization only came about 'cos the ###### could only make calculators that worked in units of tens. The Yanks didn't need to decimalise when their money is in units of tens. Makes me laugh when youngies say oldies need to catch up when we were educated enough to be able to calculate in £ s d without the aid of calculators. So who's dependant on calculators then? By the way, abreviated Japanese is a swearword on here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebottle Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Even the stupidest country on earth(USA) doesn't use those ridiculous, meaningless, metric measurements. Ah, but they've made a start, using both systems at the same time on certain unmanned Mars missions. And, according to future historical documents (AKA Star Trek:TNG) we'll all be fully metric by the 24th century! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 28, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 28, 2011 Quite right. In any civilised country, it ought to be a distance in metres. In Victoria, Australia it is 10 Metres, which is close enough to 32ft. Kevin Martin Don't worry - the Highway Code is bi-lingual and also give the distance (as 10 metres) in those peculiar foreign units of measurement. Although as only younger people here are officially familiar with such alien units I can't imagine why they bother to put them in the Highway Code as most younger drivers don't even seem to know of its existence let alone what's in it. Example some years ago - before we moved here our relatively narrow road had lots of parked cars and one evening a young female person came out past parked cars on her side into my right of way - I duly explained to her, in quite strong terms, that she really ought top pop into WH Smith and buy a copy of the Highway Code and then take notice of what it said. A week or so later she knocked on our front door to say that she had been to Smiths and had read the Highway Code and was very sorry and could now quite understand why I had been so angry with her; I was so staggered by this that I had to drink half a bottle of wine to get over the shock Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Taz Posted June 28, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 28, 2011 Staggered that a youngster took your advice , could read or came back and apologised? (or all 3 of the above?) P.S. Toungue firmly in cheek. I happen to think the youth of today get an unjustly hard time. Most of them are ok and there are ar*e holes in every generation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 28, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 28, 2011 Staggered that a youngster took your advice , could read or came back and apologised? (or all 3 of the above?) P.S. Toungue firmly in cheek. I happen to think the youth of today get an unjustly hard time. Most of them are ok and there are ar*e holes in every generation I think it might have been that she was a pal of a girl who lived up the road and we knew that girl and her parents quite well. Be that as it may it was truly staggering for her to come and knock on the door to apologise. I bet the silly c*w who drove out of Tesco's car park the other day on an inbound lane and past a 'No entry' sign' almost colliding head on with me won't be coming round to apologise even if she knows where I live - I wonder if she could lip read ...? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 .... I was so staggered by this that I had to drink half a bottle of wine to get over the shock Only half a bottle? I'm disappointed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mod5 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Even the stupidest country on earth(USA) doesn't use those ridiculous, meaningless, metric measurements. I bet Australia only went metric as part of an anti British policy. As this has been quoted by others it would cause too much work to remove it and edit the other posts. So I shall make comment in thread that your remarks are ill considered and indeed offensive to some members. Perhaps you would care to consider what you type in future to save offending. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandc_au Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Well as a born and bred Aussie I grew up with Yds, ft and inches, then someone with wisdom/intellect or whatever, decided we would go metric. When I was working I had the issue of measuring a job in both.....don't ask me why but I tended to use the metric for larger measurements and imperial for the smaller measurements. Either way, it depends on what we were bought up with.....Imperial rules!!!! Best bit is in the Hardware stores and the young ones talk metric ....I ask them to speak english. Khris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor Charon Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 That's your opinion. I find many Imperial measurements to be completely meaningless, but others like Miles I have more of a grasp of. Come to think of it, there are few Imperial measurements that I use anymore (I'm 56 yrs old as well). The "half-way house" situation throws up some funny variations on preferences though. Indeed it does. For small measurements, i use mm. For anything CD size or bigger, probably inches, and then feet, yards... For weight... well, stones, pounds, and ounces. Apparently I'm 60Kg. Or about 9st 6lbs. Or is it the other way round? I know 9st 6lbs means a lot more to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penlan Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 ..... was so staggered by this that I had to drink half a bottle of wine to get over the shock Horsetan, at this point he stopped for breath before finishing off the other half...... re. Metric, I was working in a Civil Engineer's office in Winchester in 1967 and we were issued with a booklet of Metric data for use in the preparation of drawings, structural calcs., etc. I still have the booklet. So metric in 'industry' has been around for some time in the UK. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Max Stafford Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I've got one question on my mind today? Who rules my country - the people or the judges? Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I've got one question on my mind today?Who rules my country - the people or the judges? The judges, bankers, foreigners, the BBC, lefties, everyone bar the Government... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor Charon Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Would it be considered political to say that given the choice between Dave and Ed Milliband, I'd rather have their brother Steve? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 ....Who rules my country - the people or the judges? Would this be related to the recent European Court decision stating that two Somali criminals can never be deported from the UK because sending them back to what used to be Somalia would be a breach of Article 3 of the Euopean Convention on Human Rights & Fundamental Freedoms? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Taz Posted June 29, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 29, 2011 Or the crazy ruling about the reduction of the amount of time someone can now be let out on police bail before being charged or let off? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted June 29, 2011 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 29, 2011 Even the stupidest country on earth(USA) doesn't use those ridiculous, meaningless, metric measurements. I bet Australia only went metric as part of an anti British policy. Whatever. But before you get too carried away in praising the Americans for being non-metric, remember they use a completely different & supposedly simplified version of the "Imperial' system. Your argument might make some sense if the British & Americian's used the same system, but they don't. So which is worse, them inventing a 3rd system or not using the metric system? I know what I think. Kevin Martin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted June 29, 2011 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 29, 2011 In ANY country it is 10 metres, which is close enough to 32ft. Don't you see that the rule has already been prepared for metrics. What sort of easy to visulise distance is 32ft? - why not KISS at 30ft? Kevin Martin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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