Wednesday, 20 February 2008

Victory at Last 10.05.07

This should be a day that goes down in history, finally the wilful determination of the British people to think in English has forced the EU to back down! It was announced today that we will not be forced to weigh loose goods in 'foreign nonsense' and we can continue to display prices in Imperial measurements as well as metric.
I began my education at a time of change. I remember the change to decimal currency and the confusion it created for many adults. I learned to manage money in both imperial and decimal with no problems at all, but even at my tender age I recognised that the change of currency was a license to inflate prices!
Length and weight simply has to be measured the English in order to make sense. Just as my grandma used to convert all the prices back to old money in her head, I have to perform mental gymnastics to work out what a metre or a litre is in 'old money'. I can visualise a pint or a foot, I have some idea how heavy an ounce or a pound is but I can't cope with the new weights and measures as it means nothing to me. Imagine popping to the pub for a quick 'half litre', its nonsense! The only possible use I have found for kilograms is when I have to be weighed - it prevents me dying from shock because I have no idea what it means!!
I have no problem with what other countries choose to do in the privacy of their own borders, but when they start telling us how to think it brings our my stubborn side and it seems I'm not the only one! Nobody, not even a Brussels bureaucrat can overcome the determination of the British people.

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