Decimalisation a bad thing

[Plain Talker 11]

I worked part time in The Nelson when it changed to decimal.

We were panicking like crazy.

we had all the new prices written on the back of the pumps and optics.

looking back now it amazes me what we all were worried about.

How we found it easier to work out 3 pints at one shilling, and elevenpence ha'penny, than 3 pints at 10p is today baffling.

The odd change even then was not significant.

Mind you, this did not stop the local thugs threatening to drag you over the bar if you were a ha'penny short.

What a pleasant place the town centre used to be.

 

but... i still find it easier to visualise a pint of something than a litre. or an inch and a yard of summat than a metre or a centimetre(or "sillymeters" as my old mum christened them)

 

of course, I suppose it didn't help that four years after decimalisation. and six/seven years after the new coinage was first introduced, the school I went to was still usiing the bloomin' textbooks in £SD and imperial measurements instead of the new decimal coinage.

 

I still look at my 96p loaf, and think Jeez!!!!!!!!!! That's 19/3 in old money! tht is ridiculous!

[Jabberwocky 46]

Remember those little 10 minute programmes they had on TV about converting to Decimal currency? The theme tune used to drive me mad.

[artisan 10]

but... i still find it easier to visualise a pint of something than a litre. or an inch and a yard of summat than a metre or a centimetre(or "sillymeters" as my old mum christened them)

 

of course, I suppose it didn't help that four years after decimalisation. and six/seven years after the new coinage was first introduced, the school I went to was still usiing the bloomin' textbooks in £SD and imperial measurements instead of the new decimal coinage.

 

I still look at my 96p loaf, and think Jeez!!!!!!!!!! That's 19/3 in old money! tht is ridiculous!

 

Yes you are quite right.

people of our era can work in decimal but cant think in decimal.

 

As I was serving my time, the System International came in, so I am used to both units.

When I estimate something, I can think in SI, but, for instance, looking at my door here, I do not think 'It is 950cm wide' I think 'It is 3 foot wide'

 

It will take along time before we are truly continental.

[tsavo 10]

Yes you are quite right.

people of our era can work in decimal but cant think in decimal.

 

As I was serving my time, the System International came in, so I am used to both units.

When I estimate something, I can think in SI, but, for instance, looking at my door here, I do not think 'It is 950cm wide' I think 'It is 3 foot wide'

 

It will take along time before we are truly continental.

 

I remember an occasion when I tried really hard to use decimal measurements and tried to order some timber. At the timber yard I asked for 800mills by 500mills, (or something similar) and was pleased when this was understood. However when I said I wanted 10 metres of it was told "sorry, we only do lengths in feet!" I'm still trying to figure that one out after 30years.

 

"Born Imperial and still confused"

[Bozo 10]

I'd put my tuppence worth in if I thought it was of any value!

[hagardriley 10]

God bless the Metric System!

 

Let's get rid of these bloody stupid inches, feet & miles etc and get used to using good old kilometres, metres, centimetres & millimetres etc. Same goes for pints, fluid ounces, pounds & ounces. Decimalisation of the currency was one of the most sensible & logical things to ever happen to this country.

 

The construction industry has been metric for over thirty years. If someone talks to me about a piece of 6x2 timber I have to stop & think what they are on about. To me it's 150x50 in millimetres and I am not someone who has just finished his apprenticeship.

 

Get used to it folks because its here to stay.

[*_ash_* 88]

I find it amusing for someone of my age (32) who is in between metric and imperial.

 

I tried to understand old money/new money (and put my worked out conversion table in another link, very accurate too so t'was)

 

I know my own weight in stones/pounds, but have no clue in Kg, yet I know how much weight a van can drive across a weak bridge.

 

I know my height in feet and inches, and have no clue in metres/cm, yet I know how long the 100 metres sprint is, and a respective, time wise good result.

 

 

And the best for me, is fuel. I used to work fuel prices out in gallons, now my mind has been converted to litres for fuel prices.

But I can only work out MPG (miles per gallon for the even younger), the new one which is KM/100litres might as well be in Chinese! (it's the other way round, and I don't understand either)

 

[Tony 10]

It's a little difficult to blame a 35 year old event for "a lot of problems with price increases wages etc" and if people still can't get their head around the metric system then I'm not sure that their should be trusted with their own money

[tsavo 10]

It's a little difficult to blame a 35 year old event for "a lot of problems with price increases wages etc" and if people still can't get their head around the metric system then I'm not sure that their should be trusted with their own money

 

I will admit to still occasionally converting back to LSD as an exercise to see how prices have changed in my lifetime. Made even more interesting (?) by living in a Euro country, converting to £.p and back to £.s.d. Mmmmmm! Now I've written it down it does seem a bit daft though.

[Mr Goose 10]

I also seem to remember that we had gas lamps and kiddies working in t'mill.

 

Just because something is old it does not make it good.

 

When I was at school I used to work in an ironmongers on Saturdays - it was a mare with the old zillions on thread sizes and diameters for screws and bolt

 

"I want a 7/8th whitworth flush head 4 1/2" - how much is it for half a pound on em?"

[max 13]

Perhaps it was decimalisation which saw in the dumbing down of Britain. Gone are the days when shop assistants could work in more than one base system. They used to be able to work in stones, pounds and ounce, pounds, shillings and pence and yards, feet and inches. Now everything is in units of ten and the tills tell them how much change to give.

 

Am I an old fogey? probably.

[LordChaverly 10]

i think when we went decimal it started a lot of problems with price increases wages etc anyone think along the same lines

 

Decimalisation cannot be blamed for the performance of the economy. It is true that there is some evidence of 'rounding up' of prices at the time, but the overall effect of this was probably marginal.

 

Decimalisation merely changed the denomination of notes and coinage, it did not change the currency per se. A far more important link between the currency and the economy was the UK's membership of the European Exchange Rate mechanism in the early 1990s, as would be the UK's membership of the eurozone, if we ever decided to join.