I've got an infallible system for converting miles to kms.
Double the miles and knock a bit off the approximated kms. 5
miles = 8kms. To go the other way, halve the kms and add a
bit on. Works a treat and I haven't run out of gas yet on
long distance night runs where all might fuel stations in
France are a rare event !!!! Sadly, this doesn't work quite
so well in working out the nearest equivalent to a 5/16 or
a 17mm spanner - but I'm working on that.
In a slightly more sensible mode, metrication globally has
to be inevitable. It might even help the Mars space probe
get there (duck) and let us all hear what it's found.
Jan's post on the problems he's got spells it all out in
terms of currency and language variations found in Europe. I
doubt anyone will be willing to adopt a common language and
if the politicians try to force that issue, it'll be more
bloody than either of the two world wars in all theatres put
together. I was amused recently to read a post on the Jaguar
list from someone who moaned ad nauseam that he found an
unattended gas station in a remote part of Sweden which was
open 24/7 and only accepted banknotes or a CC to dispense
the fuel required. His 'beef' was that the instructions
weren't in English. When I politely pointed out that English
isn't normally spoken on an everyday basis by every
self-respecting Swede in his/her own country, I got flamed
that the gas station should have thought that one day
someone might turn up who couldn't speak Swedish. A fair
point I suppose, though I doubt too many people who live in
Sweden have that problem. So, for the sake of mono-language
citizens, be advised that the European Parliament is now
taking steps for all 24/7 gas stations throughout Europe to
display operating instructions on their pumps in English,
French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, German, Dutch,
Finn, Swedish (with Norway and Denmark variations) Gaelic
and Serbo-Croat. To accommodate visitors who turn up late at
night from distant lands (either visiting or resident)
serious consideration is now being given to include a
supplement tied to the delivery nozzle in various versions
of Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Japanese and however many
variations exist of Chinese. We'll see how they cope with
all that before going Cyrillic and adopting all the
languages in Africa as well.
Jonmac
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