Metric Britain

  First and foremost I apologise (yet again) for such a long gap in between blog posts. The return of freedom over the past year has kept me away from screens. They say it takes 66 days to develop a new habit. Running is a habit I developed over lockdown, but the return to the office (and I intend to never work from home again) and frequenting the pub has reduced frequency of this.  It is, however, not completely bleak for my physical well-being. Cramming a number of social events in after work has led to me doing a lot more walking around central London. I don’t have an Apple Watch, (other brands of smart watch exist), but my iPhone records my steps and a lot of really interesting data on my walking and running. As would be no surprise, I’ve configured everything in metric units. Thankfully, gone are the days where Apple would dictate to you , based on your location, the units of measurement you use. You have a chose whether to specify distances in miles or kilometres....

I recently wrote an article about the importance of the correct use of symbols for units of measurements, citing examples of cock-ups from other countries, but had no photographic evidence. Recently, I was in Sri Lanka, where everything (that's not a remnant from its colonial past) is metric - including the speed limits. I was therefore surprised that on the signs speeds were specified in kmph rather than km/h.  (See below). 

Having spent considerable amounts of time in different countries and having visited four continents in the past few months, I've noticed that what many (including myself) consider to be a uniquely British or anglophone problem is in fact prevalent in a number of other countries - some of which have been metric for their entire existence. I've posted images of signs in the UK using 'mtrs' for metres where 'm' should be used and I've discussed the nonsensicality of the use of kph instead of km/h in the British context, whilst lauding the metrication efforts of other anglophone countries in a similar metric limbo to the United Kingdom. Whilst I do stand by my argument that in the UK, we need to fully utilise our official system of measurements, and do so properly, I've come to realise that we're not the only country screwing this up. The most common violation of the BIPM's accepted symbols for metric units is the (mis)use of 'mtr' to re...

With the average person giving their height in feet and inches, weighing their babies in pounds and ounces, quoting distances in miles, it is very easy to forget that the metric system is the official system of measurements throughout the United Kingdom. This begs the question: Why does the imperial system still dominate our speech? To answer the sub question, I will focus primarily on road signs, the vast majority of which are in imperial measures (typically miles and yards). With these being the measurements which most people see on a day to day basis, it impacts the decision people make regarding measurements. Seeing miles and yards on the road is more likely to make an individual speak in miles and yards for distances - in spite of their education in metres and kilometres. This has the knock-on effect of using miles per gallon for fuel consumption (although you would struggle to find an imperial gallon anywhere around) and miles per hour for speed. This has wider impacts in the m...

A few months ago, the BBC would feature wind speeds in miles per hour only... recently, they have included a tap that allows you to toggle between miles per hour and km/h (as well as degrees C and degrees F [absolute rubbish in my opinion]) What was strikng when they first put the tabs up is the way they mentioned km/h as KPH in the tab, annd weather reports and forcasts. As you know, at the moment it's an icebox in London, so I went on the BBC to check the weather... I discovered that now, in weather reports, wind speed is written km/h, rather than the ghastly KPH thing, however the button that one uses to toggle inbetween ... is still the same (see image below). Thank God for small mercies... hopefully in future, they'll do away with mph and Fahrenheit...does anyone actually USE fahrenheit anyway?

In my travels around the United Kingdom, I've seen many progressive metric signs, such as metric-only width & height restrictions, metric fingerposts and the like. However, today, whilst walking down "Millionaire's lane" I saw the light... the use of km/h speed limits here in London. One may think of this as being too good to be true if you're a metrichead, and indeed there are some flaws: 1. The km/h speed limit is not a 'regular' number; (24 km/h rather than 25 km/h) 2. The km/h sign is not stand-alone. It is below a sign stating the speed limit in MPH (15 MPH) 3. The km/h speed sign shows uses the horrible kph abbreviation, rather than the the standardised symbol (km/h) With that being said, we have to admit, that this is still good. People are recognising that we can not remain in the dark ages of miles and yards.