Super-light road bike

[SkipdiverJohn]

Kids were better at maths in the old days. They had to be.

I know, when I hand a seemingly random amount of cash to the bar staff in my local, the younger ones always look rather confused. I do it because I want the minimum amount of small denomination change, but they can't get their head round why I don't just give them a tenner with no extra coins. They rely on the till to tell them how much change to give back, whereas I have already done the maths in my head whilst they are pouring my beer.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

That could be the next election mantra

”Let’s get Metric done”...

 

[Ming the Merciless]

How much something weighs pales into insignificance when your friends and relatives discover that you're riding a Berk, daily.

A berk riding a Berk?

 

[rogerzilla]

I can't see any further metrication post-Brexit. If anything, imperial measurements will be allowed for trade again. Remember Rees-Mogg's memo to his new office staff?

https://www.ft.com/content/e0556f76-afc6-11e9-8030-530adfa879c2

 

[ColinJ]

I know, when I hand a seemingly random amount of cash to the bar staff in my local, the younger ones always look rather confused. I do it because I want the minimum amount of small denomination change, but they can't get their head round why I don't just give them a tenner with no extra coins. They rely on the till to tell them how much change to give back, whereas I have already done the maths in my head whilst they are pouring my beer.

I hate to agree with you ....


... but sometimes I have to!

One time I handed over (something like) a £5 note to pay a £4.50 bill. The flustered young person at the till started hunting around for the shop's calculator to work out much change to give me!

 

[Smokin Joe]

One time I handed over (something like) a £5 note to pay a £4.50 bill. The flustered young person at the till started hunting around for the shop's calculator to work out much change to give me!

Surely they new it was ten shillings?

 

[ColinJ]

Surely they new it was ten shillings?

We didn't have calculators in the days of pounds, shillings and pence (pre-1971)!

They were just coming in when I was finishing school. When I was 16 a simple Sinclair Executive calculator cost £80. At that time the average weekly pay in the UK was just over £30! I only saw a few well-off pupils with them and they were not allowed to use them in exams.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I know, when I hand a seemingly random amount of cash to the bar staff in my local, the younger ones always look rather confused. I do it because I want the minimum amount of small denomination change, but they can't get their head round why I don't just give them a tenner with no extra coins. They rely on the till to tell them how much change to give back, whereas I have already done the maths in my head whilst they are pouring my beer.

Yes, I do the same, and (sadly) get the same response a lot of the time. It's even more important for cyclists, we really don't need the extra coin weight whilst cycling to and from work.

 

[cyberknight]

We didn't have calculators in the days of pounds, shillings and pence (pre-1971)!

They were just coming in when I was finishing school. When I was 16 a simple Sinclair Executive calculator cost £80. At that time the average weekly pay in the UK was just over £30! I only saw a few well-off pupils with them and they were not allowed to use them in exams.

Im not as vintage as you , no offense i do remember calculators in school but like you we were not allowed to use them in schools .I do remember seeing my 1st personal pc when i was 15 or so , a zx 81 with a whole 1 k of ram !

 

[winjim]

Ah yes, who remembers being told 'you won't always have a calculator with you'? That turned out to be wrong. Very wrong.

 

[ColinJ]

Ah yes, who remembers being told 'you won't always have a calculator with you'? That turned out to be wrong. Very wrong.

As in phone... Mind you, I know some people who don't always carry their phones about with them, and one or two who refuse to even own a TV mobile phone!

 

[Algarvecycling]

They also try to big up their ride distances by using Km and not miles. This is the UK, so distances in miles and bike weights in pounds!

Ah, but not all of us are in the UK...and I grew up in South Africa so only learnt the metric system.
Happily when I was working in the UK construction industry up until a few years ago as a technical manager, everything was metric, so I was ok. I've never spent any time on the imperial system but an app on my mobile would help me out if ever needed.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Throughout the seventies I was working in a firm which used metric weights and measures and it became so ingrained that I find our archaic system baffling. God knows why we've stuck with it.