can pretty much convert back and forth without any hassle. The only time I use miles is sometimes talking to other folk who can’t visualise kilometres or if touring on the road in the UK as that just keeps some consistency with road signs.
and have multiple instances of every labour saving device known to man it seems that you can’t afford a set of weighing scales!
a set of cups and spoons is probably the most labour saving you can get,fast quick and easy. Not used scales in years
I hate trying to figure out recipes in cups – it’s all well and good until they throw in something with a defined measurement, e.g. 1 tsp of baking soda. Then it matters how big your cup is in proportion to the tsp, so just give me a bloody weight! Far easier to just have a set of digital scales…
Cups are all good and well using dry stuff, but a pain in the hole for other things, golden syrup and treacle have to be the worst.
With digital scales, nothings easier than resetting them to zero before adding the next ingredient and then simply pouring it in.
Grammes, metres and Celsius because I don’t have 12 fingers. 🙂
Cups are fine for flour but butter I struggle with, golden syrup you just have to put extra spoonful in .
I’ve gone metric for running too since I’ve gotten slower.
Cups are fine for flour but butter I struggle with, golden syrup you just have to put extra spoonful in .
Cups are rubbish for flour, as the actual amount varies depending on how packed down it is. Digital scales are much more accurate and no harder to use.
And after 20 years in Spain I use metric for everything. Including celcius.
Cups are rubbish for flour, as the actual amount varies depending on how packed down it is. Digital scales are much more accurate and no harder to use.
some of the best recipes I have work with cups and feel, the amount isn’t consistent, weight doesn’t account for moisture variations etc and just how things work so cups for starters, feel for the rest. It’s not science it’s cooking!!
Syrup and treacle are really awkward no matter what – I weigh the whole thing on balance scales, tin and all, then remove weights equivalent to what I want, then start spooning out the syrup until the scales balance again. If I’m within 10g or so then I’m happy.
A mile is eight furlongs. A furlong is 220 yards and is supposed to be the length an ox team could plough before they needed a rest. A yard is supposed to have originally been the distance between some Anglo-Saxon Kings nose and has outstretched fingers. It all makes perfect sense.
The best non-metric measure is grains. A grain was actually based on the weight of a grain of wheat, or barely or something.
At school science and maths were metric, metalwork unapologetically imperial. I still use both but distances tend to be miles. As a civil engineer 150mm and 300mm pipes were still 6″ and 12″. In a short spell with an American consultant I was introduced to such delights as the “kip-ft”.
The Imperial measurement and Miles was conjured up by a small “elite” to teach the “surfs” a lesson, that lesson is such that the “elite” are edumakated, the surfs not. Think of it as a secluded sect, for thats what it is.
I suppose if we’re doing measurements for other things, then I’d still call a 50mmx100mm bit of timber a 2×4 – despite having done engineering training where even the old school instructors had happily converted to mm and m (though they did still refer to very small measurements in thous). I used to be resistant to the change, but would now be happy to convert all our measurements to metric and get rid of miles for speed and distance – and even quite happy to drink beer by the half litre.
Don’t forget your chains,a chain measures 66 feet, or 22 yards. There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains (that is, an area of one chain by one furlong).
Railway bridges in these parts are still marked with their distance to London in miles and chains. 🙄
…and 22 yards is the length of a cricket pitch, or a chain, so 10 chains to a furling and 100 links to a chain. Even our glorious Imperial system had elements of decimalisation!
Now, go fathom that one …2 yards or six feet, or 1.8 metres!
Railway bridges in these parts are still marked with their distance to London in miles and chains
It’s not just the bridges. The entire network is referenced using 5-chain lengths for assessing the condition of cuttings, embankments and rock cuttings.
Recently changed from using stones to kg for on the weighing scales. Was surprisingly painless (other than annoying mrs blobby who now needs to change the scales back to stones whenever she gets on them 🙂 )
I’d switch the Garmin over to km but race 10 and 25 mile distances so all my speed / distance calculations on the bike tend to be in miles 😕
and in general the units are the right size and easy to use.
That’s because there are so many of the bloody things!