On 28th June, a Canadian reporter for DW Radio (the Canadian equivalent of the BBC World Service) will be accompanying ARM members with his microphone and tape on a day trip to an undisclosed location in England to carry out a major amendment of illegal pedestrian signs in metres. The theme of the broadcast will be to focus on the stirring of English/British resistance to enforced Europeanisation

When I was working in Germany, one of my colleagues was an Australian who had spent a number of years in Canada. He told met that while he was in Canada, he had heard a radio broadcast about how metrication had failed in Australia, the basis of the the assertion being that the Australian Metrication Board had been wound up. Minutes later his wife had rung the radio statio to put them right:

1. Australia was very happpy with the metric system thank you

2. The Australian Mertication Board was wound up because it had compeleted it job.

Reminder of Australian metricity:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/06/29/1023864668830.html
http://www.lag.com.au/questions/learn95.htm
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000032.html
http://www.lionsclubs.asn.au/shop/category8_2.htm
http://www.stretchnow.com.au/products/fitball.htm
http://www.integrativemedicine.com.au/products.htm
http://users.chariot.net.au/~luvboat/p10.htm
http://www.billril.pac.com.au/ingrid/ingrid_4.pdf
http://hmcs.scu.edu.au/crisis/1997/thecliffwasonlysix.html
http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s756264.htm
http://www.racq.com.au/03_car/reviews_new/FCT_Mitsubishi_Ralliart_Magna_02.htm
http://www.talljeans.com.au/about.htm
http://www.roaringforties.com.au/gt40replicas.htm

Steve,

I picked one of your Aussie links at random. Look what I got (I edited out the blank lines):

<<
PRICE: $48,990
ENGINE: 3.5-litre, 24-valve, V6
MAX. POWER: 180 kW @ 5500 rpm
MAX. TORQUE: 333 Nm @ 4000 rpm
TRANSMISSION: Five-speed manual
LENGTH: 4820 mm
WIDTH: 1809 mm
HEIGHT: 1435 mm
WHEELBASE: 2722 mm
TRACK (front/rear): 1545 mm/1535 mm
DRIVING WHEELS: Front
TYRES: 225/50/R17
0-400m (as tested): 16 secs
0-100km/h (as tested): 8.2 seconds
60-100km/h in third (as tested): 5.5 seconds
80km/h-stop (as tested): 28.9 m
Noise at constant 80 km/h: 64.5 dB
FUEL REQUIREMENT: Unleaded
FUEL ECONOMY (as tested): 11.7 litres/100 km
FUEL CAPACITY: 71 litres
FUEL RANGE (as tested): 625 km
SERVICE INTERVALS: 12,500km
WARRANTY: 3 years/100,000km
>>

As you can see, fully metric!!!!!!!

I have spent a lot of time in Australia and I can assure you, apart from the occasional reference to feet (mainly peoples heights) only metric is used.

..and they started going metric after us.

Martin - your looking around for reference to metric has sold me!

I am now totally converted !

P.S. News of the world did something on the cheeky girls video and they used degrees C in the item. If you get a copy you could cut out the article and put it on the world because it used degrees C. As a convert I might do this because "Britain is metric"

Sorry, I didn't see it - I don't read "News of the World".

erk , brain ache!

"and put it on the world because "

meant to have said

"put it on the wall"

D'Oh!

The ARM action on the south coast took place today in Hastings, St. Leonards-on-Sea, Bexhill-on-Sea and Eastbourne.

The Canadian journalist interviewed a stream of passers-by witnessing our activities and every single one expressed strong support, some vigorously so.

A short uncomfortable moment occurred just by the side of the pier in Eastbourne, where a Council beach official stood arms akimbo, looking daggers drawn at us, as we were preparing two plates to cover over part of a sign to a ramp for disabled people, with a metric distance on.

"Aren't you going to stop them?", challenged the Canadian journalist with his microphone and minidisc recorder. "Depends what they do", came the dry reply. A few seconds later, the lady witnessed two plates being affixed to that part of the sign which said: '190 metres'.

She was then asked: "What are you going to do now?"

"Nothing", came the reply. "That's much better. Now all the old people will be able to know how far it is to the ramp without having to ask me all the time".

I expect there will be a slight titter from some of the metriphiles about the reference to 'old people'. But isn't it a strange thing that a Council should want both to break the law and at the same time make it impossible for most disabled peole, who are elderly, to know that the true distance is '200 yards'. A triumph of docrtinaire ideology over human preference and needs.

Altogether 34 (illegal) signs were converted from metric to Imperial. We had time for lunch in Old Hastings and a visit to the free Fishermans Museum there, with lots of references to the size and weight of old English fishing boats in feet, inches, tons etc. We learnt that a ton is the equivalent of 160,000 herrings

I took a call fom Donald McGilvray today - the Canadian radio journalist who filed an entertaining radio programme on an outing by A.R.M. activists to Hastings, where a number of illegal and ugly measurements were covered over and replaced with beautiful ones.

I am told that such was the popular reaction to the programme in Canada that the programme will be re-run next week (on the Internet as well) as part of DW Radio's 'Pick of the Year' programme - roughly the equivalent of Radio 4's 'Pick of the Week'.

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P.S. I also learnt that many Canadians are not at all keen on dual signage. Apparently the French Quebecois got their way a few years ago and insisted that all new road and other public signs throughout Canada should have a French translation on them as well. Apparently, this did not go down at all well in some parts of Canada, notably British Columbia. I have it on good authority that wherever dual language signs have been erected in that province, the French translation has been heavily scored through or covered with aerosol paint. AS UKMA might say: 'A Very Canadian Mess'

Quirkyness does tend to have a media appeal.

<<I am told that such was the popular reaction to the programme in Canada that the programme will be re-run next week (on the Internet as well) as part of DW Radio's 'Pick of the Year' programme - roughly the equivalent of Radio 4's 'Pick of the Week'.>>

As a shortwave buff, I can tell you that DW is the accepted acronym for Deutsche Welle, the German international broadcast service. Canada's is RCI, Radio Canada International.

The journalist may have been a Canadian hired for the DW English service.

Also, Canada seems perfectly happy with metric road signage, so I imagine they would just laugh at you. I'm not sure why the Germans found it so intriguing.