Jacquie wrote:
<I wonder how long the people who, when we changed to decimal currency in
1971, swore that they were never going to use it and were always going to
convert
everything back to pounds, shillings and pence, actually went on doing it.
I
still do occasionally out of interest such as today when I saw a "special
offer" on Cadbury's cream eggs of "2 for 85p" and worked out that they are
now
(on offer) eight shillings and sixpence each. I think they were sixpence,
maybe
ninepence, in 1971.>
My mother did the shopping for my housebound grandmother and had to write
down the Pounds, shillings and pence equivalent of each item right up to my
grandmother's death at the age of 96 in 1978, 7 years after decimalization.
89 years pre-decimalization just couldn't be pushed aside to cope with a
pound changing from 240 old pence to 100 new ones.
One of the reasons for converting back was because we were convinced that
shopkeepers and other businesses would take advantage of the change and
increase prices, hoping we wouldn't notice. I'm still convinced that, were
there wasn't an exact conversion, the metric price was rounded up so things
did cost more.
The morning of the first day of metrication, I bought something in the
newsagents that cost 37p. I have the shop assistant a pound note and she
counted out my change - "1p, 2p that's 3p. 10p makes 50p" and triumphantly
"and 10s' a pound!" The last ten being a 10 shilling note (50p).
Even after all this time, I can still get muddled between 5p and 10p pieces.
I'd often hand over a 5p piece instead of 10p. But I've solved that by
removing all 1p, 2p and 5p coins from my purse each evening I spend anything
and put them in a plastic bag. That way I don't have to worry about 5ps.
When the bag's sufficiently full I change them at a Coinmaster machine.
I always state my height in feet and inches - metres for height means
absolutely nothing to me. I can visualise 5 ft 2 inches, but not whatever
the equivalent is in metres. Same with my weight in stones and pounds. Yet
I'll quite happily buy fabric by the metre and weigh vegetables in
kilograms.
A 10 lb baby is huge, but a 4 kg one doesn't sound as large.
It's just something my brain can't fully cope with - it's too full of other
stuff!
Sue wrote:
<1/2d, 1d, 3d, 6d, 1/-, 2/-, 2/6, 5/-, 10/-, £1..... oh and the guinea
(21 shillings!!)>
Racehorses are still bought and sold in guineas.
Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK
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