I'm watching Derren Brown on TV, Martin - are you following his footsteps in the psychic department? ;-) Yes - we had a boy by C-section 9 months ago! Ta-da!!!! Some points to keep on topic (and you only have my word on this but I hope you take into consideration other points I've made in the past!) This in on reflection - I was otherwise pre-occupied at the time! And speechless! (40 mins earlier I was 'safely' at work none the wiser). When he was born he was put on some scales which were metric - the nurse said "he's a good weight for 1 month early"The C-section surgeon (and this is important) who was *not British* asked how much he weighed. The nurse responded "6lb 3" to which the surgeon said - "that's good". His (the baby's) records have an entry for both metric and imperial throughout. I have no doubt that the 'official' figures are metric but the records show both. Before he was born my wife went for a blood test at the hospital. I saw the needle. Let me explain - I have a needle phobia. Immediately I had to leave the room. I wandered about but started feeling faint (I've never fainted but I felt very heavy and not at all well but at least I was in the right place). To get my mind off the needle I looked at an adult weighing machine. The units ON the machine were metric. There was a plastic coated sign on the wall immediately behind the scales which translated it to st/lb. Finally - we are members of an NCT group. Without fail the mothers all used floz when making up mixes or expressing. With the milk formula that's not surprising as the instructions on the side read downwards under the floz column as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 with the millilitre figures next to it in hundreds. I have no doubt that official records record the metric weight however without fail all the people involved "spoke" imperial. Dilation would have been in 'cm' though - if it were not an emergency!! P.S. One for the books - the missus WHILST IN LABOUR AND HAVING CONTRACTIONS drove to the hospital filling up with fuel on the way.When I called her back at home from work surprised to find her still at home (considering she had called me saying she did not feel 'right') she said that she hadn't put make up on yet!! "Women" !!!
From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:46741] Re: metric products UK Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:40:14 +0000 A small note about scales used for measuring people in the UK. Scales that are destined for domestic use have invariably been dual-unit since the 1970’s. However since a report last year that criticized certain hospitals for using domestic quality scales that had not been properly maintained was published, it has become mandatory for the medical profession to use professional-quality scales (which are regularly recalibrated) and which show kilograms only. Official medical records are kept in metric units, though a baby’s birth-weight might be communicated to the parents in either units. Steve Humphries is more up-to-date than me on that – he became a father in the last year or two. The weights of my children (born 1980’s) was certainly communicated to me in metric units – 3.50 kg and 4.05 kg. I do not recall the imperial equivalents nor do I recall having been given them. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Davis Sent: 23 February 2010 20:25 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:46739] Re: metric products UK The vast majority of things in the UK are fully metric, John. The only time you will really see mixed units is with loose goods like fruit and veg on market stalls. The metric measurement must be more pronounced than the imperial measurement. This is largely academic since these items must be weighed on fully metric scales anyway. Pints of beer, of course, are the only real fully imperial item in the UK. Scales that measure people (in stones: 14 pounds) will probably mentioned by some, but the majority of recent ones also weigh in kilograms as well. ----- Original Message ----- From: John Frewen-Lord To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 2:47 PM Subject: [USMA:46734] metric products UK To all those who say that the UK is not really metric: I was researching the town of Axminster on Google, and came across this website regarding hydraulic bricquette presses. All specs as far as I can see are in metric units. http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Rojek-BrikStar-50-Hydraulic-Briquette-Press-582182.htm John F-L _________________________________________________________________ Do you have a story that started on Hotmail? Tell us now http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/
