Living metrically

Life In The Boot

I first learned a little about the metric system in high school. I wasn't impressed. That was because I hadn't grasped the importance of how simple the metric system was and how stupid our english method of measurements was. 

I can remember that there was talk in the news about how the US was going to have to join the rest of the world in using the far superior system. They had even set a target date for the switchover to be completed. It never happened. Since I spend and have spent so much time in Italy , meters, kilometer and liters have become second nature to me. Its so simple. You basically start with one and just add zeros for each increment of measurement. A far cry from the twelve inches to make a foot and three feet to make a yard and so on,and so on, and so stupid so on.  Lets don't even talk about the english liquid measurement. 

There is one measurement however, That I have been unable to adopt. Its the measurement of gas millage. We measure miles per gallon. In the metric system they measure how many liters it takes to go a hundred kilometers  . I understand why they do it, but no matter how I try I just can't think in those terms. My little car uses around six liters per hundred kilometers... I only know that because the instant milage is displayed on the dash board.