Lengths

This morning and yesterday I swam half a mile, not the kilometre I swam on Tuesday.

I was one of the first cohorts to go through school being taught metric measurements, and they are a whole lot more logical and easier to use than imperial. For a long while I was a purist, and thought we should switch over completely and they certainly shouldn't mix. When my daughter told me the length of something was between a centimetre and an inch, I shuddered. But I've mellowed. I quite like the way we can slither between imperial and metric units depending on which works best. How do you inch along in metric? How do I reach milestones without miles? And how will I find where my father lies if I don't have Shakespeare's full fathoms?

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
The Tempest