By Hartley Neita, Contributer

I GREW up in my early years in elementary school with an exercise book which told me twelve inches, one foot; three feet, one yard; 22 yards, one chain, and 80 chains or 1760 yards, one mile.

I also became accustomed to a speed limit of 30 miles per hour for driving in towns and congested areas and 50 miles per hour in rural areas. I learned the circumference of the earth in miles. The distance of the sun and moon from earth was also measured in miles. The sound barrier was broken at some amount of miles per second, and light travelled at a speed which was also measured in miles.

A man became tall at six feet; the ideal height for women was five feet five inches to five feet seven inches. Gasolene and water were measured in gills, pints and gallons. Sugar and rice and other products were weighed in pounds, and cane in tons.

In athletics we ran races of 100 yards, 220 yards and the mile. There was also a distance known as a furlong which was applied mainly to horse racing.

Over the years I became accustomed to measuring the speed of hurricanes in miles per hour. I mentally compared it to the speed of a motor car and so I had some idea of the speed at which the wind would blow. And because I was conditioned to distances by the mile I knew how large the hurricane was. I could also mentally measure how far a hurricane was from Jamaica - in miles.

Now, the meteorological technocrats insist on telling me the speed of hurricanes in kilometers per hour and the distance from Jamaica in kilometers. And I must confess that I am clueless. Interestingly, when I listen to the news reports of the speed at which Hurricane Frances blew over Florida, they do so in miles per hour.

OLD FOGEY

I know I may be regarded as an old fogey. But I believe there are many others like me who would like our Meteorological Office to tell us in future what is the speed of future hurricanes in mph as well as kph. While on the subject, I would not mind if they would give me the temperature of the weather in Fahrenheit as well as Centigrade. Just hearing the figure of 90 degrees in the shade tells me it is hot, 30 centigrade is not as boiling.

Recently, I purchased an electronic thermometer to check on my temperature if I was feeling feverish. To my astonishment its readings are different from that with which I grew up. All the friends of my age did not know how to compare the readings to the normal body temperature of old. So I have had to call my pharmacist to convert it for me. Every time. When I bought the first car with kilometer readings, I was amazed how fast my car drove. In due course, I discovered that the car was telling me that I was driving at kph, and not mph. And it was a traffic cop who brought me into the then twentieth century. He just did not believe that a bright looking fellow like me could be so ignorant. I had to pay a fine at the Collectorate.

Today, I thrill when Serena Williams hits an ace on the button at 116 mph. And I remember Mike Holding and Courtney Walsh hurtling balls at helpless batsmen at mph. That's speed. Mark you, the only way our present crop of pace bowlers will ever thrill us is when instead of mph they are measured in kph. I am still waiting, for the day when our mile posts will be dug up and smashed. Part of my history will disappear then. It will be a sad day. It will be like the disappearance of the names for our coins such as bit, the quartile, the florin and the shilling with the lion 'pon it, which was a bob. Money then, of course, had value and because it was our friend we gave it nick names.

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