Thread by @theonlywayisup

Going decimal - a thread.

With Boris throwing an imperial bone to the Metric Martyrs, it’s probably only a matter of time before he decides to go the whole hog (this is not a reference to pig fucking) and brings back pre-decimal currency. So as someone who can remember when...

...we ditched it, let me tell you what it was like.
For those of you too young to remember, we used to have pounds, shillings and pence, with 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. We also had guineas, which were a sort of posh, stubborn pound, with .....

.....21 shillings, the awkward bastards.
So, when the big Decimal Day approached - which was 15th February 1971 - the word was spread by basically indoctrinating school children.
We had to learn what the new decimal values were for any sum, and this was drummed into us by....

.....various methods, the best of which was Decimal Bingo. I loved Decimal Bingo.
Each kid was given a bingo card and a pencil, and the squares contained a variety of decimal sums. They then put the radio on and some ancient BBC presenter would read out a succession of prices.

.... “one and six”, he would intone, at which point you were supposed to do the calculation in your head and then put a line through 7 and a half pence on your bingo card.
I loved decimal Bingo. I loved it for two reasons. I was a very competitive swot, which made me quick off..

.... the mark. And the winner got a Refresher bar. By the time D Day came around I had a firm grasp of the decimal system and advanced tooth decay.
Of course, this meant that the only people who knew the price of anything were Primary school kids and shopkeepers, the ....

.... latter of whom were taking the opportunity to round prices up as much as possible in the hope that nobody would notice.
It was like being an expert iPhone user on the day Blackberrys were phased out - suddenly any young kid was likely to be grabbed by a confused .....

..... pensioner and asked what the price of a tin of cling peaches was in “Real Money”
My favourite was a tiny little old lady who grabbed me one day and thrust a spray can of furniture into my hand. “Excuse me dear” she asked “how much is that in real money?”

The label said 37 and a half pence.
“It’s 7 and 6” I told her, meaning 7 shillings and sixpence.
“7 and 6?!” she said.
“For furniture polish?!”
“Yes!” I assured her.
There was silence for a moment.
“Well, fuck that!”, she said, putting it back on the shelf and walking out.

It was more than 50 years ago, and she will be long dead, but if they have WiFi in the afterlife and she is looking in, I’d like her to know I have never forgotten her; she was an inspiration 😂 and I still laugh when I think of her now.