General Chat

Can I just throw one in for the boys. We used to do 22 strides between stumps for our cricket pitches. Think that was 22 yards, called a chain, tenth of furlong :-)

Oh no no no Sandie!!! It's to the tip of your nose with head looking forward!!!
Now try it again with tape measure :-0 and let's see. :-D
(ref: your measured yard, I was thinking my arms seem incredibly short).


John, yes. I remember having to chant the rhyme in school
12 inches - 1 foot
3 feet - one yard
22 yards - 1 chain
10 chains - 1 furlong etc etc

A chain was the length of the plough chain. A pole the legth of the ploughboys rod which he used to encourage the plough team along.

A furlong was the length of the ploughman's furrow and a chain by a furlong was an acre, the size of the pice of land an ox team could plough in a working day.

A yard was the length of a king's arm but I can't remember which king.

It all made sense then. All it is now is numbers.

Sandie,Kemp aand Karen.

We were taught,Material between thumb and forefinger in right hand,Face turned left and then mearsure to the nose..
I still measure that way and my stretch is 37"..so someone has short arms ;-)

Yeah Karen that's why I do it my way :-D ( short arms !!)

Your way I would measure just over 32 inches, but by turning my head to the right !!!!
Magic , nearly 36 inches each time, wicked ,but it's the tricks of the trade ;-)

Sandie.xx
PS..peeps will think we are crazy !!

Just a mo then, got to try it your way......

yep, much better, almost 37" :-)

As I said, just as well I wasn't a material merchant in them olde dayes gone by. I'd never have survivied, would've got the sack on the first day!! :-S

P.S.
Another trick we were taught - the quickest/easiest way to measure 6" ?
Stretch out thumb and forefinger - tip to tip should be 6".
I still do this, ie when we're in Homebase or some such place. Hubby thinks I'm odd, but it works.

Across my stretched hand,pinky end to thumb tip is 7 ish inches.

The end of my thumb is about an inch.

I must have short arms and long fingers ;-) ;-) :-D :-D

outstreched thumb to forefinger is nearlly 7 inches

outstretched thumb to litttle finger (pinky) is 8 inches

Should have taken up piano playing !,would have had a good reach of the keys ;-)
To keep on topic,else i get RR'd,my school friend had very short fingers ,but was an excellent pianist.

Sandie.x

Yes like you new avatar Karen :-)

Lol @ Sue in Leeds,

Being right handed I've always done the measurement with the material in my left hand!
Doing it your way my measurment is nearly an inch shorter.

Told you I have short arms...and one shorter than the other ;-)

At least I don'have long dangling arms like a gorilla :-D :-D :-D ;-)

Sandie.x

I was taught ............

top thumb joint to tip of thumb = 1"


gets confused if you let your nails grow long :-D

I'd have been short changing as well :-D


holding end of tape measure between tips of thumb and forefinger to about an inch past the start of my collar bone = 35"


to about mid-way along the collar bone = 36"

CIGGIES,,OUR ONLY SHOP FOR 3 MILES SOLD
NO FILTER CIGGS IN SINGLES ,
FRIENDS MUM HAD A CIGARETT MACHINE IN HER KITCHEN.

ON SUNDAYS WE WOULD PICK CABBAGE FROM EDGE OF
FIELD,BUT ONLY PICKED THE ONES THAT WERNT ANY
GOOD FOR SELLING

Well, that woke me up with a smile, Dizzi. Sounds very rural.:-D

Filter cigs were so sophisticated. And menthol - they were the ultimate. Consulate - cool as a mountain stream. Yeeehhhh. A mountain stream next to Sellafield perhaps. Are you still off the weed, or have you succumbed?

Edit. Just seen your new thread about still not smoking :-D :-D

WE WERE RURAL BUT NOW HALF A MILE FROM HEATHROW AIRPORT
WE ARE FULL OF WAREHOUSES OIL TERMINAL

Cool as a mountain stream :-D that brought back some memories.
I remember them because that's what I smoked when I first started as a 15 yr old schoolgirl. No, it wasn't behind the bikesheds but back of the art block, and then each Friday afternoon when we were supposed to be on a cross-country run we used to sit on a stile in the woods and watch the others run by. We never got caught....the PE teacher obviously should've gone to Specsavers! :-D evil old bat that she was :-P

I seem to remember the prices of 10 cigs in about 73/74 Number 10 or sovereign were 9p, number 6 were 10p, consulate and Benson and Hedges,Rothmans were 12p I think?? and Dunhill and St Moritz may have been slightly more (only bought those if you wanted to be flash)

Karen. Wasn't there a cheaper alternative to Consulate? I have Moritz running round in my head (just about to escape through my ears :-( :-()

Trying to remember all those brands in those days. So many - Kensitas, Nelson, Black Cat, Three Castles, Capstan (avoid the brown full strength packets). And we used to sell loose black shag to roll (hope that isn't reported :-D)

When I was a child......
Dad used to smoke Capstan full strength in the beigey /brown packets.

He did change to some filter tipped things later ..Sterling , in a Silver packet or was it something else in a Gold packet ? Not sure ! Think mum smoked the ones in Silver packet..only one or 2 a day , but dad was a heavier smoker ( not so much at home , but at work )

He gave up smoking after a bad chest infection before he was 60. Best thing he could have done, any cold he had still affected his chest , but he walked the dog 3 times a day became healthier generally and almost managed his 91st birthday.
I don't think he'd have had another 30 yrs of life had he continued smoking.

I remember buying coloured cigarettes from a tobacconists shop in Walsall town centre, it is still there today, but does not look anywhere near as glamorous as it did (to me) back in the 60s . They were in a very pretty flat box with a flip top lid, again I seem to have forgotten the brand. Also my friend and I brought cigarette holders, we were about sixteen at the time and thought we very very sophisticated, but probably look looked right pair of nit-wits. :-D

Sobranie....Paula

You can still get them...I googled them, but my mum told me about smoking them in the 50s