I'm of an age whereby I remember virtually every school excercise book had a list of measurements and multiplication tables on the back cover. Over the course of time we learnt these off by heart, so, if anyone asked you to multiply two numbers up to 12 x 12 you knew the answer straightaway without having to work it out. My first job in the mid 60's was dealing with salesmens' figeres along with their wages and income tax calculations. We wqere not allowed to use an adding machine, it had to be done in our heads, the results being checked by a comptometer operator. Anyone remember them? My next job was as a london bus conductor, taking fares and giving change in good old £sd. Then the dumbing down process started, and we changed to metric currency, and we got totally ripped off. Did anyone notice how quickly a 6d Mars bar suddenly became 6p? Considering metric calculations were just a case of moving the decimal point a few places, all of a sudden we needed a calculator to work it out for us. In my early married life, my wife worked evenings behind the bar in a pub, when a person ordered a round of drinks, she was expected to total up the cost in her head, and give the correct change at the end. If she was caught writing it down, she would have got the sack as being unsuitable. Now look what happens in a present shop or bar, the sales assistant has to enter each item onto a keypad, the till then tells you the total cost, and how much change to give. Metric is for numpties. Just for fun, ask someone to quickly give the answer to 7 x 9 and watch their faces, usually mental overload. Stay safe everyone, and as it's Friday, this evening I will quaff an enjoyable one and a half pints before dinner, (or 2 x 440ml tinnies for the young folk!)
