Stranger than Fiction

Sometimes the truth is less believable than lies. Here's one of those examples that proves the point…. Based on the, then pending, EC legislation concerning the use of metric-only measures in trade, our office jape for April Fool's Day 1999 centered on the (mythical) outlawing of any item capable of being used to measure in Imperial (English) units. Folk were encouraged to deposit six and twelve inch rulers in a special recycling bin after being warned that the company feared punitive fines for even possessing them !

Implementation of the law on January 1st, 2000 has produced a number of outraged articles in the British press as so-called metric martyrs vow to defy "Europe's attack on our cultural heritage", as the British Weights & Measures Association have asserted. The following appeared in The Mirror newspaper on 24th March 2000....

Scales of Injustice

Butcher Keane Fletcher could be prosecuted for displaying his grandfather's old weighing scales. Under EU law Keane is banned from having the imperial measure scales on show, even though he uses metric. But after customers voted in favor, he has decided to defy the law.
Keane, 36, of Rotherham, South Yorks, said: "The scales are part of the shop and were handed down to me."
Trading Standards Officer David Palmer said: "It is an offense for a shopkeeper to have them in his possession."

So, be warned if you've still got one of those rulers in your drawer!