Re: Left handed

In message <6muo46-am6.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Sam Nelson <sam@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes
In article <20090123121642.34be1799@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"mkfs.ext4" <alex.buell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:29:08 +0000, I waved a wand and this message
magically appears in front of August West:

> > So it would seem; however I imagine that their succesor nations
> > still drive on the same side of the road as they previously did.
>
> Sweden managed to change side in '67.
> Has any other country tried it?

I've heard a rumour that Scotland might adopt the Euro, so who knows?

At least then the currency we're using here might stand a better chance
of being accepted in England.

Our local Mr Patel, sensible man, won't accept scotch bank notes.

As for England driving on the right, the most important country in the EU drives on the left, as does much of Africa. Getting the bit in the middle to toe the line is the hard bit. England changing over and getting the Channel Islands to change back is a tough one. The English like do everything in stages. Thus England's switch to decimal currency was achieved over many years starting with the florentine or florin around the eighteenth or maybe nineteenth centuries. First half-crowns were phased out, accompanied by three-penny pieces and ha'pennies etc. As sop to a lot of hysterical MPs, treasury allowed the old sixpence to survive but only for a few months. On the so-called D-Day in early 1971 England finally embraced the new two penny piece, the one penny and half penny. The other decimalised coins had been around for some months. There was a massive advertising campaign in the lead-up with the catchy jingle: "Give more, Get change!"

NB: The royal commission actually recommended that all Empire countries used the ten shillings as their base. Most did so. Not the UK, of course. Treasury rightfully refused to allow such nonsense thinking to undermine the mighty pound and insisted to Harold Wilson on three-lines on MPs' order papers to ensure the pound remained.

Getting England to change driving sides is difficult unless some sort of workable system could be cooked up to allow heavy vehicles to continue to drive on the left while all other vehicles could drive on the right.
Personally I favour continuing to drive on the left. It leaves the sword arms of red-blooded Englishman free to give visiting huns and frogs a sound thrashing.

--
James Follett
.

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