Think metric!

The only way we as a nation will get used to the metric system is to use it and think in it. When you write out your shopping list use litres and kilograms instead of pints and pounds. When you fill up your car think about litres... don't try to think about how many gallons you've just put in. When you redecorate use the metric side of the tape measure... don't measure in feet and inches and struggle when you get to the DIY store because you have to convert in your head!

If you are confronted with traders using non-metric units, make a point of asking them for prices in metric. In most cases they are legally obliged to do so and if they don't report them to your local Trading Standards office (and don't let them fob you off!!!). If you are looking for a new house ask the estate agent to give you details in metres not feet.

Encourage your children to think metric too. If they talk in inches or pounds, tell them to use centimetres and kilograms. Use them yourself in everyday life too, when discussing your weight or height use kg and metres not stones and feet. If you have digital bathroom scales look underneath and switch them to metric, do the same in the kitchen. If you regularly travel abroad and you need to replace things such as measuring jugs and tape measures consider buying them while on holiday so that they don't have imperial markings on them!

Although it's hard to do so, try and think metric when you drive. All weight limit signs should be in tonnes so remember that's 1000kg... or the weight of 1000 litres of water. 1 yard is near enough to 1 metre to not make much difference (and temporary signs such as road works are generally placed at 100m distances anyway!) so for yards think metres. Look at your car's dimensions in the owner's handbook. Know how wide, long and high your car is. These are probably in milimetres and remember an height of 1684mm is 1.684m (divide by 1000!) so if the sign says "Max height 1.8m" then you know your car will fit. When on the motorway look at the short white posts every so often along the hard shoulder... each one of those is exactly 100m apart so 10 of them is 1000m or 1km.

Badger your elected officials!

Write to your MP. Tell him that you are frustrated by the mixture of units. Tell him that you are fed up of paying for schools to teach children a subject which is being largely wasted. If there is an election coming up ask the doorstep canvaser what their policy is on metrication. If they haven't got one suggest that they do!

Think about what you see in the press and on TV

Next time you see a headline that says something like "Brussels to ban our feet and inches" think about what you're reading. Write to the letters page and complain about misleading stories. When you hear somebody on TV or radio using imperial units email or write to them, ask them to use metric.

Don't be afraid to ask!

Quite simply, if somebody uses imperial units for any reason ask them what it is in metric. If somebody says "It feels like it's 100 degrees today" don't be afraid to challenge it (100 degrees in metric would boil water!). If you read in the paper that something is 30 feet long, write and tell them if you don't know how far that is. If a shop tries to sell you something or a product is advertised in imperial units, tell the retailer - write to them or comment on their website.

The UK is a metric country. Those of us who want to use metric should have the right to do so. We should not have to convert!