We gave them an inch and they took the mile
From 2005 this unit of length or distance will cease to be a legal measurement on our territory.
In mathematical terms the noble mile will equal zero thanks to our far-thinking MEPs.
In 1980 Ireland embraced the opportunity to ban the mile while our neighbours in Britain were a little more cautious and did not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Thanks to the Department of Transport, Trade and Employment the good old mile that served Europe for two millennia is to be buried for all time and never again seen on fingerposts. What a pity. Will this make our roads much safer or more interesting?
Luckily, we have milestones scattered around the countryside. In Cork the one at the Western Star is well known.
The milestone tells us a lot about local and regional history and geography. Local authorities should be obliged to maintain these artefacts.
Miles are part of our language and ought to be allowed to die a natural death - not guillotined by Brussels with the collaboration of our politicians.
The kilometre will never have the same place in our language as the humble mile... to ‘give an inch and take a mile’ and to ‘walk for miles and miles’ don’t translate too well into metric.
We’ll have to wait and see what Seamus Brennan’s metric changeover board will say about this.
What a shame to see the end of the ornate cast-iron fingerposts giving the distance in miles, and parts of a mile, in the old Irish script with placenames in Irish. And all of this will be replaced with bland sheet aluminium coated with a reflective surface.
It would be nice indeed to see some of the old signs remain in their localities as part of the local heritage rather than have them melted down.
Tomas Ó Scannláin
18 Woodbrook Road
Bishopstown
Cork
