Good story Bill. Keep up the good work.
Sorry to point out the obvious, but half a dozen yards would not be 6 meters - let me see - gas meter, power meter, water meter....
I know the USA rebels against going metric, even tho the U.S. Senate passed the metric bill a great many years ago, but most if not all English-speaking countries have converted to metric, and this includes most of the Pacific region as well.
There was great controversy here in Australia when our currency changed from pounds-shillings-pence-halfpennies, but it was eventually agreed to use the name of our first currency which happened to be Spanish Daldars, which also happened to be pronounced dollars $$.!!
Changing to metric measurements was dead easy, and as I worked in a medical school laboratory, I'd been working in metric for a few years.
On the subject of languages, have you noticed that any English word spelled with a "U" in it causes problems? e.g. "QUEUE", (US= line) "HE WROTE OUT A CHEQUE" (Check).
For some reason, the word 'tick' gets changed to 'check'.
All the best, Bill, keep up the good work.
Goodnight,
Adrian