When we were first setting up this blog I was hoping to find an app for the sidebar where you could easily convert metric measurements into those more commonly used in the UK and US. Since that hasn’t shown up yet, there’s a chart below where you’ll find some shortcuts. It’s what we use when we’re on the continent to figure out a more familiar amount. To make it easy, though, here are the four that I’ll mention the most:

• Euro to Dollar: don’t bother (see why below)
• Kilometer to Miles: just halve the km
• Kilograms to Pounds: just double the kg
• Degrees C to F: double the degrees C and add 30

These are not exact but will give you a general idea without having to consult your smart phone.

I didn’t include a conversion for euros to dollars for a few reasons. It changes daily; currently you can easily add 10 percent and get the dollar amount; and lastly, why bother? That third point is something we learned long ago while on overseas vacations: just pretend the price you see is dollars and make the decision about whether to buy something or not based on that number. That works fine for a two-week vacation but we’ll have to see if living in the euro zone makes a difference.

Do you have a favorite way of remembering a conversion from metric to English? If so, please share.