Beer was Re: Anyone drinking at the moment?

[Andy Wardley]

Abigail wrote:
> That brings up an image of a civil servant stamping glasses. And once a
> month, a moves for a week from Brussles to Strassbourgh.

20 or so years ago there was a UK Weight and Measures Authority near
where I lived in Kingston.  Although I never did it myself, a number of
my school mates had holiday jobs there checking and approving (or rejecting)
pint glasses.  It was all done by hand, one glass at a time.  I find it hard
to imagine that they would still doing it by hand, if indeed they are.  But
then again, I found it hard to believe that they were doing it by hand back
then and the UK civil service moves anything but fast.  So it wouldn't
surprise me.

A few years later the landlord of a local pub told me how much he had to
pay for officially stamped glasses (which, of course, you have to have).
I forget the figure, but it was more than a quid if memory serves, and that
was in olden days money where a pint cost about the same or even less.
Whatever the figure, it was ridiculously expensive all because they had to
pay someone to check and stamp every single glass by hand.

A shiny example of British inefficiency at its best.

A