GOING THE EXTRA MILE

JONATHAN IRWIN,

Madam, - I am confused. In the recent controversy over the speed limit there was much talk of "a mile per hour". What exactly is a mile? Perhaps a close relation of a rod and a pole, a perch, a chain or a rood? Perhaps an elderly friend of the guinea or the sovereign?

I thought I lived in a country where the roads are marked in kilometres, and certainly my car's speedometer is so designated.

So why this talk of a "mile"? - Yours, etc.,

JONATHAN IRWIN,

Ballitore,

Co Kildare.