In uk.d-i-y, PoP wrote:

BTW, I thought metrication had taken over big time these days? Why are
flourescent lights described in feet then?

Describe 'em how you want: call the 5ft length 150cm if you're being
usefully descriptive, or 2.54 * 60 = 152.4 if you're being inappropriately
exact (like those recipes which tell you to take '56g of butter' when it
meant 'about 2 oz'. But, unusually, I digress ;-). Not even the Society
for Mass Metrication is going to suggest changing the physical dimensions
of existing flourescent tube fittings, meaning people having to keep twice
as many tubes in stock and fitting too-loose/too-tight or otherwise
marginally incompatible tubes into fittings made 20 and more years ago!