Time and distance

Do these things really exist or are they creations of humanity to measure the world and divide it into managable portions?
Or, to put it another way...tomorrow I'm driving home to see mum and dad on the way to a two week stint at Newquay international airport. Or, to give it the proper name, RAF St Mawgan. Mum and dad live just over 500 miles away (509), which would have seemed like an impossible distance to travel a couple of years ago. My closest friends live 180 miles away, which would have been unbelievable not too long ago itself. Now it's just a number, you take account of the time it takes, add it to your travel plans and bosh, there's your new plan.
There's a saying that the Americans consider 100 years a long time and the Brits consider 100 miles a long distance, which is true to an extent. Both can be long, for example I'd like to be re-reading this in a 100 years, but not if I have to live those hundred years crawling on my stomach over broken glass; I'll visit friends that are 100 miles away quite happily but not if I have to travel those 100 miles hopping backwards while singing Take That songs (which I consider worse than crawling over broken glass).
The guys here at work (the throttle jockeys that is) wouldn't consider 100 miles that far, but then they can travel 100 miles in about 10 minutes, which makes my little car seem a little under powered. 'Course my car doesn't have afterburner but then their jets don't have a stereo.

On the latin note, the BBC have a great list of "handy latin phrses."