If gold is so great.. why are we not using it?

Inflation is officially running at 5.22% in the UK. If you are on a low income it is running even faster because food and energy are increasing at about 18%.
The only thing increasing faster is gold- so why are we not using it as a currency? If we were we would find life gets cheaper every year rather than more expensive. This is not a political decision. We can do this amongst ourselves if we choose without asking anyone.
How would this work? A group of friends or business associates would simply agree to use gold coins in place of cash. They would physically exchange the coins and this would remove all worries about credit or bouncing cheques. Obtaining a credit reference would be as easy as asking to see the contents of a persons pockets.
So why is this not happening? I think it is a case of bad money driving out good. Gold bugs simply love their gold too much to spend it and everyone else cannot understand it. Maybe this will change one day.