2nd September 2008

I see in the news that the UK Chancellor has disclosed that the government's fiscal situation is even more dire than people thought. In contrast, on the French news M. Sarkozy looks his usual urbane sense, exuding and gushing that sort of charm only previously seen in old American movies. However, when I talk to the French locals in la place des halles, they paint an entirely different picture. 'Ah,' they say. 'M. Sarkozy - he says lots of things, but does he actually do any of them?' nodding sagely. It all sounds very familiar to me. Didn't we all say that about Tony Blair? I wonder if M. Sarkozy has his very own Alistair Campbell doing the spinning for him? We'll have to wait and see. All I know is that every month the euros that appear in our French bank account from the UK pension seem smaller and smaller (not in size, but in total!). I open my purse to have a look at the situation and the usual motley collection of coins fall out. The brass-coloured ones are 1, 2 and 5 centime coins, whilst the 10, 20 and 50 centimes are copper. The 1-euro coin is silver-coloured in the centre with a brass rim, and the 2-euro coin has a brass centre and silver rim. The side showing the value is the same in all euro-zone countries, but the other side is different in each country. You can always tell an English person when they start to mention the money over here by how they pronounce the word. 'Yooros', they say. But the French pronounce the word something like 'Err Os'. 'Ah' said him indoors, 'that's appropriate.' What now? 'The French certainly know a thing or two,' he continued. 'Why?' 'Well, they know that the primary reason why everyone's short of cash is because of 'er indoors........'er owes!!'
Grr.