English money

[M Holmes]

kprocter at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK writes:
>
> > So there is Scotish currency?

>  Not Scottish currency, so much as Scottish versions of the
> banknotes.

Not exactly true.  Three banks in Scotland still have the right to issue
private currency.  Legally it must be reserved 100% at a one to one
exchange rate with English currency.

Very occasionally some ignorant sassenach will refuse to accept Scottish
notes (especially the Pound notes). The best way to respond to this is
simply to leave them holding the pint/grub/whatever. Once in Liverpool
I'd had a haircut and the guy refused to take a Scottish 10 Pound note.
I refused to pay in anything else and invited him to put my hair back.
He inspected the note and asked who the guy on it was anyway. "Robert
the Bruce" I told him. "What did he do for a living?" he asked. "Killed
Englishmen" I replied, and he took the note.

More fun was had in Wales though. At a bar in the middle of nowhere I
paid for a couple of drinks with Pound notes. In England and Wales they
only have Pound coins now. The barman took 'em and decided to get shot
of them in change to the next customer.

Later he came up and asked if we had any more. Seems that the cstomers
who got 'em figured they wouldn't be acceptable anywhere else and would
get another round just to hand them back to the barman. Since he was
mostly dealing in passing trade, they were doubling his take.

FoFP