I really should have mentioned something about this, seeing as it’s a signifigant occurance, but I’m just a tad non-plussed about the euro. Sure, we’ve got funky new banknotes and coins, and everything seems more expensive than before (even though it also seems that we’re making more money), but it doesn’t feel like that much of a deal to me. It’s just money after all, does it really matter what it’s called or what it looks like?

In fact, the only problem I have with it is that some of the coins are quite small compared to what we had before (the one cent coin is like an old French centime piece, not a sturdy, robust coin like the penny), and the five cent coin is copper when it should be silver, or gold, or whatever, but not copper.

And another thing is the dual pricing mechanism that will remain in place for another four weeks. I keep noticing the punt price first. If only the euro price was displayed, I wouldn’t be so confused. It’d help me adjust to the value of things more smoothly.

Other than that, it’s grand. It’s not like I was attached to the punt. In fact, all my punt currency is gone now. And we’ve only had the euro since Tuesday.

It is interesting to see other, fellow Europeans’ reactions though. The Euro is something completely different for most of them, especially the Italians (who seem to be absent from this piece).

Here’s another link on the topic. (You’ll need Flash for this one.)

Sat 05 Jan 2002 at 20:40   ·