london 8.17am 16.3C overcast tuesday 2017
Digital StillCamera
Digital StillCamera
first time i am able to get the new £10 plastic note since its issue on 14th sept. it is smaller than the old paper one. and not easy to fold. one thing about the money, the style changes but the portrait of the queen remains constantly there. that does not change and it is quite a nice thing, one thing that remains fixed in all the changes that move around it. i dont know about u, but i find that comforting… strange isn’t it?
perhaps that is what the institution of monarchy is for. to remain a fixed point that all can relate history and everything else that happens in a fast ever changing world.
hope the new note will put a pause to the forgeries.
i just got some change in old £ coins and i can see how degraded it has become. i bet there are more £1 coin forgeries than they tell us. the shops are still giving us those old coins as change. it will be invalid on 15oct 2017. i must remember not to accept any old coins after that date. no one bothers to check if it i s genuine or not. i guess because it would be chaos to the system if shops start refusing to accept your old £1 coin. i wonder when the shops return the old £1 coin to the bank, will the bank sort out the forgeries and refuse to honor those? maybe not, otherwise the shops will not hand them in but carry on giving it as change as they will lose. i think it is possible that forgers are putting out more of the old coins since the new ones came into circulation, just to get rid of them, and since no one is checking, it can be used. i bet the authorities will be glad when 15 oct comes round, than they can refuse to accept all old coins.
added. 4.33pm 20.8C sunny . here is something i did not know. scotland has issued its own plastic £10 notes, it seems there are 8 banks there which can issue their own notes. all this duplication is not very efficient, really. i dont think i want to accept scottish notes frankly. we dont get them here in london. at least in all the time i lived here, i can only remember once receiving a scottish note. i quickly spent it just to get rid of it. haha. i know scots will most probably scold me for being such a prejudiced git. haha.
alifesgayventure 
Plastic money? Doesn’t sound like a very good symbol of solid value, although the Queen’s portrait helps. And for everyone around the world who keeps a few old pound coins in a wallet for their next trip, I guess we may as well throw them away?
haha, its actually polymer, but we all call it plastic. used to be calling anything plastic was derogatory, but not nowadays. you can still change old £1 coins at the bank, after 15oct. though they are not obliged to. if they dont you can go to the bank of england personally to change it. they will always accept it. it is to stop someone going in with say £100 worth of £1 coins that would be suspicious. haha. but i have still many old coins from the old european currencies that i dont bother to redeem ,(in fact i have their paper notes too all worthless now) and they are lying around the flat. somehow we dont expect to redeem foreign coins, really. i dont think bureau de change accept coins.