Saturday, December 29, 2001
Possibly one of Finland's most popular magazines, Donald Duck (Aku Ankka), will have a special feature €uro issue, the cover of which you will probably be able to view on the site in a couple of days, the next Wednesday at the latest. It will include Scrooge McDuck's Guide to the Euro (in simple Finnish for kids, of course) and a couple of euro-themed stories, one of which revolves around Scrooge changing most of his money over into euros. Very efficient, when you take in consideration that nearly every household in Finland with kids the proper age are a subscriber to the weekly Donald Duck...
Spain's very own euro baggy. 43 coins worth 12.02 euros or 2,000 pesetas.
Friday, December 28, 2001
Some people just can't wait to check out the new euro notes. Thieves broke in through the roof of a bank in the heart of Milan on Wednesday night and helped themselves to its euro supply. This story says they stole half a million, but the final count was closer to two million. There have been a string of such robberies in Italy. All that money lying around is just so tempting.
There seems to be remarkably little euro hype floating around right now, given that there are only three days to go.
Germans who buy crates of beer for their New Year's bashes will be able to return the bottles and get their deposits back in euros. The amounts will be rounded down, of course.
I'm not going to miss the Italian lira notes, but it will be sad to lose France's Little Prince.
Thursday, December 27, 2001
The Catholic Church is worried about the Euro. Here in Ireland, a leaflet entitled You, your parish and the Euro has been handed out in churches. 'Remember that 1 euro is worth less than 79 pence. Can you afford to round up your contribution?' With many parishioners accustomed to putting a one pound coin in the contribution, the churches are worried that after January 1 they will put in a one euro coin instead - with a net loss of more than 20 per cent in value. Instead, parishioners are invited to 'review what you give to your parish'. Similar concerns have been expressed in France, where a shift from a ten franc donation to the one euro coin would mean around 40 per cent less.Amnesiphobia 19:20 GMT
On this site you can have a look on the front and back sides of the euro coins and bills. The back sides look different in each country (but you can pay with coins and bills from other countries, of course - even if they have a different picture). The text on the site is in German though.
(link via blackshirt)
Tuesday, December 25, 2001
When I opened my packets today, most of them containing gift certificates, I noticed just how differently shops were prepaired for the euro. Some certificates were valid until Christmas 2002 and only listed marks, whereas some had to be used before May and were completely in euros. None listed both currencies. Hm, too complicated perhaps?
On the other hand, some cell phone operators have taken advantage of the euros. I switched my operator because another one was offering a deal of "10 € off the price for the whole new year 2002 to celebrate the new currency."
My mother got a Christmas gift related most closely to euros: a leather wallet that was somewhat larger than her previous one. Although her previous wallet was in a perfect shape, she had wished for a new one due to nothing but the euro notes being bigger than the current marks. Neatly tucked inside was a rectangle-shaped piece of paper reading something along the lines of "This is the size of 500 €."
The Brabants Dagblad reports that trucks delivering the supplies of euros have been given special permission from the Ministry of the Interior to ignore a few basic driving laws. As they whizz through the Netherlands bringing in the euros, these trucks will be allowed to use both the bus and break down lanes, to avoid no- parking or waiting zones , and if caught in traffic to flash their lights on and off , letting nothing hinder or delay the delivery of their cargo of euros.
Monday, December 24, 2001
Market booms for new wallets in Finland due to the euro notes being larger than Finnish notes.