Coining it in
Today is a momentous day in Irish history.
It's such a big day that I doubt that the vast majority are even aware of it.
They are officially getting rid of 1 and 2 Cent coins.
Big fucking deal.
I was brought up in the good old Pounds Shillings and Pence days, or to put it another way, the days when LSD wasn't an illegal drug and STD was a long distance phone call and not something you caught off the hairdresser's assistant.
I grant that the pounds shilling and pence was a bit heavy on the old mental calculation, as any mathematics invariably involved a scrap of paper and a pencil stub. But the one thing about the currency was that you knew exactly where you stood when it came to coinage. There was no mistaking a half crown from a penny, and the sixpence could never be confused with a florin. They were big and they were proud [except for the thrupenny bit which was small and proud].
Then decimalisation came in.
Not only did decimalisation come in but they did away with the ten bob note and also introduced a pound coin. I was surprised at how quickly people got used to the new coinage and not only did we have fewer coins to contend with but the maths was a bit simpler. Needless to say most shops neatly rounded up their prices during the changeover.
Then they introduced the euro.
I hated that currency from the day I first saw it. It has been around now for over thirteen years and I still can't get the hang of those fucking coins. I have to flick each and every coin over to see whether its a 10 or a 2 or a 5. All the coins are similar and the only two that are easily distinguishable are the €1 and €2 coins and they are very similar to each other. Needless to say most shops neatly rounded up their prices during the changeover.
On top of that I hate the fucking name. Yooorow! Fucking hell! Not only is it a shite name but it was chosen to deliberately ram down our throats that we were all now part of the ghastly European Nightmare. I still call it the Quid as do most people I know.
So now they are getting rid of the 1c and 2c coins. They were fucking useless anyway except for giving as tips so I won't be sorry to see them go. I'll have fewer coins to flick over when I'm paying for something.
Needless to say most shops will probably round up their prices but I'm getting used to that.
What I would really like is a good old shot of LSD.
Drill a hole through the middle of small coins and they can be used as washers by mechanics and DIY hobbyists.
That is a damn good idea! I'll start collecting 'em over the coming weeks. They make very handy emergency screwdrivers too.
Punts, mate, notes with celtic dragon tattoos, coins with salmon and hares.And harps, Ireland the only country that was designated by a musicali nstrument. That was back in the day when Ireland still existed, you could smoke in Heeber Finn's pub and say what you wanted, play darts and listen to music which sprang forth without the seeming necessity of a Minister of Culture. Every Euro in your pocket is a reminder that you were betrayed, Lisbon treaty and NO vote thrown aside as your wealth went offshore to the Fourth Reich. It's nearly 100 years since the uprising and all we march for today is gay marriage, freedom forgotten in preference to mincing down the aisle. How have the legendary huge balls of Irishmen shrivelled in a century, the blink of an eye? Someone's at their work, and damned good at it too.
I'm not Irish, but well said, Richard. I'm with you all the way there mate.
I'm sick to the back teeth with all this 'oh so progressive' bullshit where we're supposed to applaud and fawn over some moron who's decided he doesn't want to be a man anymore; where we're supposed to be 'oh so respectful' of people's disdain for tobacco smoke (fuck 'em, I say); where we're supposed to all be 'Europeans' now, with no patriotism to our home country.
Not that I have a problem with people who are gay, or non-smokers, and I love Europe (I'm an expat living in Greece, where they mostly think like I do, fortuitously).
But when people tell me how I should think, then the red mist descends. And the Euro is a part and parcel of that process of homogenisation, the attempt to get several tens of millions of square pegs to fit into round holes. So although I'm appalled at what my country has become, I am proud to be an an Englishman, and shall remain such, regardless of the wormtongue whisperings of the PC apologists. Fuck 'em.
Sadly I have to agree with every word too. The Ireland of thirty or forty years ago was a completely different place. Damnit but I get depressed even thinking about it. The greatest joke of the lot is the fuss over next year's so called celebration of 100 years of independence. After centuries of struggle we finally achieved it only to hand it back on a silver platter [no doubt fashioned from 40 pieces of silver].
Thanks for reminding us of the fine animal and fish designs on the Irish coins between 1928 and 1967, Richard. Here is a coin hobby company site that lists and carries illustrations of those long-gone pieces of art.
http://www.irishcoinage.com/MODCAT.HTM
As soon as they can governments will outlaw cash as electronic transactions are easier to trace.
I'm sending off my preliminary tax return today, wonder if I could get a couple pf grand in copper coins and give to the bloodsuckers?
Sadly, this is just another scam in my view as almost everything on the shop shelves ends (or used to before the sudden rounding by retailers) in 99 cents. A shopping trolley with thirty items will now cost 30 cent more and multiply that by 52 for every week of the year and it begins to add up.
them euro coins were never invented with badly lit pubs oap's and referees in mind