20 east

Don’cha just love exchange rates! I’ve seen the Złote get close to or above 7 to the GBP twice, in 2000 and in 2004. That means in those years something costing 14 quid required me to part with one of these:

Contrast this with today when I exchanged some money ready for a trip to the UK between Xmas and New year. For each 100 PLN note I gave the “Kantor” (bureau de change) he didn’t give me 14 quid, he gave me a crisp 20 pound note instead. The rate today selling GBP at 4.99 and that’s obviously including the Kantor’s profit, so not the best rate I could get by shopping around no doubt.

Look at it another way (because it makes me smile), comparing the worst rate to the best, that’s over 40% increase in my equivalent in GBP salary by just sitting here. Of course, when almost all your costs are in PLN anyway it doesn’t really help a great deal, but it’s a nice thought.

With this exchange rate, massive sales in the UK and the fact that, for the most part, clothes were already good value in the UK compared to (good quality) Warsaw shops – we’ve decided that all those new coats we need to buy are going to be far better bought in the UK than here.

I’m sure 99% of UK citizens would think the opposite – Poland must be far cheaper than the UK. Little do they know.

Simply, get a tattoo on your penis and then complain when a doctor takes a picture of it! Go on “Hot Rod”, you know you’re dying to get one yourself! Only in America?

Reminds me of that joke about the lady who reads such a tattoo and says “HMS? So you were in the navy then?”, to which the man replies “Try a little harder and you’ll see I was born in Hammersmith!” Boom Boom!