Exchanges

The abroad money arrived today. I don't know how it can be real money because it doesn't even have the Queen's head on it but I suppose it'll have to do. It's nice that it has the Greek stuff as a reminder of where the European banks are sinking their reserves.

Of course the key thing is to calculate the exchange rate so here goes.

First we have to convert from foreign to UK; 1 litre is 1.76 pints and a pint of beer is about £3.50

£3.50 x 1.76 = £6.16/litre of beer in the UK (I've been a bit liberal here - everyone knows that the beer in Manchester is better and cheaper than here in Kent but I know I'm working for an international audience)

In Bavaria a litre of (often better) beer ranges from 6 - 8 units of abroad money (Source; George who has been assiduously researching this on my behalf; Ottobeuren prices and The Hofbraeuhouse in Munich - check out the first one, it's wonderful and I'd happily visit to check out their homebrew). Let's call it 7 abroad money.

One of Her Britannic Majesty's  pounds sterling will currently buy 1.30 units of abroad money (actually slightly more but I don't want the maths to get too confusing). Therefore 1 litre of beer in Germany costs about a fiver. 

From this we can see that for every litre of beer drunk in Bavaria we save over a quid. I don't know about you but in these austere times I think that saving a few bob is a good plan so I intend to shift as many litres as possible while away as I'll be saving money - you know it makes sense! 

I'll try to get some more money-saving tips for you soon amigos because I love you all (but the dodgy looking bloke at the back is beginning to worry me).

In other news; 3 long phone calls this evening and each lovely in their own way. It's always special catching up with George. We chat about today stuff but also things we did while working together more than 25 years ago. Dancing on the tables at a work's conference in Preston and, later, days and nights in Bavaria where we sampled the culture fully; Kloster Andechs and the Forschungsbrauerei were discussed this evening. We went to Andechs, a monastery, on Corpus Christi to demonstrate our piety and "forshungs" means research so we were engaged in scientific enquiry. Neither of us remember how we got home from Andechs and George had forgotten the malt liqueur chasers at the Forshungsbrauerei but we're both getting old.

George blew me away when he used a photo of me for his 1,000th blip - that's a photo of a younger and less frazzled me