Yesterday the cash machines in my neighbourhood were out of order. Yesterday I had only about 3.80 euro from the starter kit and a last 5 guilder coin in my pocket. This morning I was able to get euros out of a machine at last. Today I made my last payment in guilders when I bought a newspaper with the 5 guilder coin and got back a little bit more than 1 euro. In the canteen I made my first payment in euros. Payments go a bit slow but that will pass, as those behind the till have to get used to it too. I have found out that sometimes, by no means all the time, I have to convert back to guilders. The problem is that I must not spend more money than I did before. It is easy to walk into the trap of spending euros as if they were guilders and I want to avoid that. 2.20 guilders make 1 euro. So, where something is critical I convert back. But I will stop doing that as soon as possible. It is easier to leave old measuring units behind than old money. It is never necessary, for instance, to convert kilowatts to horsepower and I never did that. Yesterday some people would go to a small shop or gas station and buy a small item with a 100 guilder note. The shopkeepers were not amused. They did not want to act as exchange offices. Some of them flatly refused to accept these notes and give euros back. I saw on TV how a member of the UKIP was burning a 10 euro note. In Austria all cash machines crashed today because of overload. But the problem seems to have been solved now. French bank personnel went on strike today; they knew very well how to choose the day!
Han
