Pound slumps, again!

[SteveHall]

Not true re Carrefour - each hypermarket can set their own prices. Elche (99% Spanish) is considerably cheaper than Torrevieja (52% expat) for identical and branded produce.

(I have a friend whose wife works in the accounts - he was chuckling about dumb foreigners. I reminded him that these dumb guiris keep his wife in the lifestyle she likes to be accustomed to 15- all.)

[Suenneil]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

Not true re Carrefour - each hypermarket can set their own prices. Elche (99% Spanish) is considerably cheaper than Torrevieja (52% expat) for identical and branded produce.

(I have a friend whose wife works in the accounts - he was chuckling about dumb foreigners. I reminded him that these dumb guiris keep his wife in the lifestyle she likes to be accustomed to 15- all.)

Well I dont use Carrefour anyway - because its like the Waitrose of Spanish supermarkets, whereas Mercadona is more on a par with Asda! lol ..... Sue

[jojo]

Originally Posted by Suenneil

Well I dont use Carrefour anyway - because its like the Waitrose of Spanish supermarkets, whereas Mercadona is more on a par with Asda! lol ..... Sue

I use Carrefour occasionally and some things are cheaper than Mercadona and other things are dearer "swings and roundabouts" (altho Carrefour have started doing some good deals on things BOGOFs etc) I cant deal with Lidls aldis etc, they're so untidy, dirty and disorganised and never seem to have what I want or seem to be that cheap! I also go to Iceland for LENOR fabric conditioner!

Mercadona is my regular tho, in fact I think I can feel a trip there coming on!!

Jo xxx

[jojo]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

OMG - yet again we agree! After years of thinking 3 for 2 (3 euros=2 GBP) I'm thinking 1 for 1 now.

Just quoted on a UK job (to be paid in GBP) and I worked my proposal out on 1 for 1 "...and anything extra is a bonus"

As I expect them to ***** for a 10% discount for some vacuous reason I guess I will get "parity"

Frightening, frightening, Jojo

You just have to forget how it used to be, forget that spain used to be cheap, forget that the UK was once a leading force in world economy and accept that the UK is fast becoming the poor relation of Europe. I guess eventually it will adopt the euro and prices will be the same across europe. The one good thing is that Mervyn will hopefully be forced into an early retirement and will be shown for the incompetant twit that he is!!

Jo xx

[Joppa]

Originally Posted by jojo

The one good thing is that Mervyn will hopefully be forced into an early retirement and will be shown for the incompetant twit that he is!!
Jo xx

Can't see him surviving a likely change of government next year! If you are in government, you want a central banker who talks UP the economy, not flushing the family silver down the pan.

[SteveHall]

Norway's quasi-socialist government were returned last night for another 4 years. So four more years outside the euro for them with low inflation, low unemployment and lots of lovely black gold.

Sweden go to the polls next year but it looks set for another anti-euro government.

Denmark?Who knows? They don't!

The real question is - would the Eurozone let the UK in with the pound struggling as it and at what rate would they be allowed in at? (It's embarassing that this is the same questions being asked about bankrupt Iceland!!)

[Suenneil]

Slightly off topic! well actually very off topic! but I was just looking for camparisons to other EU countries which were related to this thread and came across this on Yahoo News .... maybe Bulgaria has the answer to all lifes ills! just feed everyone for behaving themselves!

We could start getting Tapas for no double parking, churros for genuine use of the car horn, and a small cerveza for turning up at any government building with the correct paperwork!!!!

Sue

Courtesy and patience can earn drivers a free lunch on the streets of Bulgaria's capital Sofia in September, as part of a new police road safety drive.

Bulgarian police hope their compatriots love of salami can help reduce the number of road accidents.

The Sofia road police and a salami factory announced Tuesday that they will start offering free salami this month to drivers who give right of way to pedestrians at marked street crossings.

The initiative is part of a series of measures launched on the first day of the new school year Tuesday to prevent accidents with children and boost pedestrians' safety in the capital.

Drivers in the capital rarely give way to pedestrians even at designated crossing points.

Meanwhile, over half of the victims of road accidents in Sofia are pedestrians, many of them school children, police statistics show.

[SteveHall]

Originally Posted by Suenneil

We could start getting Tapas for no double parking, churros for genuine use of the car horn, and a small cerveza for turning up at any government building with the correct paperwork!!!!

Will we get double rations if they can actually CONFIRM what paperwork they want? Perhaps if they had to feed us food rather than the usual xxxx some departments would get their acts together.

I somehow doubt it but dreaming is still free of charge on Tuesdays .... unless they decide to tax it to pay for the mayor's new swimming pool.

[Joppa]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

The real question is - would the Eurozone let the UK in with the pound struggling as it and at what rate would they be allowed in at? (It's embarassing that this is the same questions being asked about bankrupt Iceland!!)

No chance for the foreseeable future, as UK won't satisfy Maastricht Treaty's convergence criteria for monetary union because of massive government deficit. Both annual government deficit to GDP (3% vs 5.5%) and gross government debt to GDP (60% vs 100%) are running at nearly double the reference levels set by Maastricht. All three Nordic countries cited lie comfortably below those levels. UK figures lie somewhere between Hungary and Iceland!

[SteveHall]

Interesting "club" - those who want in, don't fulfil the qualifications and those who would be welcomed with open arms don't want in.

(One day DenmarK will decide what it wants!)