Picoleur

Many years ago, possibly thirty years ago, I bought someone a bottle of sherry for Christmas, or some such occasion. I went to the trouble of soaking off the label provided and gluing on a copy of the label that can be seen above instead. Rather feeble humour, but it amused me at the time.

The cardboard container was a piggy bank which had been given to me at about the same time and which I used to keep all the change that I acquired in my travels around town. Change which was sometimes cashed in, sometimes converted into more or less messy and elaborate presents for children and grandchildren.

However, with the coming of the plague and the passing of most of the coin of the realm out of circulation, this does not really fly any more, and yesterday I suddenly decided that it was time to retire it. Possibly prompted, at least in part, by having found out that NatWest, unlike HSBC, still have coin eating machines in their branch at Epsom.

So yesterday, I transferred the coin to a bag and presented myself and my brother-in-law's debit card at NatWest. And with the aid of an attendant, I managed to feed nearly all my coin into a machine and credit slightly more than £100 to brother-in-law's account. I might say that the machine was rather faster than both the HSBC one which I once used in Cheapside and the Sainsbury's one which I used to use occasionally at Kiln Lane. This last being rather irritating on account of the size of the the fee deducted by Sainsbury's. While reference 1 reminds me this afternoon of the Metro Bank option which I had forgotten about.

The small amount of reject coin went into the (near empty) collecting tin at the nearby Heart Research charity shop. Oxfam seemed to have moved on, with no such tin being visible.

NatWest also had a machine which just gave you a chitty to take to the counter, rather than crediting your account, but that one was out of order.

With the result that, as things stand, I may have some explaining to do come report time with the Office of the Public Guardian, aka the Court of Protection.

In the margins, I learn that 'picoleur' is not a word known to Littré, although it is known to at least some of the translation aids available on the Internet. As I understand it, more or less equivalent to 'boozer', usually derogatory as in 'he's a bit of a boozer'. Not a word that I have come across recently either as it happens. Don't think it is in Simenon's repertoire.

Also that the bottom of the cardboard container, a bit of thin steel plate, was much more firmly attached to the cardboard above than one might have thought likely or possible. It resisted being bashed out with a quite substantial bit of timber - and in the end I had to cut it off. Cardboard now in its recycling bin, steel plate now in its recycling bucket.

PS: just been reading about China's claim to most of the massive stretch of water known as the South China Sea, that is to say what is enclosed by the green dashed line in the right hand map, variously known as the nine dash line, the ten dash line and the eleven dash line. Very depressing that such a big and powerful country feels the need for such aggression towards its southern neighbours. Why on earth can't they just back off and let everyone get on with their lives? Why can't they share a bit? Why on earth do they see these southern neighbours as a threat? In much the same league as another big and powerful country rather nearer to home. In this case it is all complicated by China and Taiwan fighting shoulder to shoulder on this one. To think that the Taiwanese are looking to us in the west to bale them out should push come to shove. Read all about it at reference 2.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/05/piggy-bank-machine.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line.