Thoughts:
- British coins and currency are strange. The bills (notes) are of different sizes. The 20-pound note is not quite as long as an American bill but is considerably taller. The five-pound note (to take just one of the others) is slightly taller than an American bill but considerably less long. Here in Scotland, British pounds are legal tender, but so are various Scottish notes. Someone told me that three Scottish banks are allowed to print currency. To an American, it all seems irregular, but the Scottish people seem to have no trouble with it. As for coinage, I've seen the following coins so far: two pounds (a bit larger and thicker than a quarter); one pound (the size of a penny, but much thicker and therefore heavier); 50 pence (the size and thickness of a quarter, but with seven sides); 20 pence (larger than a dime but smaller than a penny, with seven sides); 10 pence (slightly larger and about the same thickness as a nickel); five pence (smaller and a bit thicker than a dime); two pence (the size and thickness of an American quarter); and one penny (the size and thickness of an American penny). The one-penny and two-pence coins are copper in color; the rest, with one exception, are silver colored. The exception is the two-pound coin, which is silver in the middle and gold around the edge, like a doughnut with a large hole. I've enjoyed collecting and examining British coins and currency.
- We're in Inverness as I write this. It's 9:18 AM. According to the Weather Channel on my iPhone, it's 51º and mostly cloudy. Sunrise is 4:30 and sunset 10:00, which makes for 17.5 hours of daylight and 6.5 hours of darkness
More later.
