A pound sterling by any other name

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When is a pound sterling not a pound sterling? When you're in London, England, and the currency in your hand was printed by the Bank of Scotland -- apparently.

The clerk looked at the purple bill so queerly and asked, "What is that?"

 

I'd gone down from Edinburgh for an appointment and, with some time to kill, popped into a second-hand shop. Wasn't terribly tempted to buy anything - like I needed to buy anything! - but I found a thin book by Camus and a canvas money belt. When I went to pay for them I apologized for not having anything smaller than a twenty pound note. The clerk looked at the purple bill so queerly and asked, "What is that? Sorry, we only accept pounds." This is pound money, I said. So he went to double-check with his manager. She'd never seen such money either. Talk about thick! "Sorry sir....," the clerk said upon return. Whatever. Long live the Queen! I huffed and left the hicks to themselves.

Like New Yorkers some Londoners remain ignorant of things outside of their big metropolice.

(For the sake of knowledge, Scotland is part of the United Kingdom - said kingdom an extention of the House of Windsor (e.g., Prince Phillip is the Duke of Edinburgh) - and has as its currency the British pound; but being a seperate nation with her own federal bank Scotland prints her own notes which are, of course, of equal with those printed by the Bank of England).