I am reading Down and out in Paris and London now. It’s very good. But I have discovered something entirely too annoying about myself. I am only on page 43 and the title pretty much sums up the book (at least during these early stages). A guy (George Orwell) talking about being down and out in Paris and London and he speaks of living on 20 francs a day or that something cost him 200 francs or that he spent 1000 francs on a prostitute. And each time I think,
Hmmmmm how much is that?
And then I read on and never really figure it out. And it’s been about 4 years since I went to Paris or London (though the book hasn’t gotten to London yet) so my conversions are rusty (if there at all). Am I that lazy that I won’t find the answer before finishing the damn book? My translation is this,
Well shit, if he’s ‘down and out’ 20 francs, well that’s gotta be like… nothing
while I scratch my ass, eat a not dog and drink a bud. Does anyone know this off the top of their head? Convert me please.
20 francs equals $2.87 US. Of course the franc is no longer! It is Euros now. It equals 3.05 Euros. Now that prostiute cost him about $144.
Damn. I spend that before I wake each day. Poor lad.
That’s one cheap prostitute. Then again, this is an older book. We must take into consideration inflation.
Inflation? Is that anything like Viagra?
holy cow. i guess it could be.
ok that’s funny.
yeah, keep in mind that this is long, long ago – from when bob didn’t need ‘inflation’
one US dollar is just under 7 French francs… since the franc is effectively obsolete since the adoption of the EURO, one US dollar is exchanging at about 1.05 EUROs now… I was married to a girl from Paris for some time and spent a lot of time in France, but don’t trust me… look for yourself at XE.com (currency exchange calculator)… ciao
thank you, clayton. :)